BillsFanForever19

Doug Flutie the GOAT

It's pretty clear reading between the lines of Beane's words and their official label of "Defensive Back" on everything that Jordan Hancock's role on this team is the eventual successor for Cam Lewis as the floating backup Nickel CB and Safety. Even in the little bit he spoke to the media he said "really everywhere" when asked where they were trying him out at. He even talked about learning multiple playbooks for multiple positions. in Year 1, the ceiling for him is that he impresses enough that they cut Cam Lewis this year and Hancock is the first guy up if there's an injury to Taron Johnson or to one of the starting Safeties. There's almost no chance they're going to take a late 5th Round Pick that is learning multiple playbooks and being split between multiple positions in Training Camp and start them at Safety in Year 1. Especially with how conservative McDermott generally is with Rookies. He and Strong were brought in to replace guys like Lewis and Ingram, improve the depth, evaluate, and develop them for potentially larger roles in Year 2 and beyond. Strong is also definitely an Outside CB in this Defense and is the Double Down insurance to Hairston (like with Benford's 6th Round selection to Elam's 1st in 2022).

You weren't stupid for that. The league hadn't yet exploded into the all out passing league it became and the kind of hero ball, keep a play alive QB play that's made the pocket passer all but extinct. It was true then and it's true now, 99.9% of the time if you're inaccurate in College - it isn't going to improve in the Pro's. Josh is the 0.1%. But he's the exception and not the rule. It's been proven in recent years with the Drafting of guys like Trey Lance and Anthony Richardson that Drafting a QB based solely on size, a big arm, and some tools is practically always going to blow up in your face. Josh is just a unicorn. Even after having Josh Allen, if we're in a situation like 2018 again and the prospects are what they were then - I'd still be against taking the Josh Allen like prospect.

Exactly this. If anyone's a Nickel, it's Hancock. He's set to take over the Cam Lewis floating DB Backup Safety and Nickel role as soon as this season. Also exactly this. If we cut him after Training Camp, we'd save nothing and take on an 8+m Dead Cap hit. With the kind of depth (or lack thereof) at the WR core we have right now and the financials involved, there's really no scenario where Curtis Samuel isn't on the roster.

Yeah, he'd probably make around 50k a year in the CFL as a top CFL Draft Pick. The NFL Practice Squad pays 12.5k a week. So while it's unlikely he makes the 53, if they offer him a Practice Squad spot - he'll more than likely take that over the CFL. On top of the higher pay, you never know when someone might get hurt and that could be your big break. Generally, CFL Draft Picks exhaust all of their NFL options first before reporting.

I was looking up info on some of the Undrafted guys we're bringing to camp. It seemed as though Hayden Harris was one of the top guys we brought in Undrafted. When I was looking into him, I noticed that he was just a top pick in the CFL Draft. Will be interesting to see how he performs in Camp and if he makes the Practice Squad. If nothing else, it looks like he's got a pretty good fallback plan if things don't work out in his NFL Training Camp opportunity.

While I agree it's likely he's cut - I could see a number of ways he could make it: 1.) He blows their socks off in Training Camp and the Pre-Season and they cut bait on Moore 2.) Elijah Moore doesn't impress in the offseason and/or proves to not be a fit in the locker room. 3.) There's an injury to one of the Top 5 presumed guys during the offseason. If 2 or 3 happens, it would most likely come down to him or Shavers - as Shenault to me seems more for Special Teams and Return ability and as such would be kept as a "6th WR" instead of Codrington as a "6th CB". The difference there is a 5th Round Pick is generally expected to be rostered. A late 7th Round pick generally isn't.

He'll be 22 years old come Draft time next season and will have been at Texas for 3 seasons. Given his pedigree, if he performs as expected this season - I don't think another year would improve his stock any and could only set himself up for hurting it with injury and he'd be cutting into his NFL years by a year or two by entering the 2027 Draft at 23. He may opt to stay. But if he plays like a Manning, his stock will be as high as it could be.

The Saints have said that they plan to do a competition between Hough, Rattler, and Haener - https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/kellen-moore-declares-open-qb-competition-among-tyler-shough-jake-haener-spencer-rattler That might be lip service for now. But it might be true. One thing to keep in mind is Arch Manning is coming out in 2026. So teams may be bypassing on getting a QB that would win them some games this year in hopes that they can land him next offseason. The Giants signing Winston, then signing Wilson, then Drafting Dart is kind of an odd situation. As was the Browns trading for Kenny Pickett, signing Joe Flacco, and then Drafting both Gabriel and Sanders. Both seem like situations where the QB situation is nowhere and they're just grabbing up everything they can to throw against a wall and see what sticks this year.

Has nothing to do with it. Both Hoecht and Ogunjobi will be at Training Camp. And we've got a full DL squad already without them between carry over, other signings, and the Draft. Ogunjobi is signed to a 1 year 6.96m deal, of which 5.42m of that is fully guaranteed. And they put pen to paper on that after they found out about the suspension. If he wasn't going to be here, they'd have either a.) Ripped up the contract completely and not signed him or b.) Removed or drastically dropped the guaranteed money. Cutting him doesn't make any sense. It's just setting fire to about 5 and half million dollars. If they didn't want to deal with the suspension, they could have just walked away when they found out about it. I know you wish they did other things along the DL. But guys like Ogunjobi, Epenesa, and Jones are all pretty much guaranteed to be on the roster this season - no matter how many trade or cut posts you make about them (same for Kincaid). Get comfy with the roster we have at DL. You should be pleased with the amount of work he put into it. It's a drastically improved, deeper depth chart

How so? You don't see anyone saying he's Saquon Barkley and should be paid 20.1m a year. But the idea that he should be paid under half of that and the same as 30 year old Aaron Jones in 2026 is laughable. As is the idea that he's just any other RB and that he should be sat for Ray Davis. If anyone's doing anything beyond the dial, it would be you underrating the importance of him towards our offense's success.

You're proposing some sort of 'spank his bottom and teach him a lesson' thing, like he's a child. Again, that's not how professional football teams operate. It's a punishment fantasy you're trying to argue as a possibility bc you'd like to see him humbled, that isn't based in reality. The Buffalo Bills are a Billion Dollar results based organization. They need James Cook this year and James Cook needs them. They're paying him over 5 million dollars and he's their best RB. By a lot. They aren't going to hurt their chances to win by not playing one of their best players. Ray Davis isn't James Cook. And he's not James Cook's replacement, as you suggest. He's a 4th Round replacement for Nyheim Hines and Zack Moss before him. If Cook leaves after this season, they will Draft his replacement then. The Bills are a markedly lesser offense with Davis and Johnson than they are with Cook, Davis, and Johnson. Like @GunnerBill said, if he were to hold out at all (which as of now, doesn't seem to be in the cards), you might see a week or two that he doesn't dress. But that would be to get him up to speed, not to punish him. Argue this idea and/or hope for it all you want - it's not reality and it won't happen.

Went to High School in Syracuse and committed to Syracuse for Lacrosse, but then chose Football and switched to Nebraska. Played for Nebraska from 2018-2021. Then transferred to Oregon for 2022-2023. So it seems he spent 6 years in College. Undrafted Free Agent last year. Signed to the Giants Practice Squad. Activated to their 53 man roster on 12/7/24, then released and signed back to their Practice Squad on 12/24. Ultimately, just a camp body. But there must be something there that's interesting to be promoted to the 53, albeit briefly, as an Undrafted Rookie and then to be claimed off of Waivers by us.

You can doubt it all you want. What you're suggesting 1000% isn't going to happen. On top of the things Happy mentioned, it's simply biting off our own nose to spite our face. There's no scenario where what you suggest makes any sense. It's all negative, no positive. Beyond some sort of weird personal punishment fantasy you may have. At no point has there ever been a situation where there's been a contract dispute and the player is in house and a team said "I'll show them!" and sat a player that could help them win. This is simply not how NFL teams operate. All that would do is guarantee he's out of here after this year and make it so we didn't get the use of him we should have in the last year we have him. If that was what he was going to do, we would have just moved on this offseason.

Also says them who has taken the contract dispute incredibly personally for some reason and is angry to a point where it seems like James Cook attacked them in their DM's. He wants him gone so he dismisses the many positives and focuses only on the reasons he shouldn't be paid fair market value. That may or may not be true. We'll see what Beane's final offer is or isn't when he's resigned or is signed elsewhere. But you and others argue he's only worth X amount bc "he's only a 2 down back". But just because that's how he's used by McDermott doesn't mean that all 31 other teams in the league view him that way and would utilize him that way. Anyone with eyes, ears, and a voice criticized the Bills for taking him off the field and not using him more against KC. And that wasn't the only time throughout the year that people asked "why aren't they using Cook more"? There will definitely be teams that will use him more than we do and will be teams that will take less in protection to put one more weapon out on the field. Again, it's one thing for someone to say that they wouldn't pay more than 10-12 for a RB or for what he is on this team. It's another to say that his "market value" and view league wide is that bc that's how Buffalo uses him. And teams that view him as more in their offense will look at our usage as a net positive, as he has less wear and tear than your standard 26 year old RB. If you look at the players who have signed in that range, James Cook is a better, younger, healthier RB than those in that number. And that's not even taking into account the yearly rise in salary cap causing a rise in contract prices. When it's all said and done, 13m is the low end number I envision and it wouldn't shock me in the least if he got even more than the 15m he was asking for from someone. Often times their numbers aren't even that close. Take Josh Palmer this year with us for example. Their "market value" was 3 yrs, 12.8m. When it was all said and done, the number we had to pay to outbid everyone was 3 yrs, 28m. And to bring this back to Cook, this is an example of what I was just talking about. The "market value" was placed on him based on how LA used him. While we (and others as well) obviously viewed him as a player who would be used more on our team and paid him as such.

Spotrac is great for looking up done contracts. But their forecasting of "market values"? It's terrible. They constantly undervalue guys and predict wrong.

This was one of my favorite parts in the whole thing. Dude was really like "c'monnnnn it's just a little ole' 7th" 😄

Yes, he plays only 50% of snaps. But that's what we do with him here. Other teams may see a bigger role for him. And they may look at it is a net positive more than a negative because not only will he be 26 at the point of signing, he will have less wear and tear than most 26 year old Running Backs. Bills fans like to focus only on the negatives on the scouting report, usage in our system and pass blocking abilities (or lack thereof) to argue he should make less than market value. While ignoring the positives like age, wear and tear, stats, big plays at big times, speed, elusiveness, etc. For every RB (or any player for that matter), you can find negative things. They still get paid. Guys like McCaffrey and Barkley have had multiple serious injuries and are older than Cook. Kamara is at 12.5 and while he does stay on the field more, he is 29 and has had injuries. He also wasn't a great pass blocker in the beginning and grew into becoming better at it. 10m is the number 30 year old Aaron Jones is paid. There's no way James Cook is paid the same as Aaron Jones at 30 years old. 10-12m might be *your* max for what you'd be willing to pay him for his role in Buffalo. But I guarantee you, that's not what he'll be signing for. Whether that's here or elsewhere. Your absolute max price is about 500k to 1m less than what I'd expect the low number to be if he has another season like last year - based on recent contracts for the position and the continual rise in cap. Everyone? You mean this season? Bc I can think of a number of people who have left us for more money elsewhere over the years. Tremaine Edmunds, Gabe Davis, Harrison Phillips, Leonard Floyd, Jordan Phillips, Shaq Lawson, even guys like Levi Wallace and Dane Jackson left when someone offered them slightly more money than what we'd pay. The RB position is a different situation too. Often times you've got one chance to really cash in. As once a RB hits 30, they're more often than not the same player.

That's another side of it. If Beane wasn't interested in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, or 2024, at times when we needed help at DE (as opposed to this year) - why would he be interested now? He's already passed on him for other players on 5 separate occasions. And ultimately, 2025 Clowney doesn't feel like much of an upgrade for us (if any) for any other position than the bottom of the rotation. And he'll have better opportunities elsewhere. I don't. *Maybe* Week 7 if everyone in the DE room stays healthy and there's nowhere else on the roster that's had injuries and opened up a roster spot. But to move him now would be to only have 4 DE's until Week 7, at a position where we always carry 5. Bosa isn't going to be taking more than 50% of snaps. So you'd be asking a 3rd Round Pick to be taking 50% or more of the snaps right out of the gate as a Rookie. If there's any injuries before Week 7, you're down to straight up relying on Jackson and Solomon to be taking way more snaps than they should. Which is a distinct possibility as Bosa is historically an injury waiting to happen. Not only would an injury have us relying on Jackson and Solomon - it would bring us down to just 3 DE's on the roster. So, yeah, I wouldn't expect to see AJE going anywhere until Week 7 - if at all.

Official numbers are in. 1 year, 2.5m fully guaranteed with 2.5m in possible incentives. So he did take about a million less to sign with us than the Browns UFA Tag offer.

You'll just have to get used to that. 80's for a WR is an antiquated practice. Nowadays, that's looked at as a Tight End number. League wide, almost everyone wears a number between 0 and 19. Looking at our presumed Top 5, they're all in the 0-18 range.

Agreed. I'm happy with a 4 man rotation of Groot, Bosa, Epenesa, and Jackson (with Solomon as 5) to start the year. Keep them all and come Week 7 if everyone stays healthy, you worry about making room for Hoecht then - if we even have to. Losing Miller and Smoot and gaining Bosa, Hoecht, and Jackson is a big time upgrade. We don't need to do anything else at DE and I don't think Clowney is an upgrade over what we have now.

What are you "hearing about" from him? Him posting a picture of he and Josh celebrating? The guy wants to be paid market fair market value (of which you're lowballing). So what? I'll never understand fans like you that get personally offended and lash out over business. If he was talking crap about Josh or the team like Diggs, i'd get it. But all he's ever talked about is his feeling he should be paid more. He should. And It's not your money. I don't get why you're so angry as to be constantly personally insulting him. Brandon Beane isn't bothered or angry about it. Why are you?

10m is not well paid for the type of player he is. That's an underpay. That's what 30 year old Aaron Jones is being paid. Josh Jacobs is making 12m. Alvin Kamara at 29, who's a very similar RB is making 12.5. It's fine to say that you personally wouldn't pay for a RB. But to suggest 10m is "well paid" or a solid offer for who he is isn't accurate.

That's exactly my take away. I remember listening to him on his infamous WGR rant talk about the strength of their Offensive Line and the Running Game and thinking "hold on - you're not paying your top Running Back either". It's clear in his words and actions that a move like Pittsburgh made for DK Metcalf is something he's simply not going to do now that we've paid Josh what he's being paid (on top of the mountain of guys he chooses to retain every year). My hope for Cook is that he puts in another very good year and that at the start of the offseason if we haven't gotten a deal done that works for both sides already, we Transition Tag him. So long as there isn't any ridiculous overpay offers, match it.