Is Cook worth it?

[nuklz2594]

On 8/14/2025 at 5:06 AM, Sojourner said:

Disagree man. 
 

Those past playoffs alone proves he was a top 10 guy in this league. Easily. Especially the Chiefs game. 

Liquor is a bad excuse.

I don't eat crow. I prefer my raven with franks and Bleu cheese 

[DrDawkinstein]

Are we regressing to the mean yet?

 

On track for 16+ TDs. Over 5 YPC last night without a 40+ to skew the average. Our go-to in short yardage, punching it in from the 1 again.

 

Leading the league with 15 1st down conversion runs (no need to worry about 3rd down)

 

Called "the most overshadowed Superstar" on the broadcast due to playing with Josh.

 

Featured on "That Boy Bad!" this morning.

 

[Sierra Foothills]

On 9/15/2025 at 5:41 AM, BarleyNY said:

Let’s not revise what was said. Lotta people said to give him what he wanted, which was $15M AAV. Or didn’t even put a number to it at all. It’s difficult for me to understand why those fans get to take a victory lap on this. OTOH, some of us wanted him extended for almost exactly what he ended up getting. I was very happy with where it all eventually landed. He got a little more guaranteed and a little less AAV than I estimated. Beane held firm and did a great job on this one. Kudos to him. 

 

In this topic are dozens of posts stating that there would not be a substantial drop-off from Cook to Davis and Johnson. There are dozens of posts stating that "you don't pay running backs... that it's a low value position."

 

There was even posts along the lines of "Josh calls Johnson the best 3rd down back in football, I'd like to see him get more touches."

 

There are pages of really bad takes in this topic... from people who discounted or dismissed Cook's value to this team.

 

There are also dozens of posts from people that couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that $15 million was a starting point and that based all of their opinions on that number.

 

The cherry on top is that Cook is showing that $15 million isn't necessarily out of line.

 

Edited September 19 by Sierra Foothills

[BarleyNY]

2 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

In this topic are dozens of posts stating that there would not be a substantial drop-off from Cook to Davis and Johnston. There are dozens of posts stating that you don't pay running backs... that it's a low value position.

 

There was even posts along the lines of "Josh calls Johnson the best 3rd down back in football, I'd like to see him get more touches.

 

There are pages of really bad takes in this topic... from people who discounted or dismissed Cook's value to this team.

 

 

I’ve laid out what I thought Cook’s value was and why. Several times. I disagreed with the people saying pay him big money and I disagreed with the people saying not to extend him or to only do so at a pittance. What he got was right in line with my estimates of his value to the team and the RB market. He got more in effective guarantees (4 years vs 3) and less in effective AAV (≈$10M AAV on extended seasons vs $10.5M). I was very happy with how it turned out. He got paid his worth, but not overpaid and Beane didn’t buckle under the pressure so he didn’t incentivize other players to use those tactics in the future. 

[PoundingDog]

I now pay more attention to Cook than ever on how he does it. I do like what Herbstreit said that you just need a small crease for Cook to get thru. Somehow Cook is able to make himself small to go thru the small gaps very very fast. It aligns with his vision superbly. Then of course, the speed in open field. Last night there are a couple of runs he nearly break to the house.

[DrDawkinstein]

Just now, PoundingDog said:

I now pay more attention to Cook than ever on how he does it. I do like what Herbstreit said that you just need a small crease for Cook to get thru. Somehow Cook is able to make himself small to go thru the small gaps very very fast. It aligns with his vision superbly. Then of course, the speed in open field. Last night there are a couple of runs he nearly break to the house.

 

Very Thurman-like. He used to do the same.

[Royale with Cheese]

I changed my mind.  Cook is worth it.  

[SageAgainstTheMachine]

26 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

Are we regressing to the mean yet?

 

On track for 16+ TDs. Over 5 YPC last night without a 40+ to skew the average. Our go-to in short yardage, punching it in from the 1 again.

 

Leading the league with 15 1st down conversion runs (no need to worry about 3rd down)

 

Called "the most overshadowed Superstar" on the broadcast due to playing with Josh.

 

Featured on "That Boy Bad!" this morning.

 

This is a James Cook offense that happens to also feature the best football player in the world.  Kinda weird but it works.

[SCBills]

Just now, Royale with Cheese said:

I changed my mind.  Cook is worth it.  

Same. 

[DrDawkinstein]

By the time this season is over, $15M will seem reasonable.

 

By the time the next offseason is over, $17M would seem reasonable.

 

Let's not quibble over paying our stars ever again. Especially when we're paying Curtis "healthy scratch" Samuel $9M.

 

(I do wonder/worry if we see Cook hold out again in the next year or two to get his number more in line with Jonathan Taylor)

[PoundingDog]

16 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Very Thurman-like. He used to do the same.

My friend who works for a sports agency (low level) says it is Cook's timing to the hole that makes him special. Those creases that open and close very fast and Cook has the knack to hit them at the exact time. Davis does not do that.

[DrDawkinstein]

3 minutes ago, PoundingDog said:

My friend who works for a sports agency (low level) says it is Cook's timing to the hole that makes him special. Those creases that open and close very fast and Cook has the knack to hit them at the exact time. Davis does not do that.

 

Yeah. Davis is much more a "I'm going to run full speed at where the hole is supposed to be whether it's there or not" player. Which is fine.

 

Cook has more patience and vision to create runs on his own.

 

As Dion said, Cook makes the line look better.

[Ray Stonada]

Always thought he should be paid. He’s a big play machine.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

If cook could find a way to stay on his feet on those shoestring tackles I feel like he might be the best player in the league haha his vision is crazy.  I’m usually in the ‘any decent rb can run through the holes OLs open up crowd’ but cook is def doing things other guys just don’t do 

Edited September 19 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[HappyDays]

1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said:

Are we regressing to the mean yet?

 

On track for 16+ TDs. Over 5 YPC last night without a 40+ to skew the average. Our go-to in short yardage, punching it in from the 1 again.

 

Leading the league with 15 1st down conversion runs (no need to worry about 3rd down)

 

Called "the most overshadowed Superstar" on the broadcast due to playing with Josh.

 

Featured on "That Boy Bad!" this morning.

 

 

To my eyes he looks even better so far this year. We know he can break long TD runs, but what's really impressing me is how he is almost perfectly maximizing all of the available space on every run. Like if he doesn't get instantly stuffed he is picking up 5 yards at minimum and that's a testament to his vision and his ability to attack open space.

[FireChans]

1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said:

Are we regressing to the mean yet?

 

On track for 16+ TDs. Over 5 YPC last night without a 40+ to skew the average. Our go-to in short yardage, punching it in from the 1 again.

 

Leading the league with 15 1st down conversion runs (no need to worry about 3rd down)

 

Called "the most overshadowed Superstar" on the broadcast due to playing with Josh.

 

Featured on "That Boy Bad!" this morning.

 

 

7 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

To my eyes he looks even better so far this year. We know he can break long TD runs, but what's really impressing me is how he is almost perfectly maximizing all of the available space on every run. Like if he doesn't get instantly stuffed he is picking up 5 yards at minimum and that's a testament to his vision and his ability to attack open space.

Cook looks amazing this year and imo is having his best stretch as a pro. His short yardage running and wiggle is actually crazy this year. You watch some Cook plays from 2022 and he looks like 2 different players. 

 

Don't look now, but he's leading the league in rushing. Subject to change when everyone else gets a third game 

[NewEra]

16 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

If cook could find a way to stay on his feet on those shoestring tackles I feel like he might be the best player in the league haha his vision is crazy.  I’m usually in the ‘any decent rb can run through the holes OLs open up crowd’ but cook is def doing things other guys just don’t do 

He has kept his feet on handful of them.  He’s always leaning way forward once he starts to accelerate- gotta make it difficult to stay up when your ahead of your foundation like that

[DrDawkinstein]

6 minutes ago, FireChans said:

 

Don't look now, but he's leading the league in rushing. Subject to change when everyone else gets a third game 

 

Haha, I almost made that point in my post above but then realized he has an extra game so not fair. But he wont be far from the top even after Sunday.

[Mister Defense]

5 minutes ago, FireChans said:

 

Cook looks amazing this year and imo is having his best stretch as a pro. His short yardage running and wiggle is actually crazy this year. You watch some Cook plays from 2022 and he looks like 2 different players. 

 

Don't look now, but he's leading the league in rushing. Subject to change when everyone else gets a third game 

 

Yeah,  and our shock at any Bills' fan flippantly saying, 'Let 'em walk,' etcetera over the off season is till fresh in all of our heads.

 

That we can easily get a replacement...

 

...and Some saying they would very happy to get a 3rd round pick!!! (for the running back we chose in the 2nd round, a steal, and who we groomed into an elite back--a 3rd round pick!!!! Want to destroy an NFL team from the bottom up? Do outrageously stupid things like that.

 

 

...and that 13, 15 million a year was an outrageous number...

 

I will now say it again on here--by the end of this year the current contract, and even a 15 mil  a year one, will look like a tremendous bargain for what (almost-see my bold above) everyone, will consider to be one of the top backs in the league, if not the best back.

 

A vital cog in the best offense in the NFL

 

 

 

 

[HappyDays]

By the way not to spoil the James Cook thread but Ray Davis has been a total non factor this year. And the team knows it - he ended up with just 4 snaps last night. I'm at the point where I'd like to call Gore up for a game and see how it goes with him as the RB2.

 

Right now Cook is probably the #1 player on offense other than Allen that we couldn't afford to lose. That's crazy to say about a RB but the drop off from him to his backups is massive.