Thurman#1

Nah, that's hindsight. Sure, after it went down it was clear that Peerless wasn't a WR1. Not so before, though. Could've gone either way. My guess is also that Cook will do well elsewhere, but not as well as he is doing here with this OL and situation. Cook is running into light boxes at an extremely high rate as teams struggle to deal with Josh Allen. He won't have that advantage elsewhere.

Nonsense. It's not expected to happen. It's expected to happen sometimes. Disagreements on contract provisions and on how well a player is fulfilling his duties are constant and common in this league. And there's no reason whatsoever to think that the Bills have not given him an offer that's very fair for his production and the fact that he's signed for another year. Again, the other three-year players who signed contracts this year with the Bills understood that signing them early is a major concession by the Bills and should be treated as such. They signed contracts that guarantee them lives of ease for them and their families with just reasonable handling of their money. And yet gave the Bills a bit of a break on the terms. Cook isn't willing to do that. Just the opposite, he wants the Bills to sign a contract that's worth more than his production. After four years, that's more reasonable. After three ... well, it likely leads to the outcome we're seeing now. Cook will have to deal with the consequences, including unpleasant financial results if he suffers an injury during the season.

They've almost certainly offered to pay Cook what he's worth. What they're not willing to do is OVERpay. And yes, the Bills are focused on giving him a run game. Within the team framework, anyway. That's far from the only thing they're focused on, but it is something they think is important. And it is what they're doing here. You don't like the WAY they're doing that. But that's what they're doing. Not overpaying is a part of that plan. Again, a part you don't like. But part of the plan.

Teams don't follow them anymore than a guy holding out or holding in does. The right to cut isn't in the contract. It's in the collective bargaining agreement. And the right to hold out or hold in, as long as you accept the penalties you incur, is also in the CBA. Teams feel free to cut players before the end of their contracts. It's acceptable procedure. Players should feel free to hold in. It's within the agreement the owners signed. That's an interesting thought. Worth considering. But Cook will be back in the fold soon enough. He doesn't want to miss game checks. Still might be worth Beane doing something outside the box like that.

"Benford is a concussion away from missing a season," you say? And it's me who makes "unequivocal determinations"? You have no idea. Nor do I. Nor does anyone, including his doctors. Pretending you know that is just sad. Even assuming it's true, it's no less true that Cook is also one injury away from missing a season. So is every player on the field. Oh, and no, I don't blame Cook a bit for wanting his money. But I do hold him responsible for using tactics that I don't think will get him what he wants. There are many ways to go about trying to get paid. He's chosen this one. He'll have to take the consequences. And I would blame Beane (as should all of us) for overpaying, or for signing a bad contract. Oh, and real quick, go find a post anywhere where I've got my "chest pumped up, boasting about," absolutely anything. Bring us a link where I did that. I don't know who you're thinking of, but it ain't me. Sometimes things turn out exactly the way I said they will. Plenty of other times they don't. Either way I'm not due a lot of credit, as I'm generally only trying to argue for common sense. And yeah, Cook did see Benford, Bernard and Rousseau get a second contract - after their third year. EVERY ONE OF THEM took a team-friendly contract. Standard practice when signing after your third year. Cook isn't doing that. Maybe he could have learned from Benford, Bernard and Rousseau. They are all signed before their fourth year, greatly mitigating the financial consequences of an injury in their fourth year. Again, I like Cook as a player. A lot. I just don't want to overpay for him. Or anyone, really.

Benford is not better than Cook at his position? Um, yeah, sure, whatever you say, dude. I mean, you're dead wrong of course, Benford is a top five guy at CB and there are twice as many starting CBs as there are RBs. He's absolutely better than Cook at his position, and CB is absolutely a more important position than RB. As for Kyren Williams, he has put up 4.5 YPC, while Cook has put up 4.9. Cook is better, but not that much. And while part of that is because Cook is more explosive, another large part of it is that the Bills virtually never use Cook as a short-yardage hammer on the plays where making one or two yards I success, and Kyren Williams is the Rams smash-mouth guy. Cook isn't big enough or powerful enough for the role. And Kyren is. The Bills know they've got to take Cook off the field in those situations. The Rams keep Williams out there and run him up the gut while the D knows what's almost certainly coming, and Williams gets the first down a lot more than he doesn't. That will lower your YPC while still making you a very valuable player. And no, Cook isn't clearly the second-best player on this team. Benford, Milano, Taron Johnson are better for a start. Milano and Taron have been All-Pros, very recently. Dawkins, Spencer Brown are probables. It all goes up and down, of course, but pretending it's clear that he's #2 is ridiculous. Cook's very good in many aspects, most specially his explosiveness. But he's got drawbacks as well, pass blocking, the inability to be used as a power back and that he's good but not great as a pass catcher, not to mention that he's a smaller guy who may well be best used less than genuine bell cow backs. I think this is great stuff. And I want Cook too. But while I would pay him, I wouldn't overpay him, and certainly I wouldn't after three, not four years.

No, high level running backs with high level offensive lines is not the correct answer. Wide receivers are the correct answer. And yeah, I did indeed get you, even if you're desperate enough to use sarcasm unsuccessfully in your argument. Do the Eagles think that running back is the least important skill position? Well, they pay Sequin around $20M AAV. That's a lot of simoleons. But not as many as they pay AJ Brown. Around $32M AAV if I remember correctly. So yeah, the Eagles do think WR is more important than RB. The whole league does. Kid yourself that a completely imaginary, theoretical email that you're apparently writing yourself in your own mind would be more definitive if you want. It's weak sauce, but if that's the way you want to go, that's your choice. But in a capitalist society, and a part of it with a salary cap, it's not difficult to tell what teams value. They pay more for what they value more. Money is the yardstick. That's why it's not surprising that James Cook wants more of it. Or that AJ Brown gets more of it. Oh, and I do agree with you that RBs move the needle. It's just that WRs move it more.

That "But running back is the least important skill position," can't be supported in any way? That's nonsense. It's supported in the most telling way. How much are WRs paid? How much are RBs paid? Wanna know how the NFL values positions? It's not difficult to figure. Check the salaries. It's not a mistake that QBs make the most and long snappers the least. Even TEs are paid more than RBs, though not by that much. Eleven TEs make $12M or over. Fifteen make $10M or over. Do the Eagles think that running back is the least important skill position? Well, they pay Sequin around $20M AAV. That's a lot of simoleons. But not as many as they pay AJ Brown. Around $32M if I remember correctly. So yeah, the Eagles do think WR is more important than RB. The whole league does.

This isn't on Beane. It just isn't. Beane is not the one holding in. Cook is. Beane has made an offer he thinks is reasonable. Beane knows that Cook doesn't want to miss game checks. He's handling this just right. Yes, Cook is a weapon, and yes the team is better with him than without him. But they're still really really good without him. He missed the Jets game and they ran just fine without him. And the Jets were a very good D last year. On the other hand, in the two games Shakir missed, we looked bad on offense. Quite bad. But they're almost certainly not going to be without him, not until next year anyway. If Beane's offer is less than we think, if he only offered $8 or $9M, then yeah, this is on Beane. But unwillingness to be held hostage is part of being a good businessman and a good GM. And I don't think too many of us think the Bills offer was that low. If it really was, Cook would be well-served by having his agent go public with it. But my guess is the offer was in the Kyren Williams area and Cook would get no sympathy if he did go public.

Jerry Hughes, I'd argue. They expected him to fall off a cliff. He didn't. Tyrel Dodson, maybe. His first year away was really good. Quinton Jefferson, probably. Can't think of anyone else, or anyone who hasn't been mentioned.

It's weird that nobody has reported on how he looks since camp started, isn't it? Does he look bigger? The same? Have they asked him if he's stronger, if he's lifting more? He's playing really well so far, and that's the important thing. We know he was there a ton in the offseason putting in the work and getting stronger, as Beane has reported on that. But I am a bit curious about how he looks and nobody has asked, I guess.

That's a grammar mistake. The word you want here is "IF," not "WHEN." And if he does sign here for, say $13M next offseason, that would make a ton more sense than it would have made this offseason. A year from now they'll have had the benefit of having him for this year at his current salary, he'll be a four-year vet and the cap will be higher. All of those could tend to raise the price next off-season. Whereas when a team signs a guy after three seasons, it is of great benefit to the player who gets to play the fourth year with much less worry about injury and how that might affect him. The other third-year guys who the Bills signed this offseason all understood this and in return for the really significant bargaining chip of signing them early gave the Bills a team-friendly deal. Cook did not even think of doing that. Which is his right, but it does have consequences. Look at Benford. He's now the 19th highest paid CB by AAV. And he's a ton better than the 19th best CB. He's a better player than Cook, at a more important position. And he gave us a team-friendly deal. Again, Cook did not do that. Nobody should be surprised that we didn't give Cook $15M or anywhere near it ... AFTER HIS THIRD YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!

Tom Pelissero is the guy who said it was close. https://sports.yahoo.com/article/nfl-insider-drops-bombshell-buffalo-202544391.html But yeah, listening to Beane yesterday, it sure didn't sound like they were close or that there had been much progress.

He knows better than you what Cook is worth. The fact that the other salary estimators are closer to him points that out. As does the fact that offering him $15M would put him above Jonathan Taylor, Alvin Kamara and Josh Jacobs. Yes, he's better each year. The estimates include that. And yes we went to the AFC championship next year but that has nothing to do with what Cook's salary should be. We went to the AFC championship because the team is damn good. We also went to the AFC championship in 2020 with Singletary at RB and that didn't mean Singletary was worth $15M per year. Josh loves everybody on the team. He loved Beasley. Josh has had "a great opportunity to dominate in the passing game" for the last five years. Know what's silly? Pretending that Josh being sacked eight times means that the RB sucking at pass pro is OK. Josh relaxing untouched in the pocket is better than Josh quickly running for his life, whether he's sacked or not. More, maybe a significant part of the reason they have so few sacks is that they don't allow Cook on the field in situations when they think they'll need him to block.

He's taking care of his business. But not the team's business. This is where the rubber hits the road. He's holding their feet to the fire. There will be consequences, of one sort or another. For me, this is where I start to get irritated at the selfishness. I'm pretty sure Cook won't care about what I think, though.

I don't doubt for a second that he wants to be here. But that's his second priority, not his first. Which is fair enough. He's got to make his money while the sun shines.

Yeah, this. Defenses can benefit from an offensive mind at the table giving another POV. Also vice versa. He isn't as bad as many on here want to believe. He's also not one of the best in the league. But as an overall tactic, a hiring of this type can make a lot of sense if handled right.

He gave everything he had, and that's what I expect. Didn't fit the scheme for whatever reason. I wish him the best in all future endeavors, except when he's playing the Bills.

Yeah, this is the thing. Cook isn't just wanting a contract (at $15M APY) that out kicks the coverage of the value he's demonstrated so far. He wants it after his third year. Guys who sign contracts at that time are usually giving a discount in consideration of the team's willingness to give them the money earlier, a practice that works in the player's favor, in terms of injury insurance, the earlier chance to put the money to work earning more money and the simple peace of mind that comes with a surer future. But I don't see anything here that looks like it's coming from Cook's camp. Looks to me like a cold neutral look at the situation, with all sentiment removed and from a purely financial view. The Bills players who this offseason signed deals after their third years got solid and fair contracts, but they knew signing early meant they'd have to sign team-friendly deals. That is very much NOT the way Cook is playing this.

"They should just give Cook a decent offer ..." What makes you think they didn't? Is any deal Cook refuses therefore to be considered not fair? Is only a total cave to the player's demands fair? That's not the way a team should think or operate. And yeah, I do remember all the mediocre backs since Thurman we've trotted out with no playoff appearances. Devin Singletary, for instance. Zack Moss. Oh, wait.

Love it!!!

I hear you, but I think it's a lot more subtle and multi-faceted than just too many soft zones. It's also that we used to be really unpredictable, as Poyer and Hyde could wait till post-snap to go to deceptive switches and coverage changes. The new safeties just aren't that cagey and deceptive yet, and they aren't used to each other as much. Power and Hyde would show zone and switch post-snap even waiting another beat before pulling the moves. Then they'd do the opposite. Then they'd fake switches and cover straight. Our safeties had never started together before last year. And in their first year together in Buffalo, Poyer and Hyde were very good. But just not close to as good as they became after working together for awhile. We were running mostly zone Ds with Poyer and Hyde too. Just doing it a lot better, smarter, less predictably and more deceptively. Not to mention that after Benford, our CBs just weren't as good as they used to be. Douglas looked older suddenly and nobody else was any better.

I mean, yeah, they have a ton to prove. But knowing the future is impossible, though predicting or guessing right is not. To me it's with the reasonably possible set of outcomes. A bit on the high side, but not irrational or illogical at all. Just looked at Cover1's looks at why the defense had problems on third downs. They largely said the pressure was genuinely good, but the balls came out quickly and the defensive backfield wasn't fooling anybody the way they had in years before with Power and Hyde, so teams were completing the quick routes and converting the longer third downs. They had a lot of quick pressure on 3rd downs, but turning them into sacks, not so good, largely because even when the pressure was quick, the ball was out before they got there. They were 11th overall in quick pressures (2.5 seconds or less), 9th in quick pressure rate, and had the 7th fastest time to pressure rate in the league. (from the Cover 1 video below).

Hunh? Mahomes won MVP in 2022. From what I remember his team did alright the next year.

Before he met her he was doing an interview about whisky connoisseurship on Bussin' with the Boys. Now he's taking therapeutic red-light saunas with the wife every night. She is also in a career where keeping in terrific shape is a crucial part of her work. I think it's not that Josh got married, but that he got married to the right girl. Everything he's said about preparing for the season this year has been absolutely right on point. That was not true two years ago. I think this marriage is a very good thing for Josh, and because of that, for us. He got married two or three years before he got to Buffalo.