SCBills

If we had Ja’Marr Chase, by all means.. be a diva. We don’t. James Cook isn’t even Saquan Barkley or Derrick Henry, let alone an elite player at a premium position.

And here you are, right on cue. This is taxpayer money. Imagine a government that is transparent about where our money goes.. And you’re free to be in favor of these expenditures. Most of us aren’t.

Did you know he can do that through his agent and not on social media like a child?

Dems going all in on attacking DOGE is wild. Cant wait to see them line up behind “large scale social deception” payments to Reuters.

If we end up getting the 3 years out of him that we got and can trade him for a Day 2 Pick or as a package for a big name player, that’s a home run in my book.

First thing that comes to mind is he knows we can’t/won’t pay him 15M per year but has an idea that he’s worth that to other teams around the league. Doesn’t want to play on the last year of his rookie deal without a long term deal, so is pushing the envelope to get moved to someone who will pay him. Because he has to know this isn’t how anyone has really handled negotiations on this team, under this front office. I can’t imagine Beane loves this.. but part of me now thinks Cook wants out because he wants long term security this offseason.. and at his price point.

It’s not that simple. What brings us closer to getting over the hump? 15M for James Cook or putting that 15M towards Rousseau’s 20M contract or another piece on the DL to go with a Maxx Crosby? Cook is really good and can probably bring us back a Day 2 pick that could be used on a DT or WR.. two positions far more impactful than RB. We leaned on Cook at times because we had nothing outside. Keon went into witness protection after getting hurt, Hollins is what he is and Cooper we now know was playing at 60%. A massively upgraded Defense along with O-Weapons that knock teams out of 1 high Safety would be far more productive (imo) than sacrificing a DL piece or WR via Draft we could get back for him and, say, Jevon Holland with his money. It’s more about asset allocation than how good James Cook is or isn’t.

Somebody take away this man’s phone

Cook a 1st and 4th for Maxx Crosby?

Yes, that's the model. The problem is none of these players, except maybe Cook, are game changers. And Cook immediately torpedoes his value to us by wanting to get paid 15M per. And we pay guys like Knox, Milano and Oliver as game changers and none of them are. Is Bernard a game changer? No, he's a good player. Is Benford a game changer? No, he's a good player. Is Shakir a game changer? No, he's a good player. Is Rousseau a game changer? No, he's a good player. And part of the reason we can't get over the hump is due to tying up so much money and draft assets in good, not great, players.

Democrats are cooked if Jasmine Crockett remains a leading voice of their party. Absolute joke of a Congresswoman.

If we can get a 2nd for Cook, I trade him asap after the IG stuff. Getting Pick 30 and 3-2nd Round Picks in this Draft, where DL is loaded through the first two rounds would be massive for us. And while Cook did make plays others in our RB room couldn't, we also leaned on him to do that because teams could play 1 high safety and take away stuff in the middle of the field because we didn't threaten anyone outside with Coleman as a rookie, Hollins and a hobbled Amari Cooper.

This mock assumes we dont make a big trade given the picks in tact, so I don't love only adding two pieces to the DL. Completely on board with Pick 30, but is Oliver, Pegues, Jones and Carter scaring anyone? Maybe Carter makes a jump and we hit on Pegues, but the DL still looks to need juice after this Draft.

Ray Davis and LeQuint Allen is sounding pretty good to me right now.

That's a good point honestly.. I can't remember any player openly doing this in the public. Typically these deals just get done and we're surprised by a twitter/x post from the Bills.

Yikes.. That's too bad.. If that's truly his bar, I have to think he becomes expendable in a trade. Hopefully it's just posturing.

Defensive Head Coach. Lose every year because of the Defense. Lovely.

Hollywood Brown, while a risk - a year removed now from his injury, is probably a better bet than bringing back Amari Cooper if we're being honest. I like Cooper if we didn't have Keon Coleman, but we need a speed guy/deep threat on the outside. I wouldn't hate it if we brought back the same Offense, re-signed Hollins/Johnson and then swapped out Cooper for Brown. Then focus the rest of FA/Draft on loading up this Defense. My biggest worry about Brown is that 2/5ths of our WR room would be Brown/Samuel and that's a lot of injury history there. May want to carry 6 WR's and draft a speed guy too.

Give me Knox, Davidson and Morris. I'm fine with that because Allen throws to WR's and RB's. Just because Dorsey wanted all these Tight Ends doesn't mean we need to continue with it. He'd rather bring in Alec Anderson than play two tight ends. You talk about Kincaid breaking the Bills reception record, but we have been mostly terrible at TE for most of our history, so... If Kincaid can bring back a Day 2 Pick or be used in a blockbuster trade, I'm 100% doing it. He's a good player with upside that is a square peg/round hole in our Offense. It is what it is.

Take away everything and just focus on the big talk from the Draft. We let KC take Worthy and we sat back and took Coleman. Who knows how these two look in Year 2, but I can say with a lot of confidence that we would’ve beaten KC if we took Worthy. His speed on the outside, even if just situationally, was the only glaring hole we had on Offense.. and in a game where we lost a close one down to the wire, 1 or 2 Worthy plays and the inability to play 1 high safety primarily may have made all the difference.

Chiefs matched up horribly with Philly and Mahomes had a really bad game. Bills match up much better, but our Defense likely gives up 35 to Philly, which means Allen & The Offense would have to score 38 … but I think they could. Watching that game, Buffalo could have won, but it would have probably looked like the Rams game.

On Offense, I'm pretty happy with what Beane has built when the only addition any of us are really clamoring for is adding a speed/separator on the outside. Kincaid is a mixed bag, who many of us would be fine trading, and that is an unfortunate issue with changing OC's frequently. Drafted for Dorsey, but now Knox is the better TE for the Offense we want to run.. and two TE's plus Shakir is just clunky. Defense is a mess. Schematically, talent, injuries... it's just not working. I'm not just hoping for adding a big piece and some tweaking. I want a revamp on that side of the ball. I'm hopeful with some of the coaching changes that we may get that. The next piece is Beane realizing like Philly did, that one year deal vets on the DL won't get the job done and you need, need, NEED to hit on your picks (Carter, Davis, Sweat, DeJean, Mitchell etc)

I'd keep Elam if we're focusing more on man coverage. He's not getting us much, if anything anyway.. attaching a pick to get off his cap hit is probably the larger incentive to move him. For those who want to pay Benford.. Honest Question, why? He's been here 3 years and has gotten hurt when it matters all 3 years. He's a really good zone corner that is decent in man, but doesn't make a ton of splashy plays. For me, if we didn't have an MVP 60M QB moving forward, sure, i'll take a Benford at 20M per. But that's not our reality, thankfully, and I'd much rather invest that 20M on the DL and then keep throwing draft picks at the Secondary like KC and Philly do.

EDGE via Trade AJ Epenesa Von on a reworked deal and/or Duwaune Smoot Javon Solomon Day 2 Draft Pick Then at DT: Oliver / Jones / Day 2 Draft Pick / Carter This Draft is strong on the DL, especially on Day 2, which is why I'd advocate recouping assets from a big swing trade by moving Rousseau, Benford and Kincaid. I can understand keeping Rousseau this year, and I'd be ok seeing what he looks like opposite a Garret or Crosby, but I'd also be fine moving him, clearing that cap and investing a RD2 Pick there. Just find me a way to get an elite pass rusher (if possible) and two premium Draft Picks on this DL (3 new additions total) and I'm good. With all of our RD 4/5 picks, go heavy in the Secondary and sign a decent vet or two if we trade Benford. I understand we likely won't do all of this, but I would. I don't see any of the 4 I listed as guys who are helping us get over the hump.

I'd honestly look at trading any of the following: Oliver Rousseau Kincaid Benford Oliver is undersized and I'm frankly sick of having to hear about our undersized DT's putting our undersized LB's in conflict. Rousseau, imo, is a Defensive End Tremaine Edmunds. Young, lots of potential, just don't know if it ever gets realized and after this year we'd be paying him 20M+ per year potentially. Kincaid, for obvious reasons, Knox is going to be here for the next few seasons most likely and is a fine enough TE1 for us. Especially if they are going to pay Shakir, who operates in a similar part of the field. Benford has been here 3 years and has been hurt when it matters all 3 years. He's a very good cover corner, but I don't know how good if we move to more of a man Defense. I'd be more than willing to move him before having to consider paying him, signing a legitimate man corner and then drafting a corner early in the draft, along with another early Day 3 corner.