Derrick Henry gets 2 year $30m Dollar Extension ($25m guaranteed).

[Doc Brown]

30 minutes ago, BigAl2526 said:

Certainly, the Ravens are taking a chance, but Henry hasn't hit the (career) wall yet.  They might get three more years of solid production out of him.  I hope not, but you never know.

A lot of RB's see that 2nd contract as their last one and stop doing the little things that require extra effort because they got paid.  Henry works his butt off in the off-season and is Tom Brady like with his diet.  He's just built differently.

[Mister Defense]

6 minutes ago, Doc Brown said:

My man.  He's only a RB.  It's not like we're dealing with a Trey Hendrickson like contract dispute.

 

 

Well yes-- I think that is partly what I have implied in other threads on this too--this is not a huge amount  of money here, separating them.  Not talking about the kind of contracts others who are elite at their position get payed. 

 

Though Barkley, and now Henry, and a bunch of other backs in the league, are clearly changing that dynamic. 

 

So, definitely worth it, right? Is that what you are saying?

 

 

 

Edited 22 hours ago by Mister Defense

[Mr. WEO]

1 hour ago, That's No Moon said:

yeahhhhh. no.  I can recall Brady getting hit hard one time.  And he played in the era when you couldn't hit people low, or high, or even a tad late.

your recollection is faulty

[BillsFanForever19]

19 hours ago, Fan in Chicago said:

Let me ask a question to answer yours. If one of them were to be deleted from the roster prior to the draft, who would it be? 

Imo, Cook. 

 

If you're talking as far as deleting a contract, to me, it's Bernard. He was easily the last of the big 5 to extend in my opinion, even knowing that retaining all 5 was unlikely.

 

He had a very good 2023 but took a noticeable step back in 2024. He seemed to always be out of position. The middle of the field was constantly open in the passing game and for deep runs beyond the line of scrimmage. 

 

In 2023, he was popping off the screen quite a bit. In 2024, he was barely noticeable. On top of that, he's shown a penchant for getting dinged up fairly frequently.

 

It's often said that the premium positions in Football are QB, WR, LT, DE, and CB. MLB, like RB, isn't one of those positions. It's also not the kind of position that requires a ton of money or a premium Draft resource to replace. And when it comes down to who the bigger playmaker at their non premium position is and who had more of an impact on victory for us last season, it's easily Cook. 

 

From what I saw from Bernard in 2024, I would have waited on paying him this offseason. I wouldn't have been closed off to the idea of paying him in 2026, depending on how he looked this year. But I wouldn't have paid him now as we did.

Edited 4 hours ago by BillsFanForever19

[Spiderweb]

17 hours ago, Donuts and Doritos said:

Great, I'm sure Cook's asking price just went up. 

Still less than what

Cook has stated he wanted. 

[dorquemada]

He's great but Baltimorehas been using this formula for a while now and can't get over the hump.  I'm a huge henry fan, and I wanted him in Buffalo, but he's not the piece that get Baltimore a sb win IMHO

[GunnerBill]

8 hours ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

If you're talking as far as deleting a contract, to me, it's Bernard. He was easily the last on my list of people to retain, even knowing that retaining all 5 was unlikely.

 

He had a very good 2023 but took a noticeable step back in 2024. He seemed to always be out of position. The middle of the field was constantly open in the passing game and for deep runs beyond the line of scrimmage. 

 

In 2023, he was popping off the screen quite a bit. In 2024, he was barely noticeable. On top of that, he's shown a penchant for getting dinged up fairly frequently.

 

It's often said that the premium positions in Football are QB, WR, LT, DE, and CB. MLB, like RB, isn't one of those positions. It's also not the kind of position that requires a ton of money or a premium resource to replace. And when it comes down to who the bigger playmaker at their not premium position is and who had more of an impact on victory for us, to me it's Cook all day.

 

From what I saw from him in 2024, I would have waited on paying him this offseason. I wouldn't be closed off to the idea of paying him in 2026, depending on how he looked this year. But I wouldn't have paid him now.

 

Agree totally with this. It is 100% correct. Bernard is the worst contact we have done this offseason both in principle and in price IMO. I'd rather have given Cook the $43m over 3 years than give it to Bernard over 4.

[longtimebillsfan]

17 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

Why? Henry is leagues above him in talent and accolades and only got Cook's ask.

But Cook has an over inflated ego that puts him equal to Henry, in his own mind.

[HamptonBillsfan]

5 hours ago, longtimebillsfan said:

But Cook has an over inflated ego that puts him equal to Henry, in his own mind.

Inflated ego? He’s 25 and Henry will be 33 during the season. Cook had 1000 yards n 200 carries and 16 TDs. He’s getting better and more valuable to a team that played in AFC Championship,every year. The position has a 4 to 6 year window if you stay injury free. He’s got to get his money within the next year. You want him to say he doesn’t deserve to get paid?  He plays 16 or 17 games every year and is a matchup nightmare out of the backfield in the passing game. If he goes for 1200 yds and they get to another championship game, would he be worth Henry money then?

[BarleyNY]

Lotta handwringing for a contract that has no details released. Only an agent’s PR release to go by. Henry is a stud RB, even at his age. After last season the Ravens needed to do right by him and they apparently did. What exactly that looks like we don’t know. 

[wjag]

If anyone deserves a contract like that, it is Henry.  He was dominant in games they remembered to use him.

[Goin Breakdown]

7 minutes ago, wjag said:

If anyone deserves a contract like that, it is Henry.  He was dominant in games they remembered to use him.

Careful. I made a comment like this during the season and was flamed for "thinking Baltimore was throwing their own games". 
I mean was I questioning their game plan? Sure. Am I dumb enough to believe they would throw a game? nah

Edited 5 hours ago by Goin Breakdown

[Johnny Bravo]

8 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Agree totally with this. It is 100% correct. Bernard is the worst contact we have done this offseason both in principle and in price IMO. I'd rather have given Cook the $43m over 3 years than give it to Bernard over 4.

This doesn't prove or disprove your argument, but Bernard won us the Ravens playoff game with the strip and fumble recovery.  Josh was human in that game and we were literally hanging on at the end.  

 

I agree he didn't seem as impactful last year as in 2023, but the whole defense struggled last year.  

[GunnerBill]

17 minutes ago, Johnny Bravo said:

This doesn't prove or disprove your argument, but Bernard won us the Ravens playoff game with the strip and fumble recovery.  Josh was human in that game and we were literally hanging on at the end.  

 

I agree he didn't seem as impactful last year as in 2023, but the whole defense struggled last year.  

 

I don't think Bernard is a bad player. That isn't my argument at all. He is fine. But just fine. 

[BillsFanForever19]

36 minutes ago, Johnny Bravo said:

This doesn't prove or disprove your argument, but Bernard won us the Ravens playoff game with the strip and fumble recovery.  Josh was human in that game and we were literally hanging on at the end.  

 

I agree he didn't seem as impactful last year as in 2023, but the whole defense struggled last year.  

 

While i'll give you that was probably his best play of the year, I wouldn't say him making that play at our own 40 with 9 minutes left in the game and with a 5 point lead "won us the Ravens playoff game". It was one of a number of plays made by a number of people that allowed us the victory. You could just as easily say "Damar Hamlin's sack and strip and Von Miller's recovery and return won us the Ravens playoff game". It doesn't make either worthy of a big contract extension. And it doesn't negate Bernard's average to below average play on the field the rest of the year.

Edited 3 hours ago by BillsFanForever19

[Alphadawg7]

2 hours ago, HappyDays said:

Not to whistle past the graveyard but this feels like a mistake for Baltimore... Giving a big contract to a 30+ year old RB is pretty risky.

 

Usually there are signs the previous season though where you see guys maybe still have a good season total, but they were doing much more the first half than the 2nd half of the seaosn.  Look at Cooper for example who still remains unsigned.  

 

But Derrick Henry rushed for 138 or more yards in 4 of his last 6 games of the season, including the final 3.  

 

Father time is undefeated, but he does lose some rounds from time to time...and if anyone can take few more rounds from Father Time its that beast Henry.  And in that offense I think its plausible he will still be a problem for everyone else for another couple seasons personally.  

[BillsFanForever19]

4 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

Usually there are signs the previous season though where you see guys maybe still have a good season total, but they were doing much more the first half than the 2nd half of the seaosn.  Look at Cooper for example who still remains unsigned.  

 

But Derrick Henry rushed for 138 or more yards in 4 of his last 6 games of the season, including the final 3.  

 

Father time is undefeated, but he does lose some rounds from time to time...and if anyone can take few more rounds from Father Time its that beast Henry.  And in that offense I think its plausible he will still be a problem for everyone else for another couple seasons personally.  

 

He'll be 32 when they're in the Playoffs this season. While I agree it's probably likely he'll still be a force this season, I don't agree that there's often signs the previous year before players hit the wall. Players seemingly hit the wall out of nowhere more often than not. Especially at RB and especially when you get years into the 30's. Again, I wouldn't bet money on that happening this season. But I wouldn't bet money against it either. And I certainly wouldn't say with any kind of certainty he has another 2 full years and at 33 he'll still be going as strong as last season.

Edited 3 hours ago by BillsFanForever19

[GunnerBill]

29 minutes ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

He'll be 32 when they're in the Playoffs this season. While I agree it's probably likely he'll still be a force this season, I don't agree that there's often signs the previous year before players hit the wall. Players seemingly hit the wall out of nowhere more often than not. Especially at RB and especially when you get years into the 30's. Again, I wouldn't bet money on that happening this season. But I wouldn't bet money against it either. And I certainly wouldn't say with any kind of certainty he has another 2 full years and at 33 he'll still be going as strong as last season.

 

Yea agree. I don't think it is at all the case that you always see signs the previous year. It often happens fast. I'm not saying it will happen to Henry. But I would not be shocked if this year he gets nicked up and slows some and isn't the force of 2024.

[Alphadawg7]

9 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Agree totally with this. It is 100% correct. Bernard is the worst contact we have done this offseason both in principle and in price IMO. I'd rather have given Cook the $43m over 3 years than give it to Bernard over 4.

 

Im not as down on Bernard as some seem to be, but if there is a question/case to be made about his contract, it is would the money have benefited the Bills more being spent on Cook.  And regardless of anyones opinion on Bernard or what to pay Cook, that is a legit discussion.  

[BillsFanForever19]

7 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Yea agree. I don't think it is at all the case that you always see signs the previous year. It often happens fast. I'm not saying it will happen to Henry. But I would not be shocked if this year he gets nicked up and slows some and isn't the force of 2024.

 

Exactly. Take Rasul Douglas for example. He went from a pretty solid starter for us in 2023 to completely toast in 2024 (and currently out of the league) seemingly overnight. The 30's come at you fast in the NFL.