Is Cook worth it?

[Toyo321]

Yes and no, he is important to the team but is he worth 15 Million, no way..  He is no Sequon Barkley or Jahmyr Gibbs by any means.   Barkley is a better running back by every metric.  Jahmyr Gibbs is a much more explosive back and runner than James.  James I believe is a better run after the catch type of guy but he does not have the power of the other two backs I mentioned.

But it comes down how he is used in our offence in which he excels.  Honestly I think he can be replaced as well, with any top RB coming out of college today, they are all a dime a dozen, and they all have unreal speed and they all can catch the ball.  Is 15 million to much yes, 8 to 10 million maybe.

 

This is my opinion and everyone will have a different take on Cook and how he benefits this team as a player.  But he is replaceable.

[balln]

4 hours ago, Toyo321 said:

Yes and no, he is important to the team but is he worth 15 Million, no way..  He is no Sequon Barkley or Jahmyr Gibbs by any means.   Barkley is a better running back by every metric.  Jahmyr Gibbs is a much more explosive back and runner than James.  James I believe is a better run after the catch type of guy but he does not have the power of the other two backs I mentioned.

But it comes down how he is used in our offence in which he excels.  Honestly I think he can be replaced as well, with any top RB coming out of college today, they are all a dime a dozen, and they all have unreal speed and they all can catch the ball.  Is 15 million to much yes, 8 to 10 million maybe.

 

This is my opinion and everyone will have a different take on Cook and how he benefits this team as a player.  But he is replaceable.

He is pretty comparable to Gibbs. Go watch the lions game again. Tell me who’d you rather have. Anyone’s “replaceable.” We can put Devin Singletary and Zach moss back there again if you want. 
 

you then contradict yourself by saying “any top RB” is dime a dozen. What?

 

you just don’t think he’s worth 15M got it.  That fine.
 

Up until this year the power question was valid. But this year James cook really put that to bed. Honestly sick of the gaslighting of people to try and justify their $ argument. Dude runs thru KC defense in AFC Championship game. And again go back to lions game - I believe his first td run - he runs thru 5 dudes at the goal line with awesome contact balance 

 

he’s our most explosive offensive weapon outside of Josh. I don’t where I fall on the $ number. But if Shakir , Benford , Groot got paid who are all solid players…. James cook needs to be paid … it’s that simple. 

[oldmanfan]

15 million?  No.  10 million pus some incentive bonuses?  I’d take it.

[SoCal Deek]

I’ll chime in again here. Many of you are simply asking and answering the wrong question. The question is NOT what’s he worth in the league. The question is what’s he worth to the Buffalo Bills? Based on his production for the Bills he deserves to be paid as the 15th highest RB. Almost exactly in the middle of the pack. Based on his potential production for another team that number would almost certainly be much higher. But …other teams don’t have the NFL’s reigning MVP at quarterback who’s expected to carry the team in a passing dominate league. 

[jethro_tull]

His house is up for sale.  That's all you get for $3/4 mil in OP?  

  https://t.co/P7yZufNwoP" 

Edited 6 hours ago by jethro_tull

[nedboy7]

I don’t think this team will be the same without him.  They need to figure this out.  

[davefan66]

5 minutes ago, nedboy7 said:

I don’t think this team will be the same without him.  They need to figure this out.  

I believe I said previously I’d be ok with Davis and Ty Johnson, with Gore Jr. being elevated as the 3rd.  

 

Watched some games from last season. Cook is football fast. Gets the extra yards.  Is an absolute asset.  Love Davis, but he’s not the same guy..may get there. Ty Johnson is excellent, but he is the guy who spells the starter and is a great pass catcher.

 

Is he worth 15 million? No. 10 million? Yes. Bills could even go 12.5 and get this done. Cap is an illusion.

 

Fun fact.  Both James Cook and Ray Davis were both born in 1999, 3 months apart.

[bmur66]

He is a year or two out from being routinely shoestring tackled. If he gets a fat and happy contract I’m not convinced we see the same player we saw last year. I hope Beane can satisfy him for this year but keep him hungry for a new contract.

[Paup 1995MVP]

2 hours ago, SoCal Deek said:

I’ll chime in again here. Many of you are simply asking and answering the wrong question. The question is NOT what’s he worth in the league. The question is what’s he worth to the Buffalo Bills? Based on his production for the Bills he deserves to be paid as the 15th highest RB. Almost exactly in the middle of the pack. Based on his potential production for another team that number would almost certainly be much higher. But …other teams don’t have the NFL’s reigning MVP at quarterback who’s expected to carry the team in a passing dominate league. 

Great analysis.  We have a top 2 QB in the league.  An all timer.  And we are going to to pay our RB top 5 money?   That makes no sense.  We should be all in w the passing game.  Otherwise, why pay Josh $300+ million?  
 

if the offense is going to be run centric, then we certainly have the wrong coaching staff running things.  And speaking of which, I think Joe Brady still has a lot to prove in his play calling, scheme etc.  Our short yardage play calls against KC in the Championship were absolutely terrible.  👎👎

[RichRiderBills]

I think cook is a great talent and I like him. He's a good kid. I'm hoping he signs for a reasonable deal at some point. 

 

I don't know necessarily if cook is worth it. I just look at the trade-off and what we were in the past before cook. We're basically achieving the same benchmarks, although I think the nature of the offense has changed. 

 

He's a playmaker that teams have to game plan around but he's also a platoon player and I think if we used him more often as an every down running back he would get hurt. 

 

The Bill's system is a platoon system. It just doesn't afford paying big bucks to one of the running backs. 

 

So my ultimate response is no. Not a big multi-year contract for 15 mil per year. What I would do is make him play this year at $5 to 6 million per year, worse comes the worst. You could franchise him at around 12 to 13 million for the next year. 

 

Contrary to popular belief he can't hold out this year. There's really no pathway for him to do it and get vested. This was explained the other day on one Bill's live. 

 

I just want to also add that you're going to have to sink some more money into the o-line in the next couple years. Ocyrus Torrance is a stud. Connor is coming up too and a couple others. We've struggled to get a great o-line in Buffalo for years. I hope we maintain the commitment. 

Edited 4 hours ago by RichRiderBills

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

I don’t get the stress around Cook. He has to play this year, or his market value takes a hit.

 

If I am him and the Bills, maybe the deal is: “if we can’t reach a deal now, Bills agree to not franchise him after the season, and both sides keep talking.”

[pennstate10]

58 minutes ago, RichRiderBills said:

I think cook is a great talent and I like him. He's a good kid. I'm hoping he signs for a reasonable deal at some point. 

 

I don't know necessarily if cook is worth it. I just look at the trade-off and what we were in the past before cook. We're basically achieving the same benchmarks, although I think the nature of the offense has changed. 

 

He's a playmaker that teams have to game plan around but he's also a platoon player and I think if we used him more often as an every down running back he would get hurt. 

 

The Bill's system is a platoon system. It just doesn't afford paying big bucks to one of the running backs. 

 

So my ultimate response is no. Not a big multi-year contract for 15 mil per year. What I would do is make him play this year at $5 to 6 million per year, worse comes the worst. You could franchise him at around 12 to 13 million for the next year. 

 

Contrary to popular belief he can't hold out this year. There's really no pathway for him to do it and get vested. This was explained the other day on one Bill's live. 

 

I just want to also add that you're going to have to sink some more money into the o-line in the next couple years. Ocyrus Torrance is a stud. Connor is coming up too and a couple others. We've struggled to get a great o-line in Buffalo for years. I hope we maintain the commitment. 

Is that correct about vesting?

I seem to remember another player (not Bills) holding out until game 8 or so, because that was the latest he could wait and still get pension credit. 

[noacls17]

No, he is a 2down back who plays less than 50% of snaps whose pass blocking is atrocious.  

[Kirby Jackson]

The Cook situation is an interesting one. Josh excluded, he’s clearly the best playmaker on the offense. He’s been really good in big games. He is a big play waiting to happen and a quality receiver. He’s young and has low mileage. I looked at it either before or after this season (think it was after) and he only has 70 more touches than Ray Davis through college & the NFL!! Cook is still ascending. 
 

The flip side is he’s a RB. He can’t pass block limiting his snaps. RBs are found all the time. It’s the one position that you can throw a body at and it’ll work. The Bills have 2 other capable options on the roster already. Are these options as good as Cook? No; they certainly aren’t. Is Cook at $12.5M (where I think it will be) a better option than the current stable plus a draft pick (or JK Dobbins if Cook actually holds out this year)? That is the question. 

[SirAndrew]

5 hours ago, Paup 1995MVP said:

Great analysis.  We have a top 2 QB in the league.  An all timer.  And we are going to to pay our RB top 5 money?   That makes no sense.  We should be all in w the passing game.  Otherwise, why pay Josh $300+ million?  
 

if the offense is going to be run centric, then we certainly have the wrong coaching staff running things.  And speaking of which, I think Joe Brady still has a lot to prove in his play calling, scheme etc.  Our short yardage play calls against KC in the Championship were absolutely terrible.  👎👎

I agree about overpaying Cook, but I don’t love the way this situation has played out. We made the choice to move to a scheme that was more run heavy. Cook produced, and now we don’t want to pay him that amount. I think it would be a huge overpay, but the run heavy scheme would need to be thrown out without Cook.
 

Additionally, this run heavy scheme means nothing if we can’t gain one yard on multiple occasions in a title game. Unfortunately, most fans prefer to blame Kincaid. We’re possibly in the Super Bowl if we knew how to pick up one yard.