FireChans

He won’t be. Probably not even on the board.

Why does the state media praise the state!

Sure but he’s not 1000 years old like they are. He doesn’t need to talk a team into $14-15M AAV is my point. Hes getting that if he hits market tomorrow imo which makes 2025 irrelevant and only able to hurt him. put another way, if Beane was shopping Cook for like a 4th today, and Cook said he wasn’t going to play without $15M AAV and at least 3 years, do we think he lasts long in Buffalo or is some team like NE or the Titans jumping on that immediately, and giving Cook exactly what he wants? I strongly think the latter, and I think Cook and his agent do too which is why we are in this mess. Because the bottom line is 2025 is more likely to hurt his value than help it. He gets a hammy and rushes for 850 and 4 TD’s he may come crawling back for 2 years $8M with incentives. striking while the iron is hot is a thing.

Diggs cap hit is not on there because it’s 2025. It’s tricky because cap hit and investment aren’t a 1:1 relationship. Comparing us to say Philly: We have double their QB cap hit, despite Hurts playing on a similar deal because of void years. They have $2M more than us in RB’s. They are paying $8M more than us in WR’s (Devonta/AJ and co costing $8M more in space than our group hurts my heart) We are paying $4M more in TE. They are paying $2M more in OL. Their overall offensive spending with QB’s included is $117M vs ours which is $149M. So really what it comes down to is they are dedicating $8M more in cap space to their superior talent around their QB while keeping their QB’s cap hit low, whereas we are allocating $25M more this season to QB’s and honestly overpaying for talent.

You joke but the point was that one of BB’s claims to fame was having some joker on defense play well under him, let him get paid in FA, predictably fail, return to NE and play better again. I always attributed that to the difference in coaching. It’s not that the players just sucked elsewhere and it was a coincidence. It was that BB and his system got more out of flawed players than a random DC and their system. Now, no one is calling McD and co BB. Certainly not me. But imo, it’s not a coincidence that Levi, Dane, and even Douglas played some of their best ball in Buffalo. That doesn’t make them stars of course but it isn’t nothing. Just like Pat Chung was no star but wasn’t nothing in NE. I think at this point McD gets the benefit of the doubt when it comes to CB’s/DB’s until he doesn’t. He targeted Hyde and Poyer and got them to All-Pros. Taron ended up an All-Pro. Levi and Dane became part time starters in the NFL when they probably should have been camp cuts. Benford speaks for himself. Even midseason addition Rasul Douglas went from 109 passer rating in Green Bay to 38.6 in Buffalo in 2023 (he fell back off a cliff after but hey). Now of course, Elam is a complete bust and a failure and you can put that on McD as well I suppose, especially if he is successful against all odds in Dallas. But my money is on that Elam just completely sucks and will probably be out of the league in a year. So my definition of “coaching up” is routinely taking lower tier draft picks or prospects with high likelihood of failure at the NFL and wringing every drop of production out of them. And when some of them leave in FA, they fail to replicate that production.

I think that’s a difficult genie to put back in the bottle. Once you make public trade demands, it gets ugly. I don’t think that Cook is operating in bad faith at all. He wants to get paid. He should. I see no evidence that negotiations are going less than well. The problem and the part that GM Brandon Beane is paid to predict, is what does the story look like 5 months from now? Is it Cook demanding a trade in August and holding out? I don’t know what Beane thinks is a reasonable deal. So maybe he is or maybe they are close to an extension already? We just don’t know. I would say that it wouldn’t surprise me if Cook is re-signed before September. It also wouldn’t surprise me if Cook is tweeting and holding out and skipping team activities and even missing the first game. Remember, future HoF and multiple SB champ Chris Jones held out week 1 just 2 years ago. These guys exert whatever leverage they have as they should. IMO.

If Cook isn’t going to agree to play without a new contract in Buffalo, why would he agree to play without a new contract in Carolina? Cook has had a great 2023 and 2024. He’s entering the final year of his deal. He would be holding out to get paid on that production, not waiting to “improve his stats.” If I’m Cook’s agent trying to actually maximize his dollar earnings, I tell him to threaten to hold out or even go as far to request to explore trade/extension possibilities. The #1 goal of Cook and his agent is not to play year 4 with just his rookie deal. He gets hurt, his future earnings cut in half. He has a down year, his future earnings are cut in half. It’s almost all risk for little reward at this point. I think you take a third and run over paying him $15M or going through a hold-out/contract dispute. I realize that makes the Bills worse in 2025. It’s not ideal as a scenario and I really like Cook, but I think that’s the play.

No team is trading for Cook without agreeing on a contract in principle so I don’t think his value changes all that much with a hold out. These guys don’t care that much about their usage outside of getting paid. James would be happy to touch the ball 150 times a year if he was getting $15M AAV

His own brother was a second round pick who threatened to hold out going into his 4th season until he got a massive contract extension.

No one found it “that” impressive because James Cook’s increased TD number was clearly predicated on being used far more in goal to go situations despite not being used in QB sneak situations like most good running backs? For example, another team that sneaks all the time, the Eagles, all but 4 of Saquon’s rushing TDs were 10+ yards out.

That’s not really true. He was more of a goal line back last year than he had ever been and thus had a huge amount of TD’s. 11 of his rushing TDs in the regular season were under 10 yards. all 3 of his postseason TD’s were under 10 yards. 6 of his TD’s were 2 yards or fewer.

I don’t think the Chiefs beat them 9/10. I just meant I don’t think they dominate and destroy the Chiefs by 40 9/10 times either.

Your point is well-taken but I also think the Eagles played the game of their lives in the SB. I don’t think the Bills would’ve won facing that group, but by the same token, I think if they play the Chiefs 10 times, that outcome only happens once.

Gunner assisted me lol. you lose bro. Back to battling with the anesthetists

64 starting safeties in the NFL and Hamlin having the 66th highest contract probably serves as close enough to his market being "the worst starter you could have."

Do we? Is that why Jalen Hurts doesn't have a cap hit of $42M or greater until 2027, meanwhile Josh has a $42M hit now and $61M next season? Is that why Jordan Mailata is a higher paid LT than Dawkins, but has a lower cap hit than him through 2027?

We could do that.

Bad, wasteful process. Again and again. I bet we take an RB in top 3 rounds again too.

Yeah Hamlin being better than Cole just means than Cole was terrible.

The point is to secure a contract so not getting paid for the first 5 games isn’t really a big deal. Neither is risking losing his job. Lots of RBs have run that playbook. Including his brother.

What if he holds out

Trade for someone else to take him. I don’t want projects. It’s too late.

Yeah it’s a shame because it may be another 6 or 8 years before we get talent pushed so far back. Was probably our best shot of being in striking distance.

I am. I am comparing to Josh to his peers. He’s the best. i am comparing McD and Beane and the roster to their peers. Not the best. Ipso facto….