Einstein's Dog

Reread what I said, I would not trade Cook for a 3rd. Any 3rd rounder we got would not be of the level of Cook so the team would be weaker. If that means no team trades for Cook so be it, have Cook play it out here. You don't trade an ascending top 10 RB, drafted in the second round, with a salary of $5M, for a third.

I would not want to trade Cook for a third. A third round RB would not be as good as Cook is now. This year is the year of most value from Cook at $5M. I hope he plays at this price.

A 3rd? The Bills used a 2nd to get Cook. And the Bills have dealt with the growing pains to get to where he is now, an excellent, but not complete RB. The Bills could probably get something close to a 3rd in a comp pick when he leaves if he gets close to $15M on the open market. Secondly, Cook is one of the offenses most exciting weapons, he has the ability to take it to the house on almost any play. The Bills did not acquire anyone else who is near that level (didn't want DK at his price apparently). Moving on from Cook weakens the team in 2025. So, no, I don't want the FO to trade Cook for a third. Yes, have Cook play out his contract if a reasonable extension isn't able to be done. As to the OP, slight modification, it's not that Cook is talking, it is about the substance of what we see as a negotiating problem. Cook put out a $15M figure clueing in most of Bills nation that there will be a problem (and the problem stems from Cook's end). We don't know if Benford is doing an outrageously high figure because he hasn't posted it. Seems like it was a bizarre miscalculation from Cook's camp that floating that figure would somehow help them.

Yeah, that still hurts. If you look back that's an obvious one and even D Adams hurts for me. When looking to the future though, I'm hoping they are not done because losing A Cooper and even Hollins is not made up for with J Palmer and Shenault IMO. Unfortunately, I don't see an easy answer. From here out, I think the big choices are among using one of the Bills top 3 picks at another attempt at WR, vs A Cooper, vs mid-season trade. With the draft pick you shouldn't expect more than K Coleman level production for '25. With A Cooper you have to deal with winning the bidding war and have to excuse the lack of production in '24 to some excuse. And with a '25 midseason trade you don't know who will be available and it misses a third to half the season.

I think it's acceptable and between stayed the same and slightly improved. Love the extensions (getting ahead of the curve) and the Bosa move (great value IMO) and am intrigued that they have a sleeper starting safety. Worried about the CB and disappointed with our WR moves (hope it's not done). However my expectations were for a splash signing. I thought the FO took their medicine a year early on Diggs to have the flexibility to get a star this year. So I had visions of a Garrett or Crosby or Hendrickson or DK Metcalf. I was disappointed that DK Metcalf went for what he did to Pitt.

So, who do you want? It's March. The FA choices are A Cooper/S Diggs/D Johnson/K Allen/E Moore/T Lockett/B Cooks/N Algolor/M Gallop/R Woods

I would be open to a trade deadline move, especially if the WR room we have now is what we have for the '25 season (still have hope that maybe we can add A Coop). Even in the small sample size you are referencing there is Raoul and A Cooper, which served to make the team better in their respective seasons. If a trade can make the team better for a post-season run I hope Beane pulls the trigger. The Bills are close. If mid-season a B Aiyuk/G Pickens/T Hill/ or AJ Brown would elevate the team for the stretch run - and possibly beyond- Beane should do it.

Puka was selected in the 5th round - anyone could have had him. The comparison isn't Trubisky but T Brady. As for Dalton Kincaid he is an extremely fluid player with great hands. He played through injuries last year, it in no way means he's toast. He does need to add strength - he and Coleman have been told as much - and the strength and conditioning coach has been replaced. The idea of trading Kincaid is insane. The Bills finally have a very good TE room, probably their best ever, and people want to tear it down.

I don't recall it that way - mid-season there were at least D Adams, D Johnson, DHop, and A Cooper. Now with the FA market down to bare bones - A Cooper, S Diggs, D Johnson, and K Allen, I think for FA it is Amari or nothing. Maybe they try the mid-season trade route again. Because as much as people seem to dislike the trade, the FO did bring in what was normally a $20M WR for over half the season and the playoffs. I'm not sure who would be available, only have heard of B Aiyuk so far.

I can't see Diggs here while J Brady is on the staff. Diggs flat out disrespected J Brady - to a him or me extent. The Bills chose J Brady and the fireworks escalated and that's when the social media campaign kicked in. Remember when Diggs wouldn't put in an effort off the line. Remember when Diggs would take himself out on 3rd downs for no apparent reason. I remember. As a matter of fact I thought those behaviors were so out of character that I was pretty sure Diggs was playing through an injury. I was extremely surprised when Diggs went and did stuff at the pro-bowl and there were no reports of an injury. I then started looking at everything Diggs related from a different point of view. No way will J Brady have S Diggs on his team (and the same probably goes for McDermott). Diggs, in part, forced his way out by substandard play on the field (and as a conspiracy theorist it may have contributed to Josh not checking it down to him at the most important time late in that game - remember Diggs had dropped one bomb earlier). Anyway, Unacceptable. Inexcusable. Diggs certainly will not be back this year.

Shaw, I'm with you on Benford being good and extremely good piece as used by the Bills. But the FO has to consider health issues when making this deal. It's a huge risk to the organization. And it's a huge risk to Benford to turn down a large chunk of guaranteed money with his concussion history. The health issue may be hard to quantify but the FO and Benford need to do it.

I'm starting to dislike the allocation of money strategy. The FO seems to be moving toward a cheaper WR room. I thought the FO was under the solid strategy of investing money in top QB/LT/WR1/DE/CB. If you haven't drafted and extended those positions, you buy them in FA. I had no problems with the shots at Diggs and Von - they were needed IMO. Now that both had run their course, I wanted to reload with fresh attempts at both. Bosa is okay, Garrett and Crosby seem to have never been really available. But Palmer as WR1 is a let down. While you say there is still time, the 2025 FA WR market is really bare at this time. Now for veterans it's down to A Cooper/Diggs/D Johnson/K Allen.

I've been disappointed with the moves at FA this off-season. I was thinking/hoping the FO was going to improve the WR room this offseason. Last year it declined but had the Diggs problem. I was disappointed in the decision not to take DK for what he went for. IMO the WR situation right now, is not as good as the end of last season. But if they can get A Cooper back it will be better than last year (Cooper > Palmer, but Palmer > Hollins). A rookie does not do it - I wouldn't expect much more than Coleman/Kincaid production out of a rookie. I suppose doing an in-season trade is a possibility again, but I was hoping that was a one time move due to extenuating Diggs circumstances. For 2025 the Bills have a great shot at the #1 seed and I would prefer they get a decent WR1 before the season.

Or unfortunately we may have to ding Beane a little. I'm a little jealous of what Burrow has compared to Josh at WR. But Beane had a chance/choice with the DK Metcalf sweepstakes and did not pony up (yes, I'm still a little bummed about that).

Versus what for 2025? Shakir type rookie production (161 yds, 1 TD)? Even if they spent the 1st pick, which I would doubt, get Coleman production (556 yds, 4TDs)- which is pretty much what Cooper had?

I think you can add that these two pedophiles can now come under the tutelage of Bosa and these idiots can learn how to juice without getting caught.

At first he may not care -which was my point in bringing up speaking with others. When talking about the idea of making around $10M for a 9 month stint prior to retirement (in your 30s), over 99% of the people on the planet would advise you to take that deal - it's not just my motivations. I hope the FO has a contract offer out to him to consider. Would be nice if amount it takes to beat the Bills offer triggers a comp pick to the Bills. But I prefer the Bills get Amari back, I think he will be a better player in 2025 than he was in 2024 and a lot better than a 2025 rookie. I think the #1 seed is obtainable this year and we've already had one setback with the PEDs.

I don't know if that is what they meant by done, interesting interpretation on your part. I'm hoping after a period of time when he gets to talk to normal everyday people for a bit, that it may drive home that one more year (and at this point it's just 10 months) at even a Dhopish $6M, it really isn't chump change. It'll be the highest paying job for the rest of his life. Even for a soft spoken guy with other interests, I don't see tuning the page on that quite yet. And for a bonus if he's part of bringing a Lombardi to Buffalo he will have folk hero status around those parts. I would think the FO would want him as part of a rotation Palmer/Cooper/Coleman

And are you sure that reason isn't that he has a baseline offer from the Bills that hasn't been beat?

Yes, Cooper is a quiet guy but didn't you see him suit up for the KC game with the cast? He made that key catch one handed catch with the broken wrist - had to have felt that. It made KC change their coverage. It's possible that McD downplayed A Coopers arrival out of respect to the players already on the team. I imagine it doesn't go over well in the locker room when you say "thank god we got Cooper our WR room was one of the most pathetic in the league".

If Cook plays the full year as a 2 down back I don't think it helps him get the big money. He would end up with a similar year that he had in '24, which is excellent for the Bills but not for getting $15m/yr. If Cook waits until week 11 to come back, the emphasis to other teams would remain on his breakout '24 season stats, and he would still be able to sell his extrapolation/ascension model.

I don't see many saying it's good news. And even if Cook isn't an every down back, he is an exciting two down back. But D Henry the best 2 down back in the league is at $8Myr. While you state you're confident that Beane has a plan to play this out, I don't think you're going to like it. Weren't you saying "just give him the $13M", don't think that will happen. If there was any good news to be taken from this situation I think it comes more from the "don't pay an RB big money" crowd. And Beane may appreciate that the majority of the Bills fanbase looks at Cook as the culprit in the negotiation standstill.

No, Cook does not have to play the full year. Part of the problem is Cook (and his team) feel he is worth big money now. They want to be paid for the anticipated continued rise in his play - not on the basis of the stats he has put up. They want to use the Dr model above where they are paid on an extrapolated basis of what could be if he were a 3 down back. If he plays next year and puts up similar stats, he would be viewed as plateaued and paid as a two down back - a D Henry rate, maybe adjusted upward a little for inflation- not near the $15M he has been posting. This could be the underlying motive to post what he did on social media. The Cook team see his value at his peak right now - there can be a team with a DrDawkinstein view of Cooks extrapolated worth and the Cook team realizes another year of the same stats will tarnish that.

That's what I thought, which would mean back around week 11 (in this terrible scenario). Previously, I thought they could wait until 2026 for a round 3/4 RB - they have R Davis and Ty for 2 more years. But now I think the FO will take one in what many consider to be a good RB year.

One of the potential problems though is Cook playing out his contract does not mean starting the season playing the first few games. If Cook goes nuclear I don't think he has to come back until after the halfway point of the season for it to count (isn't it week 11?). That's a painful hit to a team that has aspirations of snagging the #1 seed - every game matters. We'll get an indicator of how ugly the negotiations are with the draft. If the Bills pick up an RB in the 4th it will not be a good sign.