BarleyNY

That’s been covered. He has shown the workload he is capable of and that limits his touches. That limits what the team can ask him to do. So they’re getting as much out of him as he is capable of.

My evaluation is in line with Spotrac’s and, apparently, Beane’s. I’ve done the work on it and posted it here in the original Cook thread. I came up with $10.5M AAV. Spotrac has $10.2M AAV over 4 seasons. Yours is the outlier. Let me recap some of the reasons he’s not worth close to top of market: - workload: he’s a 50% snap player. players like Barkley play nearly 100% of the offensive snaps in close games - he is poor in pass pro and is pedestrian catching out of the backfield - usage: Cook plays a lot of first and second down snaps. he doesn’t play in the higher leverage situations a 3rd downs, obvious passing situations, short yardage or in obvious rushing situations. so he isn’t on the field to close out games where we’re ahead. he’s not on the field late in games when we have to throw. Or at the goal line. Or 3rd/4th & 1. Or any 3rd down. What he does do well is that he helps Allen on most first and second downs. He really did take some of the load off of him, which keeps him healthy. That’s worth something. But not anything close to what you think he’s worth. It’s not like a lot of RBs couldn’t be successful in those situations with Allen at QB.

Sometimes teams leak stuff like this when negotiations get contentious, often when players are holding out/in. Sometimes it’s true, sometimes it’s inflated.

Play hardball with any player that has unrealistic contract demands. And let’s talk about those other deals. Has Beane ripped off any other player? If anything I think he’s been on the high side with many. I don’t believe that he singled Cook to start being cheap. So it’s likely that this is on Cook/Cook’s agent. GMs can’t roll over every time a player has a fit over not getting what they want. Do it once and the agents will be doing it forever. Or at least until the GM gets fired, which they’d be on the path for.

Insanity, if true. And it would point to him getting some terrible advice from his agent and/or brother. Competent representation is of enormous value.

BS. He shouldn’t be paid based on your (or his) fantasy about how much he’s grown. He’s proven only what he’s proven and that’s what his contract should reflect. It’s not difficult. I would not have minded if the Bills had allowed Cook’s agent to look for a trade partner before the draft. He could have really seen what his market was. But I do not see where they asked to do so and I would not want them to allow it now. That’s not a precedent a GM should set. At this point I’d want this: either the two sides come to an agreement prior to the season starting or he plays his deal out. In the future agents would understand that the time to request permission to seek a trade would be prior to the draft. If he goes the fake injury route, then I’d play hardball and seek to fine/suspend him.

He had more snaps and touches in 2023. He broke down at the end of season, and it was evident in the playoffs. The Bills reduced his snaps, carries and receptions in 2024 and he stayed productive. They found the sweet spot for him.

Yeah, I don’t see a lot of money left on the table by the other players Beane has signed so I find it difficult to believe that he isn’t being fair to Cook.

But not being able to handle more touches is quite the opposite of impressive.

You never know, but that’s certainly the way it sounds. Still, it might just be posturing by Cook’s agent to get the best deal. The only other vet deal this agent has negotiated was Cook’s brother’s and they went right up to the start of the season on that one.

Some team certainly could make this kind of mistake - especially one where the GM &/or HC are on the hot seat.

The big question is whether Cook will be willing to play week one. Nothing really matters until that point. My bet is that he holds in until sometime just before the first game - unless the deal gets done before then. The only way Cook gets moved off of the roster is if he causes an issue in the locker room. We are a ways off of that being a possibility, but it could happen. Obviously they’d want to trade him if it came to that, but no team is going to trade for him if his demands remain unreasonable. Or it would be very low or conditional compensation. Here’s hoping Beane sticks to his guns. I’d like to see him state that he will not negotiate during the season. Either a deal gets done before it starts or negotiations get tabled until after the season is over. I don’t want to see this be a distraction to the team.

I don’t think Cook has much leverage at all. “Holding in” or faking injury are his only plays right now. The former only lasts thru the preseason and the latter is very risky. It could result in suspension, fines or even parting ways. At some point it would rub the team the wrong way and Beane would have to trade or release him. Players understand that business is business, but this locker room wants to win a championship and need people who are on board with that.

Yes, I think that’s more likely. But he should be allowed to compete.

It’ll be interesting to see if Keon is the guy to whom they choose to give Shakir’s slot snaps. Pre draft I thought he was a slot only WR as well - and I didn’t really love him in that role. Still, he’s on the team and I do really like his YAC potential. If he has learned a way to quickly uncover and/or has improved his contested catching, then he could show out in the role. I’d expect the coaches to give him a chance there if he’s earned it in practice.

Really agree with everything here, but I’d like to expand on the salary cap part. It goes hand in hand with what you wrote about paying too much to the middle class. That’s obviously a choice the Bills have made on how to construct their roster. Once made, it doesn’t allow for room to acquire a dominant talent should one come available. So I think that concerns over HOW the Bills are spending are very valid. I think they’re banking on stability, getting into the mix every season and hoping things break their way in the playoffs. But without any elite players other than Allen, I think those odds are less than they appear when looking at where the Bills have finished every year. A 75 yard Henry run or Chase Mossing a DB on a bomb can change the outcome of a playoff game. I also think that it’ll be tough to take a bad year for a reset. At least not for a couple seasons anyway. That’s due to the contracts given out this season. They should have enough space that they could add one high end contract next offseason if they so choose. They’d have to go low on filling other holes, but I’d like to see them take a shot on such a player if one is available.

I like my Greenworks electric lawn mower. We are slowly moving to all battery electric lawn and garden tools. I will keep my gas powered edger tho. I also bought a sprayer from Greenworks. It uses the same battery as my mower, which is a nice bonus. I use it to spray for mosquitos. The sprayer paid for itself in about 3-4 applications. The concentrate is about $50. I use it for myself snd two friends’ places. It’s more than enough for the whole season.

I think the most likely scenario is that Jerry makes him the highest paid non-QB in the league and everyone is happy again. The only thing working against that deal getting done is that I have heard rumblings that Parsons isn’t a person that most in the locker room would miss. If there really is a big-ish issue there, then maybe Dallas moves him - probably next offseason (after tagging him) for some premium picks.

I actually agree with you that the Bills need to make a move like this. The problem is that they already chose a different path this season and can no longer realistically make something like this work. But talk to me next offseason when they can make it work. I’ll be down for it. I don’t think Parsons gets moved before then anyway. I expect Jerry to make him play this season and then tag him next so he can trade him. That way he’ll eke out all the “cheap” seasons from him and have a chance to replace him in FA or the draft.

We would save less than $400k in cap space this season if we cut Milano. That would be less than even league minimum salary for a replacement. So I’d say you SHOULD care about that if you’re looking to create cap space.

dead money counts on our cap

You are looking at those players’ cap hits for 2025 and not including their dead cap hits if cut or traded.

It’s really not. If everything was feasible then he wouldn’t be having any problems in Dallas. That said, I’d give up a lot for an Edge of Parsons’ caliber, age and impact. Tho I have major concerns about him in the Bills locker room. Still, a pass rusher like him would make a bigger impact on this team than any current player, save one. But financially it is almost impossible this season. The Bills have already decided where to spend their money and cap space and even with restructuring Dawkins and Knox they will just have enough space to make it through the season. Even if they were to lower his 2025 cap hit from the $24M it is now with an extension, it would still mean some drastic moves like trading Dawkins and/or Knox instead of restructuring them. Possibly cutting Milano as well. There really aren’t many any other places to get the space at this point. A number of posters here think the cap is meaningless. It’s not. We see it’s impact on some teams every season. That doesn’t even address the cash aspect. the Bills are second in cash spend this season, only about $250k from the top spot. I doubt the Bills are going to drop another huge chunk of cash on a signing bonus for Parsons.

For sure, but I don’t see how it’s financially feasible at this point. If he gets traded next offseason we probably could pull it off. I also don’t think he’s a culture fit here.

Last year I heard that there would be many Dallas players who “would not miss” Parsons in the locker room. With all of the other contracts they had to do at the time I thought he was the most likely trade candidate. Jerry is unpredictable, but I still think he gets traded this offseason or tagged and traded next.