Cook signed👀 - 4 / 48 / 30 mil guaranteed

[BullBuchanan]

4 hours ago, NoName said:

I like the deal and it seems fair for both sides….if Cook keeps playing at the same level, or improves, I think the business/holdout stuff comes  back again 2-3 years from now.

 

with so much being front loaded, the Bills give up a lot of leverage if he pulls the hold out stuff down the road.

He'll be 30 when it's time for his next deal. History says he'll probably be moving into a supporting role by then.

[JP51]

8 minutes ago, Special K said:

 

I agree....Torrence isn't going anywhere.

 

He and McGovern will get extended, but Edwards will probably be the odd man out.....luckily for the Bills, they have a lot of young O-line talent waiting in the wings if contracts can't be worked out.

I am with you here

[VW82]

Seems really high to me but glad we at least removed the distraction. Edit: looks like a two year deal with some guaranteed $$ falling in year three is most likely outcome. 
 

Will we be able to fit in future deals for guys like OCT or Kincaid if he breaks out? Cap sheet is getting pretty filled up.

Edited Wednesday at 05:40 PM by VW82

[Solomon Grundy]

What is the deal with Asante Samuel Jr? Why isn't he on a NFL roster?

[Don Otreply]

5 hours ago, Wolfgang said:

Sweet...

 

Now the endless worrying and hand wringing on the subject can be put to bed...

 

Go Bills!!!!

Never! We now gotta worry about the endless threat of injury..,, 🤣

[billsfan89]

16 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

My post was more about the whole draft class for the entire NFL. It had a reputation as a poor class and seemingly has lived up to that.

 

I didn't know the 2023 class had this reputation. Going down the draft class it seems like a mid-level NFL draft class. Not an all timer but not a stinker either. Richardson is a bust at QB but Stroud seems to be someone whose gonna start in the league for a long time with potential to be a top 10 guy consistently. Bryce Young seemed lost his rookie year but he came on stronger to end last season after being benched. I think he's got a chance to be a starter in the league for awhile if Carolina puts at least a capable offense around him. 

 

Jalen Carter and Will Anderson seem to be high end defensive players drafted up high, you have Zay Flowers and Njigba both Pro-Bowl WR's. Puca was a generational rookie and seems to be a solid WR1 thus far in his career. I also think the second round might be an all time generational interior O-line draft. Of course we got Torrence whose been a solid plug and play guard but Cody Mauch, Joe Tippman, Matthew Bergeron, and Steve Availa have all been very strong additions to their teams IOL. 

 

Just looking up and down the totality of the draft it seems like it ranks thus far on two year returns to be a average to above average class to me? 

[gonzo1105]

25 minutes ago, JP51 said:

as long as it isnt insane money... Torrence to me has to be a priority... he is always available, rookie starter, I think with an upside...  to me O Line continuity is big...  and I honestly dont think what it would take to sign them would be prohibitive...  

 

I totally get what you’re putting down but Beane has never invested heavily at Guard for better or worse. His biggest investment was Torrence with a 2nd round pick. It was also Carolina’s philosophy when he was there under their guys. 
 

The problem I see is that Torrence will be he’ll be 26-27, on a top of the line OL for the Bills, in a league desperate for good young offensive lineman , in a market that now overpays prime offensive guards. I just don’t see Beane going down that route when Kromer has been developing guys so well. 
 

Torrence is likely to get at least 15 mill AAV and that is on the low end he realistically might end up at 17 or 18 AAV 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

22 minutes ago, eball said:

 

The ONLY squabble I have with Cook's usage is wondering why he wasn't on the field for the final drive of the AFCCG.  Otherwise, they've used him brilliantly.

 

agreed. I will say though while half the time I complain about cook being off the field, the other half of the time I am griping, “we need more Ty Johnson!”

 

I guess it’s a good problem to have.

[Low Positive]

5 minutes ago, Solomon Grundy said:

What is the deal with Asante Samuel Jr? Why isn't he on a NFL roster?

Neck surgery in April.

[HappyDays]

3 minutes ago, billsfan89 said:

I didn't know the 2023 class had this reputation.

 

It had a normal caliber and quantity of top level talent, but the consensus was that the talent bottomed out pretty quickly and had poorer than usual depth. Beane knew this which is why he traded a 2024 5th for a 2025 4th and why he kept trading down on day 3. That was not a class for teams drafting outside of the top 10 to find multiple franchise cornerstones. It was a year where you hoped to come away with a couple good starters.

[billsfan89]

1 minute ago, Solomon Grundy said:

What is the deal with Asante Samuel Jr? Why isn't he on a NFL roster?

 

Probably wanted too much money and then the cap space dried up. Probably gonna sign on with a team when injuries hit and a team gets desperate for some help at CB. Right now there's not a lot of teams with cap space and the ones that have it presumably don't think he's a fit or not worth his asking price. It's also gonna help him stay healthy to come in around mid-October and hopefully get a chance to come in around mid-November and help a team in a stretch run and see if he can up his value in free agency next year.

[SoonerBillsFan]

10 minutes ago, Solomon Grundy said:

What is the deal with Asante Samuel Jr? Why isn't he on a NFL roster?

Injury history and can't tackle worth a damn. Both are Red Flags for McDermott

[billsfan89]

Just now, HappyDays said:

 

It had a normal caliber and quantity of top level talent, but the consensus was that the talent bottomed out pretty quickly and had poorer than usual depth. Beane knew this which is why he traded a 2024 5th for a 2025 4th and why he kept trading down on day 3. That was not a class for teams drafting outside of the top 10 to find multiple franchise cornerstones. It was a year where you hoped to come away with a couple good starters.

 

I could see that being the case, the first two rounds were pretty good while outside of Puca I am not seeing too many great finds in round 3-7. Still harder to tell on mid-late round guys after just two seasons. Odds are if you are drafted outside the top 3 rounds you need some development that could take 3-4 years before those players are ready to take on starting roles. Of course I am not always familiar with each draft pick esp once you get deeper into the draft so it is possible that in their first two seasons a lot of these players are maybe starting or playing smaller roles well just not putting up big numbers or accolades? 

 

I also assumed that because in 2023 the roster was littered with veterans and not many open spots for draft picks that the Bills pretty much only had 3 major needs going into the draft (2nd pass catcher, Guard, and LB depth) so with 6 picks it was going to be hard to roster all 6 picks and while you could maybe "IR and stash" one player as they did with Shorter that isn't easy to do with 3 players. So it was smart for them to trade down and pick up selections in 2024 when they probably were projecting a lot of turnover on the roster to try to get younger and in a better cap situation. A pair of extra late round picks in the following draft was a smart piece of business. 

[Scott7975]

Glad he is signed! 10-12m is where I felt he should have been all along. 15m was too much. Not sure if this was posted or not yet so apologise if so...

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 05:47 PM by Scott7975

[H2o]

Glad we got him signed and glad is was for a reasonable amount. Now we have our most explosive weapon for Josh back in the fold. 

[Thurman#1]

55 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

 

I don’t think Kincaid can be considered a starter. He’s our TE2, which is a role player/back up in this offense. Doesn’t mean that isn’t important, but he has a ways to go to supplant Knox as TE1. 

 

 

Guess we'll see, but I think he's going to be TE1, assuming he's healthy. Last year he was far from healthy.

[GunnerBill]

28 minutes ago, Solomon Grundy said:

What is the deal with Asante Samuel Jr? Why isn't he on a NFL roster?

 

1. He isn't that great

2. Injuries

 

 

Beyond that not sure.

[HappyDays]

4 hours ago, warrior9 said:

You lose one of your top OL, his production goes down. I've always been against paying RBs as the line dictates a lot of their performance.

 

Every player on every team is dependent on their teammates. The WRs are dependent on their QB and their fellow skill players. The OL is dependent on their RB to find and maximize the hole. The DL is dependent on their fellow DLs to plug the right gaps and apply complementary pressure. Etc.

 

What I know about Cook is that his skill set in this offensive system with this group of players works really well. That's what matters. I agree he is just a part of a machine, and he is not such a great player that he would fit every machine in the NFL perfectly - such players are rare and are at the top of their position. Cook however is not getting paid like he is that caliber of player. He's getting paid for what he is, which is a really good part of a greater whole.

 

We have seen other RBs in the Josh Allen offense and it's never looked as consistently good as it did with Cook last year. My take is you don't mess with that. We're in the championship window now and shouldn't disrupt the one part of our offense that worked extremely well last year because we wish the cap number was $2 million less.

 

The only question that matters is does our chance of beating KC in the playoffs improve with Cook on the field? The answer to that question is obvious - we don't even have a chance at the end this past AFCCG without his contributions. I'm in favor of paying players that help us get us past KC in the playoffs. Moving forward Beane will have to sacrifice the likes of Austin Johnson and Larry Ogunjobi. I'll get over it.

[Paup 1995MVP]

4 hours ago, HappyDays said:

I never thought I'd be happy giving a RB a 2nd contract but yeah I really like this deal for us. Cook is the only skill player we have that can score from anywhere on the field. I didn't want to let that ability get away.

The way everyone is talking about Cook being such a great skill player for us, makes you wonder where the hell the rest of the playmakers are.  Noone thinks we have any playmakers on offense besides Josh and James.  And to be honest maybe Ty Johnson is #3 as a playmaker.  I think Shakir is pretty dam good as well.  

 

But something is wrong with our WR's and TE's if none are considered big time playmakers.  Look at Coleman.  Seriously, is he any better or as good as Kristian Wilkerson or Tyrell Shavers?  We really need some WR's and TE's to step up and make a difference to get this team to the next level.  Lets hope it happens.

[TheFunPolice]

awesome news!

 

They paid the man!