Mini-Camp: A James Cook Barometer

[NoSaint]

5 hours ago, FireChans said:

James Cook plays bad or gets hurt playing basketball and the team can get out of the contract they signed with next to no penalty.

 

because he signed those terms

[3rdand12]

1 hour ago, finn said:

Yeah, but what message is he sending that's worth missing all these early but still important practices? "I'm really serious, guys! I really am mad now!" It's just so juvenile. If anything, Beane is less likely to sign him if he holds out, and I see why. He loses nothing by coming to mini-camp and gains a lot, including Beane's good will. 

 

Some of these athletes have the minds of 14-year olds. 

Its fine to ask for the World. And he should honestly. Always start the bidding high lol

But he put it in the public sphere ( disrespectful business )

 He took his Bills thingie down which players do when they want Out !

Which he shouldn't. IMHO  i feel he should have talked to Beanes  and done the secret handshake thing

I perform well this season you guys pay me

You perform and you will get paid. ( maybe not in Buffalo ) but it is the truth.

Show me how invested you are.

 

This is juvenile on Cooks part

1 hour ago, Captain Hindsight said:

I can promise you, not one of these professional athletes or the FO people who deal with professional athletes give a damn if cook is there or not. It only matters in September 

Thats just the Finance guys.

 The Team wants him to be all in.

[3rdand12]

7 minutes ago, NoSaint said:

 

because he signed those terms

and right to the heart of the matter. He signed.

Maybe ask his agent 

 lol

For all the folks who defend the player. They signed the contract. period

 And yes they certainly should play hard for a much better contract. and then sign that.

It's a business

 This is the year to show for James.

Go Bills

[Mikie2times]

10 minutes ago, 3rdand12 said:

Its fine to ask for the World. And he should honestly. Always start the bidding high lol

But he put it in the public sphere ( disrespectful business )

 He took his Bills thingie down which players do when they want Out !

Which he shouldn't. IMHO  i feel he should have talked to Beanes  and done the secret handshake thing

I perform well this season you guys pay me

You perform and you will get paid. ( maybe not in Buffalo ) but it is the truth.

Show me how invested you are.

 

This is juvenile on Cooks part

Thats just the Finance guys.

 The Team wants him to be all in.

Obviously we don't know, but I would think some early numbers got tossed around and they weren't close from his perspective. Which likely left him with some feels. So instead of throwing in half his chips, he went all in. If neither side ever had communication prior and this was his first move then ya, weird and stupid. That makes no sense to me but who knows. 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

5 hours ago, eee1776 said:

How about someone being honorable enough to play out the contract he signed.

Did the Bills honor the contract Tre White signed?

[MJS]

3 hours ago, Bleeding Bills Blue said:

CBA pretty much outlines the terms of holdouts too, so that to me would imply that its not altogether uncommon.  

They get fined for missing mandatory time and they lose an accrued season if they hold out for enough games.

3 hours ago, RoscoeParrish said:

They should be “honorable” and fulfill the contract they signed, not terminate it early.

Like I said, terminating it early is, in fact, fulfilling the contract because the contracts allow for that.

[Thrivefourfive]

I don’t wanna hear it. All it takes is one weak link, and I’m not in favor of this happening right now with where this team is at as far as Super Bowl of Bust. 

[Beck Water]

7 hours ago, eee1776 said:

How about someone being honorable enough to play out the contract he signed.

 

No player wants to play on a 1 yr contract if they can help it.  The ideal is to get a new deal signed before the last year of the contract starts, preferably with some injury guarantees and decent guaranteed money.

But in any event, "playing out the contract he signed" starts when the season starts, not at "voluntary" OTAs or even mandatory minicamp.

Edited yesterday at 01:13 AM by Beck Water

[Rigotz]

7 hours ago, eee1776 said:

How about someone being honorable enough to play out the contract he signed.

How about coaches and GMs being honorable and never cutting players for underperforming?

 

Lets make every contract fully guaranteed, while we’re being honorable.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

5 hours ago, Senth said:

Cook has no leverage .... he's gotta play and he's gotta produce big numbers to get his bag.

 

15 is out of the question ..... closer to 10 with incentives being a huge part of it imo.

 

Barkley, Elliott, Henry had a resume they could use to justify the big $$.  Cook has one year with a huge number of TD's, that's really about it.  

 

I wouldn't be totally shocked if Cook doesn't show up next week Beane tries to trade him.

 

Recall the story from the 1960's with Vince Lombardi.  Agents for players was more the exception than the rule.  One of the Packers goes into Lombardi's office with his new agent.  Vince says give me a a couple minutes, walks back in 15 minutes later and tells the player, he can't help him with a new contract as he's just been traded.

[Richard Noggin]

2 hours ago, 3rdand12 said:

and right to the heart of the matter. He signed.

Maybe ask his agent 

 lol

For all the folks who defend the player. They signed the contract. period

 And yes they certainly should play hard for a much better contract. and then sign that.

It's a business

 This is the year to show for James.

Go Bills

 

I mean, rookie deals are heavily regulated and prescribed at this point. Guys don't have much leverage at first, especially outside the 1st round. And we all know the teams can cut a guy at any point, which means the player stops receiving paychecks. This is why players use leverage from past performance and with current offseason participation to seek new deals/additional guaranteed money. It's also a way to minimize injury risk while the player still has no future guarantees.

[Richard Noggin]

3 minutes ago, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said:

 

I wouldn't be totally shocked if Cook doesn't show up next week Beane tries to trade him.

 

 

Cook isn't going to sit out the season; that has never worked. Therefore, trading him now hurts the Bills for the 2025 season, which by all reasonable expectations is Super Bowl or bust. 

 

Would Beane make a move if someone absolutely wows him? I don't know, yeah maybe. But who would do that? And Cook is super valuable on the field to the Bills. They have a nice RB room with him. They're suddenly meh without him. Maybe if a RB with some degree of unrealized pedigree plus a day one draft pick are coming back, maybe that could work? No clue who and what teams fit that profile. 

[Maynard]

He’s held by the contract. He needs to come out and ball out to get the contract he wants. Cook knows this. 

[JROC INTEL]

I think our management has made it pretty clear that they believe in the whole draft a 3rd round running back thing and not overpay the position. I don’t expect management to give in much here. 

[MasterStrategist]

5 hours ago, PrimeTime101 said:

I am seriously at the point where i can care less what happens to cook. People are seriously devaluating the level of talent behind cook.  

 

Ray Davis has a HECK of a running game the day Cook Missed.. And we still have our 3rd down pro Ty Johnson.  Do I think Ray Davis is as good as cook? We do not have enough sample size.. but I am willing to bet we would do just fine. 

Davis isnt devalued.

 

Davis just isnt Cook.

 

People act like Cooks explosion and vision is just replaceable--- "we would do just fine", as you say.

 

Bottom line, Cook made alot of explosive runs LY and alot of yards after contact - which people tend to ignore and just say the OL is the reason for his production.  Look no further than the 4th and goal against KC, Davis isnt making that run- thats a certainty.

 

I'll repeat what I've said all offseason, Cook is our best playmaker not named Josh Allen.  I hope Beane finds a way to keep him 3-4 more years- give him $24m gtd.  

 

Cook produced behind a very good OL - facts.  But he also produced alot of yards/TDs with a vastly improved strength and contact balance, and his sneaky acceleration.

[BillsFanForever19]

4 hours ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

Agreed he won't be there.  If it carries over to training camp, I would look to move him.

 

For what? The Draft's over and there's no RB in the market to replace him with of any value. We'd be trading him for a pick in 2026. Of which, we'll probably get the same amount in Compensation in 2027 by keeping him, and possibly more depending on how much he signed for elsewhere.

 

If we're trading him for a Pick next season and we're rolling with Davis and Johnson anyways, we might as well wait out the holdout and have him with them for the Playoffs.

Edited yesterday at 02:53 AM by BillsFanForever19

[BarleyNY]

10 hours ago, FireChans said:

He won't be there.

 

Dalvin held out the offseason.

 

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29283874/vikings-rb-dalvin-cook-hold-reasonable-deal-source-says

Different times and a different CBA. Players pretty much gave up their ability to hold out in the last one. I could see him do a “hold in” however. 

[SoonerBillsFan]

24 minutes ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

For what? The Draft's over and there's no RB in the market to replace him with of any value. We'd be trading him for a pick in 2026. Of which, we'll probably get the same amount in Compensation in 2027 by keeping him, and possibly more depending on how much he signed for elsewhere.

 

If we're trading him for a Pick next season and we're rolling with Davis and Johnson anyways, we might as well wait out the holdout and have him with them for the Playoffs.

If he wants to play then. And who says he will be that effective.  Johnson is our best all arpund back, and I think Davis can be damn good.

 

 

Look this team doesn't need another malcontent in the locker room for any amount of time.  

[Doc Brown]

7 hours ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

15 is out of the question... with who? You? The Bills? Because if he repeats his 2024 season, then when he hits the open market he will absolutely get $15M/yr. Maybe more.

Obviously the Bills aren't giving that to him now.  If he repeats his 2024 season take the comp pick and let someone else gamble on trying to turn a soon to be 27 year old RB into an every down back.

[BuffaloBillyG]

4 hours ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

Agreed he won't be there.  If it carries over to training camp, I would look to move him.

My biggest this if he's not in TC is that he may be in great shape...but won't be in football shape when the season starts.

 

Just from memory I can think of a lot of guys that held out all or a portion of the off-season workouts and TCs theat end up playing with soft tissue injuries during the season. 

 

Yes we need him, but we need him healthy and ready to roll. Otherwise, I fear we see his name on the injury report all season long and see a less physical version of him in games.