James Cook absent from OTA's

[DrDawkinstein]

4 minutes ago, Einstein's Dog said:

Cap figures are not all that Matter!  The substance of the transaction matters!!

 

Eventually the substance must be accounted for.  You can manipulate individual years but eventually the cap needs to be considered.  Baltimore clearly manipulated the 2024 cap figure for D Henry because they were probably tight to the cap.  They gave Henry the $7,790,000 signing bonus but manipulated the cap figure to only be $5M.  The difference must be accounted for in the future.

 

The substance of the transaction, the $16M matters, because Balt is going to have to account for it in the future.  This is like you saying "oh, they're paying D Henry a lot because the cap figure is $13M this year".   No, they are making up some of what they hadn't claimed the year before.   The amount to D Henry had always been paying him $16M for 2 years.

 

Hard disagree.

 

All that matters is Cap Hit and Dead Cap.

 

The fact they can be so easily manipulated and maneuvered is a GOOD thing, and why so many of us are saying the $15M "average" isnt worth getting so upset about.

 

That's been our whole point.

 

Of course all the dollars will be accounted for sooner or later, but Beane has plenty of levers to pull to decide how much and when. And can easily do so on a short term, $15M avg contract with little issue and without hampering the team.

[SoonerBillsFan]

16 minutes ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

Again, you have to keep in mind that he's utilized as 2 Down Back *here*. That doesn't mean other teams won't view him as a 3 Down Back. Other teams may prioritize having an extra weapon on the field over an extra blocker on 3rd Downs. Especially when pretty much everyone and their mother posed the question "why did they take James Cook off the field for the last play of the season?".

 

Every year, guys are signed by other teams for bigger roles than they had on their prior team and are paid more for those new roles. Take Josh Palmer with us, for example. Spotrac had his market value at 3 years, 12.8m based on his role in LA. Clearly, the Bills and other teams as well viewed him as more and the price ended up at 3 years, 29m. 

 

It's fair to say that based on how we utilize him, that we shouldn't pay (in your opinion) more than X amount. But it's not fair or accurate to say he'll only be paid X amount league wide when he hits the market based on how we use him because that's how everyone will use him.

That's fair, let someone else over pay him.

[NewEra]

1 hour ago, Buffalo716 said:

I really really do like James Cook.. he is fast with good vision.. but I do think he's totally replaceable at 15 million dollars a year 

 

Hes Chris Johnson lite .. he's not as fast as CJ 2K... Hes not as big... He is a tremendous running back next to Josh Allen 

 

Next to Josh Allen is the key.. whoever gives him the big bucks will not have a quarterback taking the pressure off of him like he has with Allen

 

No matter what anybody says James Cook is not the focal point to stop.. any defensive coordinator will let James Cook run wild if it means Josh Allen doesn't have the ball 

 

I think he's taking a drastic hit to his 4.9 ypc on basically most teams 

 

You're not replacing his 40-plus yard runs easily.. you can replace his production between the twenties with our really good run blocking line and Josh Allen taking pressure off

 

Sure his touchdown ability inside the 10 yard line was huge last year and that's probably his biggest asset.. but it was also his first year being a touchdown machine 

 

Running back is the one position where there's so much talent in the NFL.. there's plenty of guys who if they got the carries could be thousand yard runners getting to a groove..

 

Our own Fred Jackson beat out two first round picks in his tenure.. there's a lot of talented running backs next year in the draft that you could draft with speed in the 2nd-3rd

 

I hear ya- and if we don’t sign him, I’ll understand why.  I do think our offense will miss him if Ray and Ty are RB 1-2 (taking nothing away from either.  I love them both).  
 

Alluding to the final paragraph…. I feel a 2nd rd pick is likely more valuable than a 15M contract.  4 years of paying minimum. Use it on a RB to replace Cook and you won’t be able to draft a DL, WR that could be worth 20-30M a year at a premium position.  

Edited 6 hours ago by NewEra

[BillsFanForever19]

40 minutes ago, NewEra said:

I hear ya- and if we don’t sign him, I’ll understand why.  I do think our offense will miss him if Ray and Ty are RB 1-2 (taking booting away from either.  I love them both).  

 

I don't really see a scenario where we don't bring him back and Ray and Ty are our RB1-2. Save for Ray Davis somehow becoming like Derrick Henry in Year 2 or something. Which seems pretty unlikely at 26 years old and given the pedigree he had coming into the league.

 

I see people say all the time that Ray Davis was Drafted as James Cook's successor. I don't believe that to be true. He was Drafted to replace the role and roster spot previously held by Nyheim Hines and Zack Moss before him. 

 

If Cook isn't retained, his true replacement will most likely be Drafted in the first 3 Rounds of the 2026 Draft or possibly be a signed or traded for veteran. And that player will be more in line with the type of RB that James Cook is - which is a very different back than Ray Davis is.

Edited 6 hours ago by BillsFanForever19

[NewEra]

9 minutes ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

I don't really see a scenario where we don't bring him back and Ray and Ty are our RB1-2. Save for Ray Davis somehow becoming like Derrick Henry in Year 2 or something. Which seems pretty unlikely at 26 years old and given the pedigree he had coming into the league.

 

I see people say all the time that Ray Davis was Drafted as James Cook's successor. I don't believe that to be true. He was Drafted to replace the role and roster spot previously held by Nyheim Hines and Zack Moss before him. 

 

If Cook isn't retained, his true replacement will be most likely be Drafted in the first 3 Rounds of the 2026 Draft or possibly a signed or traded for veteran. And that player will be more in line with the type of RB that James Cook is - which is a very different back than Ray Davis is.

I sure hope to add someone with home run potential if we let him go.  

[BillsFanForever19]

8 minutes ago, NewEra said:

I sure hope to add someone with home run potential if we let him go.  

 

They definitely will bring in someone with speed and elusiveness to replace Cook, if they don't bring him back. I see no scenario where they just roll with Davis and Ty and a similar RB. Part of the strength of running a RB committee offense is having different types of Backs for different situations.

[NewEra]

16 minutes ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

They definitely will bring in someone with speed and elusiveness to replace Cook, if they don't bring him back. I see no scenario where they just roll with Davis and Ty and a similar RB. Part of the strength of running a RB committee offense is having different types of Backs for different situations.

Yeah….i realize that.  Beane and McD didn’t realize it until they drafted cook.

 

Singletary, gore, Yeldon.

Singletary, moss, yeldon

Singletary, Moss, Breida (good speed, yet 26 carries).

 

we had close to zero speed in our backfield for 95% of our snaps over 3 seasons.  That was their choice. 
 

seems like they’ve realized that was stupid of them.  Hopefully.  

 

 

 

[SoonerBillsFan]

18 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Yeah….i realize that.  Beane and McD didn’t realize it until they drafted cook.

 

Singletary, gore, Yeldon.

Singletary, moss, yeldon

Singletary, Moss, Breida (good speed, yet 26 carries).

 

we had close to zero speed in our backfield for 95% of our snaps over 3 seasons.  That was their choice. 
 

seems like they’ve realized that was stupid of them.  Hopefully.  

 

 

 

This is what bugs me about this last draft.  We could have used 5th -7th round picks to aquire another 4th and take a back with speed.  Even if we stashed him on the PS, we would still have him.

[NewEra]

10 minutes ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

This is what bugs me about this last draft.  We could have used 5th -7th round picks to aquire another 4th and take a back with speed.  Even if we stashed him on the PS, we would still have him.

You’re suggesting we trade up for a RB in rd 4 and try to stash him on the PS.  
 

 

Even if we were able to stash him, I’d rather have walker and Hancock (the RB would’ve been selected over one of them) than a RB with speed  Makes much more sense to draft one next year if cook leaves.  We’d get to abuse him for 4 years rather than 3.  He’d be RB4 on a team that rosters 3 RBs.  
 

Hancock looks legit.  

[BillsFanForever19]

2 hours ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

This is what bugs me about this last draft.  We could have used 5th -7th round picks to aquire another 4th and take a back with speed.  Even if we stashed him on the PS, we would still have him.

 

There's a number of issues with this train of thought. We only keep 3 RB's on the 53. Between Cook, Davis, and Johnson - that's the 3. None of them are being cut. So whomever you Drafted would have to be cut. If you take someone in the 4th, you're most likely not getting them back on the Practice Squad if you cut them. You're playing with fire cutting anyone before Round 6. Even if you could get them back then, they could and most likely would be poached at some point during the season. You don't put that kind of investment into a player you're not going to roster. On top of that, you're wasting 1 of your 4 years you have the guy under contract.

 

There was no need or reason to do it now. We have our RB's this year. Whether you Draft a guy this year and play him next year or Draft a guy next year to play then as well, it makes no difference. We'd be wasting a pick unless we moved on from one of Cook, Davis, or Johnson and that's not something they were going to do. You worry about replacing Cook next year, if you have to. And preferably with a Draft prospect (or veteran) with a greater pedigree than you're going to find with a mid to late 4th Round Pick.

Edited 3 hours ago by BillsFanForever19