BillsFanForever19

Palmer will be starting. That's a given with the contract we signed him to and the relative lack of star power at the position. With only 5 WR's, Shakir exclusively in the Slot and Samuel at least 50% in the Slot, Moore will see his fair share of reps whether or not he's starting. If Coleman doesn't impress during the regular season, Moore may cut into his number of reps more than expected. But i'd be surprised if he outright supplanted him for the role in Week 1, regardless of how he looks.

I'd bet most of these "injuries" would have players not even missing practices if it were the regular season. They're *incredibly* pre-cautionary with things this time of year. If someone says "eh, i'm feeling a little tight but I'm good to go" they're gonna say "sit the f-ck down".

Don't sound so excited 😆 It cracks me up how enraged people were over a completely theoretical holdout. Like you were screaming to trade and replace him during the Draft over something that was only so much as a non-verbalized possibility and now that it didn't happen - the same people sound disappointed that he didn't do it and is in the building.

Incorrect. He has not signed yet. Nor has TJ Sanders or Deone Walker. There are new things in place that guarantee protections and the contract regardless of injury, allowing unsigned Draft picks to practice without having been signed.

Even if we hadn't signed Shaq Thompson, we wouldn't pay that much for a backup MLB. He'll probably be starting for Vegas as well. So, yeah, wasn't going to happen.

Yeah, the Lions game last year when he was lined up on Jameo was so tough to watch. Not only him getting torched on the reg, but the look on his face that seemed to read "i'm done". I hoped that returning to a zone scheme that he's much more comfortable with and familiar with that provided him help would make him look at least good enough to be the 3rd or 4th Boundary CB off the bench on the 53. But with each day and each new report, it seems like that's not the case, at least thus far. I had him and Strong penciled in after Benford, Hairston, and Taron. But I think he's going to be hard pressed to beat out Dane Jackson and/or Ja'Marcus Ingram at this rate Today was the first time I saw something positive tweeted about him. But even then, it was followed by another negative report:

My expectations are that he'll be on the 53, but we shouldn't want to see much of him. With the depth at Defensive End we have, if we're noticing him on the field very often - that means we've had injuries.

If you reduce James Cook to just the Touchdowns, you're neglecting 228 of his 246 touches. Averaging 4.9 yards on the ground and 8.1 yards per reception. A whole lot of yardage that extended the sticks and gave good field position for others to score. That's just as important, if not more. I think you're also downplaying some of those TD's as well. The league is full of athletic RB's that either lack the vision or the decisiveness to find and hit those holes as quick as he does. There's plenty of fast backs that don't get to the edge because they took the wrong angles. You come across as if you're saying "any fast RB could do what he did". I don't think that's accurate. If you feel that some overestimate his value, that's fair. But I think this evaluation swings the pendulum too far to the other side.

No... that's not what you said. That's what you're saying now. Before you were saying:

Your take was that he's "not doing the right things", "isn't a team player", and compared him to Diggs. Now you're moving the goal posts to he won't be a Bill next season. I think even the ones (like myself) who are saying you're taking things too far see that as likely. My dude - you're the one comparing him to Diggs, still holding a grudge and saying "let's see how this ages" even after he showed up to Mini Camp and didn't even "Hold In". If anyone's (strangely) taking things too personally, it's you.

Oof. This seems to be a trend thus far and is sad to hear. I think we all saw that his time in LA last year was a disaster. He looked better in Baltimore, but I don't think he looked particularly very good either like fans like to say. Just much better relative to being a disaster. I think we all want Tre to be on the roster this season. But he needs to look like a player we can call up on if Hairston isn't ready or someone gets injured if he's going to be on the 53. We're all rooting on him. But I've yet to hear anything from reporters about him beyond him having a bad day

I would say that calling him "nothing close to a Superstar" is underrating him more than calling him a "Superstar" is overrating him. I think you'd be hard pressed to find an NFL fan, of any team, that doesn't know who James Cook is.

Would you now? I thought you wanted to start Ray Davis?

That's why we have Dorian Williams and signed Shaq Thompson. We also have guys like Edefuan Olofoshio at OLB and Joe Andreesen at MLB who are entering Year 2 in their development. It always cracks me up when you see us Draft or Sign someone who isn't who you had your heart set on for the position and you go "let's forget about him and go get my guy" immediately after the move happens. That's not how it works.

He tore it on 9/30/24. It will be over 11 months come Week 1. Modern medical Achilles rehabilitation in the NFL has made leaps and bounds from the old days. It used to be a Full Year or more. In recent years, we've seen guys return much quicker than that. I think it's very likely he's ready to roll Week 1. As for the signing itself, I love it. I've been saying all offseason that I was surprised we did nothing for the LB room. Especially at Middle Linebacker. It was crazy to me that they didn't even bring in so much as some competition underneath Bernard - where we only had Joe Andreeseen and Baylon Spector. Thompson missed the past two years with injuries. Before that though, he was a very good starter. A broken leg shouldn't hamper someone long term. An Achilles can, but not as much as a Torn ACL. If he can stay healthy, I think he has the potential to be a great Backup. I'd def feel more comfortable with Shaq than Buffalo Joe and especially Spector.

The Anti-Cook crew around here have to be in shambles today.

You think that they're not going to sign their Draft Picks? When has that ever happened with any team? If the season started today, Maxwell Hairston, TJ Sanders, and Deone Walker wouldn't be suiting up for us either. What's your point?

Struggling? Even with paying both WR's - they're STILL 32 Million Under the Cap this season and 69 Million Under the Cap next season? They're not "struggling" to pay their Defensive End. They simply don't want to pay their Defensive End what he wants. It's a shame they didn't spend the 17th Pick in the Draft on a quality Edge Rusher prospect like Shemar Stewart... Oh wait, they did exactly that.

I think Kenneth Davis was a more complete RB than Ray Davis is. Ray is a good change of pace back with more power than Cook. But I find it ridiculous to want Davis to start over Cook. Or that we'd be fine without Cook bc we have Davis. He's a completely different RB. He's a 4.55, 3.9 yard average guy - who's got average vision and runs kind of tight. He was brought in to replace Nyheim Hines' roster spot and the role that Zack Moss had before him. And he was pretty good last season in that Zack Moss, Frank Gore role for us. But at no point did I think "we should be playing Ray over James". Ray Davis was not Drafted in the 4th Round to be the heir apparent to James Cook. If/when James Cook leaves Buffalo, his true replacement will most likely come on Day 2 of the 2026 Draft and will be a similar style RB with speed and elusiveness.

Yeah, they lost Joe Burrow for the season in early November 2023. Injuries and a slow start derailed them early. They were one of the hottest teams in the league down the stretch. One of only a couple that I truly feared us playing. In large part bc of their Offensive firepower.

I could be. What do you think wins you more Football games? Having Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins lined up on teams CB2 with a lesser MLB or just Chase and a slightly better MLB?

Spot on interpretation of how I see things. I see the CB room (at the moment) being Benford, Hairston, Johnson, White, and Strong (technically also Codrington if he sticks as the return guy). Hancock is listed as a 'DB' on the official roster. Beane said he sees him playing all over and Hancock himself has said he's being used all over and has multiple playbooks. So he's a Nickel CB and Safety. Which of course was what Cam Lewis was for us last year. I think they see Hancock as a more talented, cheaper version of Lewis. I believe he was brought in to compete and replace Lewis on the Depth Chart, freeing up 1.75m in Cap by doing so. It's just a question of whether or not he proves ready to do so in Year 1 at both Backup Nickel and Safety. Lewis fell under the Safety depth chart as a "DB". I think that's the easiest place to slot Hancock. I think if he's ready, Lewis is gone and Hancock just slides into his spot. If he looks like he needs some time, then they keep Lewis too this year and we'll be 5 deep at Safety and 10 deep in the Secondary.

If you have the ability to have not one, but two bonafide WR1's on your roster and fit it in your salary cap (as the Bengals did) - it would be absurd not to do that. WR is a premium position. If I had one complaint about Beane, it's that he allocates too much cap to non-premium positions. Making it difficult to make big moves at premium positions. I'm jealous that Cinci is the kind of place that realizes that if it comes down to not paying a LB so that you can pay a top end WR - you do that. Um... it comes down to his market. I do believe that Middle Linebacker is the least deep position on the team and have been surprised that no one has been brought in to at least compete with Buffalo Joe and Baylon Spector. I like Joe. He exceeded expectations as a UDFA from UB. But is he someone I think we should be relying on if something were to happen to Bernard? No, I don't. If Pratt has starting options or people offering him any sort of big money (relative to what he is), than no. But if his market is one in which he's willing to take a backup gig for backup money for us - absolutely.

Cook went about it the way that multiple stars in this league go about it every single year. That doesn't make him "not a team player" and it certainly doesn't make him "Diggs". It's buisness, it happens. It's not personal. Beane is going about things the right way. You aren't getting a 2nd Round Pick for a Running Back, with one year left on his deal, who is publicly angling for big money. DK Metcalf only got a Late 2nd. You'd be lucky to get a Late 3rd. And the Draft has already happened. So there's no replacing him this season. Any trade would result in a 2026 Draft Pick and do nothing to help the team this season. So we'd be better off keeping him, even if he did hold out (which doesn't appear likely). We'll likely get more with a 2027 Compensatory Pick for using him this year and letting him walk than we would trading him.