LEBills

The SA accusations dropped him to the teams that don’t care about that stuff.

On a tangentially related note, I have a fantasy football YouTube channel that I thought was really smart and informative. Very data driven and something I weigh heavily during my drafts. Then all the sudden they drop a new episode and I start watching and the voice of the guest is familiar. It was Mike Schopp!! I was horrified, what had I done to my fantasy teams. It was like buying an expensive painting, showing it to polite company, and then having a 6 year old blurt out it is just a banana taped to a wall. Anyway, McDermott won’t be fired unless a second 13 seconds happens imo.

I read somewhere that Keonte Jenkins was running ahead of Ulofoshio with the LBs. With Spector out I would say him assuming Shaq Thompson is too name brand for this exercise.

I had him ranked as THE top fit for the Bills for a WR in the draft 😢

Samuel would count $8 mil on our dead cap this year and another $3+ mil in 2026 if cut, he will be a Bill through 2025 I believe. He will def be cut next year. Yea we will see. Definitely a guy I root for, but someone I think us fans value more than another team would.

I agree it’s not impossible he unseats Moore (who I am one of the most critical posters on), but I’d still be surprised. Unless Shavers plays very well in preseason, I think they will feel like they can get him to the practice squad. Then they get three elevations before having to commit a roster spot to him.

McDermott was pretty effusive in praising Shavers last year too. Still a long way to go before cut downs. Think he would need to beat our Moore and his 2.5 million dollar guaranteed contract as 6 WRs is probably unlikely with all the guys on the DL. They may start with Shavers on the practice squad along with Cain, Virgil and Wilkerson and elevate those guys to play gunner throughout the year.

Probably all they feed them is clam chowda. You can’t expect a man with burnt hands to catch every pass. And he doesn’t even like soup!

Haha I don’t think there is anyone to be traded for right now

Yea I mean we will have to wait and see how the season goes. Him not making the roster would still be pretty surprising to me. When we signed them I said we would not get much out of him and Josh Palmer. Keon, Shakir and Kincaid are the key to the passing game this year.

Going about as well as I predicted then 😕

I was excited for it because it felt like the official start of the season. Pretty standard fare as far as Hard Knocks goes. Guessing episode 2 will have a segment on Keon, Cook, and Bosa.

Trade for Alec Pierce?

Think he may have been kidding because ESPN had him 8th in that position review series they did a few weeks ago https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45589580/ranking-nfl-top-10-running-backs-2025-execs-coaches-scouts-make-their-picks-best-rushers

After Jacobs, those players all have a top 66 pick rookie contract player waiting in the wings (or starting) except for broken down 29 year old Joe Mixon. Will probably require that level of investment to replace Cook next year at least.

Could be Beane doesn’t believe in paying a running back a big contract. Schoen is from that GM tree and let Saquon walk.

Cant forget what a Sean McVay system and a QB that can barely move does for those numbers too. Cook is the more talented runner. But this contract along with the Jacobs contract last year probably set the tone for where Cook will fall in percentage of cap space if he was to get a new contract this year.

Etienne is toast. He is much worse than Cook. Just let Cook play out this year if we can’t get a contract done with him.

I think you are underestimating things. There is a reason Beane seemed to complain that Cook is holding in. He sees things both short term and long term. Cook will play this season, probably week 1. But GMs and coaches are control freaks and don’t like the unpredictability going into the regular season. On top of that, Shakir is probably questionable for week 1. So going into Week 1 vs the Ravens they could have questionable statuses for their top RB and WR from last year. Long term, Beane will either have to plan to let him walk and fill the position someway else. If Davis, Keon, or Palmer don’t emerge as difference makers this year, that leaves Shakir as the only proven skill position difference maker on your roster. And would be something Beane would have to spend free agency and the draft trying to replace. If he franchises him it will just be to get a long term contract done. The franchise tag is likely to be 15 million plus next year for running backs anyway which would be fully guaranteed and a tough contract to workaround with the cap. For a team that values consistency, that seems onerous. Whatever happens, it will be interesting.

Players are always at a disadvantage in these negotiations but if this is a hold in, he does have leverage at this point. Shakir is the only other dependable skill player and he is hurt. In fact most of our WR room is nursing some injuries right now. I doubt the other players will hold it against Cook for saving his body for the regular season to maximize his pay day. It may bother Beane and the coaches who want the team to be as ready as possible for the regular season. Beane will not release him lol maybe he tries to trade him. Finding a trade that will keep the Bills as good as they are with Cook is going to be hard to do at this stage of the offseason. I still think it is more likely that the contract is close and so Cook doesn’t want to get injured before it is finalized.

Cook has a lot of leverage. As much as we all hope Ray Davis, Keon, Palmer or Moore may step up, Cook and Shakir are the only proven quality skill position players on the Bills. That is partly Beane’s fault and so makes playing hardball a bit more tricky. With how good Cook has been over the past two years, despite a couple of drops and not being a good pass protector, I would pay him the $15 mil. Some team will. 2800 yards and 24 touchdowns over the last two years is a lot of production on good efficiency. Not to mention how well he performed this postseason. Maybe the Bills try to wait to see how the season goes, hopefully that works out this year and in the long run.

I think the point being made is you don’t have to choose between a good OL and a good RB. There is enough money to pay all of them, especially with the entire WR room costing less than Ja’Marr Chase’s yearly salary. You would just have to choose to pay those positions rather than backup TEs or rotational DLineman. And Cook has certainly shown more when it matters in the playoffs than 0 sacks AJ Epenesa or Knox’s 58 yards total receiving all of the last two playoffs and 320 yards total in 6 postseason runs. That right there is almost 16 million per season for backups that don’t produce in the playoffs.

It’s certainly to prevent injury. Either that is to save himself for the regular season so that he can perform well when it matters and increase his value for free agency, or because the deal is imminent and doesn’t want it pulled if he went down. Either scenario is good for the Bills, with how he has been practicing and just decided to stop, I think the latter is probably more likely.

Yea, a very realistic possibility that the deal is close and so he is not risking injury prior to it being signed.

Yea I think this is it. Whether he is seeing his teammates get injured or he stubbed his toe, he does not want to get injured during practice. I do expect he is going to try his best and produce well during the season to justify his next contract. If I was Beane I would figure a way to pay him and put this behind us. Especially with how well he played all playoffs and the lack of other proven weapons on the roster.