Sierra Foothills

The downside of the strategy you describe is that the Bills got middling returns on Devin Singletary and Zack Moss and it's too early to say how Ray Davis will pan out. The James Cook pick appears to be a home run and if they let him walk, he'll more likely be replaced with another Singletary/Moss/Davis than another James Cook. The argument implied by many here is that the Bills can get 90% of Cook's productivity at a fraction of the cost... but that 10% productivity loss might be the difference between a true weapon and just another solid back.

So just to go full circle, the Bills have recently overpaid for wide receivers in free agency who have not yet panned out but they can't reach an agreement with James Cook who was a huge part of the offense and a homegrown guy who had 18 TD last year including runs of 65, 49, 46, and 41 yards. I appreciate that a well-run team has to exercise contract discipline but if they're gonna overpay, who best to overpay? Also, what is the projected return on investment for any given contract?

I believe they want to try a splenectomy first to see if that works.

Wow Doc. I really respect your opinions but I'm not really sure what to say except, what do you consider going all-in? If the Bills sent a 2nd round pick for Metcalf and signed him to a 4 year $132 million contract with $60 million guaranteed at signing, you wouldn't consider the Bills as going all-in?

If that's the case, can you please prove it? On what basis are you contradicting the reporting of The Athletic?

This discussion really doesn't work unless we're more specific about contract details. Really the question is, what is a contract that is commensurate with the impact that Cook makes on the field? That said I agree with the OP that there's this groupthink regarding running backs which causes teams (and fans) to be dogmatic and not diligent enough about running back valuation. Philly and Baltimore are arguably the best managed franchises in the NFL and both saw the wisdom of a big money contract for a running back. As a regular reader of this forum it's my opinion that James Cook is not valued as highly as he should be and I agree with the OP's thesis. Cook to me is much closer to a "unicorn" than he is a "solid player" in my book. I see where people here are devaluing Cook due to % of snap counts. Running back by committee is a widespread league practice which is ostensibly to keep the running backs fresh and reduce their injury risk. This is a legit reason for the practice. However, limiting RB snaps also conveniently allows NFL teams to limit the contracts given to running backs and no one will ever convince me that the Bills aren't a better team with Cook in on 3rd downs instead of Ty Johnson. How much is Cook worth if he's getting 300 touches per year? Well we don't know that because the Bills don't give him the opportunity. Could he "take over a game?" I don't see why not based on his elite 99th percentile yards per touch over 3 years. Gabriel Davis' contract was 3 years, $39 million with $24 million guaranteed at signing. That's big money in my book. I'm not sure if @Simon was implying that the Bills don't trust Cook and have legit reasons to not trust him but it's unbelievable to me that in the Bills' biggest moment of need, that he was not on the field... and I don't chalk that up to to good decision making. Final thought... there are plenty of posters here who want to go "all-in" to win a Super Bowl and cite actions such as trading for DJ Metcalf etc. If you want to go all-in to win a Super Bowl, how about simply paying James Cook a few more million dollars?

Back to the topic at hand, The Athletic digest which I receive via email every day said this: "Stewart and his agents asked for a standard, slot contract for his draft position (No. 17). Cincinnati wants to set a new contractual precedent with more aggressive language around voided guarantees. Stewart understandably does not want to be a guinea pig for all players that come after him." I would agree with this characterization and Stewart's reaction, 100%.

Player Height Weight Arm Length Wingspan 40 Yard 10 Yard Split Elvis Dumervil 5'11.375 257 32.625" 76" 4.75 1.65 Javon Solomon 6' 246 33.875" 80.250" 4.72 1.65

In a nutshell (IMO), Josh deserved to win it in 2023 and was robbed... so last year was the makeup call.

From the link provided: "Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk was the first to notice and reached out to the Associated Press, who had this to say: “AP removed an invalid ballot that was inadvertently included in its NFL Awards tabulation and adjusted its point totals to reflect 49 voters instead of 50. The correction does not impact the winners or the list of finalists distributed by AP, and the change to the vote total was communicated to AP customers and readers.” So Josh Allen is still the MVP, but what about the missing vote? According to Florio, NBC Sports’ colleague Tony Dungy’s vote was not counted and Diante Lee of The Ringer was counted twice. The Associated Press noted that Dungy had voted for Lamar Jackson for MVP, but Dungy denied that to Florio. As it turns out, Josh Allen received 28 votes for NFL MVP to Lamar Jackson’s 22."

FWIW, yesterday from the horse's mouth: “Physical. Downhill. Violent. Leadership. Encouraging others. Tone setter. Trash talker,” he said. “I’m a team guy first, right? I want my teammates to eat, whether that’s me blitzing and sacrificing myself for somebody else to make a play.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Abbott "James Anthony Abbott (born September 19, 1967) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the California Angels, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, and Milwaukee Brewers, from 1989 to 1999. He was successful at the major league level despite having been born without a right hand."

Again, the "whatever the market will bear" doesn't necessarily equate with "fair market price." There are millions of people who helped the NFL build itself into what it is today... now many of those people are priced out. What is a fair market price? So you can afford NFL Sunday Ticket, and before that GamePass. That's nice. Not everyone can. It's quite a coincidence that the people who think this is much ado about nothing are the same people who can afford to pay the price. As I said upthread, I can afford to pay to watch games and I do. But I don't like the direction that the owners are choosing and I will walk away when/if it gets to a certain point. And I don't blame those who choose to pirate games. Some of them are protesting what they believe to be unfair business practices and believe that piracy is a legitimate reaction to greed. I don't disagree with them. The late Jim Irsay paid $4 million for a guitar. These owners own private yachts and airplanes, private art collections, etc. That is absolutely their prerogative but if you are not content to simply be wealthy but aspire to be ultra-wealthy... well you just might possibly be greedy... or do you think greed doesn't exist? There's a difference between wanting to maximize your investment and being so selfish that you are price gouging and alienating those customers who helped you build your business.

Never in his career was Jaire Alexander a player that could be counted on to stay healthy: In dog years... never mind, he's not "a dog."

I've heard of him so there's that! Git 'er DONE BEANE!!!!!

I've heard of him!

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Peacocks drive a lot of people up the wall. Many counties now prohibit ownership of them because of how noisy they are.

That's what happens when you get old. 😆

Wishing Kim a continuing and substantial recovery. All the best.

Then you'll be happy to know that he's made $5,824,929 in his NFL career.

You should start a new topic... but for the best responses, make sure it's vague or misleading.

Someone should tell Reggie Gilliam to focus more on football and less on leaking stories to the media.

I think a more appropriate question is: What... is the sound of one hand clapping? (this is a rhetorical question... no need to answer)