It is the J. R. Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast. on the Infinity Sports Network. We got a running back who got a contract earlier today.
No, it's not James Cookie. It's Kyron Williams of the Los Angeles Rams. A three-year deal, $33. Million dollars total.
Meanwhile, James Cook of the Buffalo Bills, he's not working out. He's at camp, but he's stopped practicing as of Sunday. Today is the debut of Monday. Hard knocks featuring the Buffalo Bills. The Buffalo Bills expected to compete for a Super Bowl another season.
They haven't gotten over that hump. What the heck is going on there? To talk all things bills is someone who covers the team for Syracuse.com. Also, host of Shout the Buffalo Bills football podcast. Joining us right now is Matt Perino.
Matt, how are you, man? I'm great, man. How are you? I'm very well. Thank you for taking the time to join us.
Now that we've seen, I don't want to say a benchmark, we know Saquon's making 20. Kyron is now making 11. We heard from James he wants to make 15 like Derrick Henry. What are your thoughts on how his deal is now going to progress now that Kyron got paid today? Yeah, I mean it I think the the good news for Bills fans that are hoping that there's a resolution here, maybe want James Cook in the fold long term is that The two sides, the Bills and Cook's reps, have been in constant communication, per general manager Brandon Bean, this week.
The challenge has been, you know, you're branded being your nine years in the league now as a general manager, develop relationships with a lot of these agents.
Well, Zach Hiller, James Cook's rep. This is the first deal. Bean has never worked on with him.
So there's a feeling out process. It's maybe a little bit more complicated than deals with other guys that have agents that the GM has worked with before. But I think what's ultimately going to happen is this is. to me, a kind of a hit to James Cook's case. for why he should make 15 million because Kyron Williams has put up Just as good, if not better, numbers over a three-year period than Cook.
And the big holdup, I think, on the Bills end. Cook is not necessarily a three-down back. He might be able to become that. But to this point, if you think back to the Kansas City game last year in the playoffs, that last Cook was the best player not named Josh Allen for the Bills offensively in that game. The problem is, on that last series, when they had to have it, James Cook wasn't on the field because the Bills can't Rely upon him as a pass blocker, and you know, sometimes his hands as a pass catcher have been a question mark over the course of his career.
Yeah, Matt, I think about his size. Of course, he's trying to capitalize on a career year. What do you have? 18, 19 touchdowns. You want to make your money off of that.
Uh but a guy who's who's 5'10, 5'11, less than 200 pounds, I mean, how much of an investment do I want to make in him long term, you know? Yeah, and it's complicated even more so because when they drafted him. I'll never forget the night. It was an interesting press conference. They drafted running back in the second round.
And all Brandon Bean wanted to talk about is what he can do as a receiver. And he's, you know, evolved into the lead back for the Bills. And what he did between the tackles behind what has become one of the top offensive lines in the league last year, it was impressive. And it's worth considering what he means to this offense. But you also have to figure: okay, it takes a lot of pressure off of you as a running back when you play next to Josh Allen, who is as good as he is as a passer, but just as good as a runner.
And so I think that puts defenses in binds. I think James Cook, receivers, tight ends, offensive linemen, they all benefit from that. And then you talk about this offensive line, which, you know, Aaron Cromer is the offensive line coach here. If you remember back when the Rams made their first Super Bowl run, late 2010s, you know, Todd Gurley era, that was Aaron Cromer's offensive line that he built there in front of Gurley.
So he's done this before. He's done it again in Buffalo. They're paying a lot of their offensive linemen. They're really, really good up front. And so you just got to do the math and balance it out.
And it's a tough decision. Matt Perino covers all things, Buffalo Bills for Syracuse.com. When you think about the offense, you had mentioned the weapons, everybody being a beneficiary. What's the deal with Khalil Shakir? How has Keon Coleman looked in his second camp?
How are some of these weapons evolving?
So, yeah, Shakira is about as important as anybody in this offense. He's dealing with a high ankle sprain, which, whenever you hear that in football, it's worrisome because sometimes those things can linger throughout an entire season. And sometimes guys try to come back a little bit too early from that injury. And they're never quite right all season long. And he, like I mentioned, he's super important.
He's that safety valve for Allen. In terms of Coleman, listen, the lack of attention at the position in free agency, in the draft, obviously they brought in Josh Palmer. They're very high on him from the Chargers, but that wasn't a blockbuster type of move. They basically stood pat, right? Like they lost Amari Cooper, they lost Matt Collins, they bring in Josh Palmer.
All of that to say. They believe in Keon Coleman. They think that this guy was a first-round talent last year. He doesn't get crazy separation, but he's big. He's physical.
He's very feisty at the catch point. And I think that they think He's going to be the wide receiver one and evolve into that this year. They need him to because you look across this offense, there's question marks at the tight end position. Dalton Kincaid, they drafted him in the first round a couple of years ago, has a great rookie season, takes a step back the next year. They're high on him still, but there's not a bevy of household names in this offense.
And this is an offense that was at one time led by Stephon Diggs and how easy that made life on Josh Allen. They're looking for the next iteration of that. Cook's very important to this thing. Shakir, I mentioned already, he's so good. But Keon Coleman has a chance to be the guy in this offense.
He's had a spectacular camp, but we've been here before, right? Like, you've got to do it when the lights come on and the games start to count. He had a really good run of games before he got injured last year. And I go back to the Seattle game against Tariq Woolen. Where he really just gave Woolen problems all game long.
He had a really impressive touchdown in the blocking game, threw him to the ground, kind of pointed at him a little bit. He's got some swagger. I'm definitely looking for a big season from Coleman. How much money is he going to make off of hard knocks over the next month? A lot of money?
He is going to be must-see TV. I mean, if you think back to when he was drafted and the whole jacket press conference where he was talking about going and shopping at Macy's, yep, stealing the cookies from press row there. He is a character. And, you know, everybody talks about how funny he is in the locker. There's a couple of guys in this room.
I mean, Deion Dawkins. He's about as fun of a character in the NFL that there is. And then, obviously, just an up close and personal view of Josh Allen and what this team is like. They've been in the public eye for sure, right? Like they've been competing for, like you mentioned at the top.
Super bowl contender all these years. But they're kind of the quiet kind of team outside of Diggs for that season. They don't have a lot of high-profile names. And I think that you'll learn a little bit about this team over the next couple of weeks. Matt Perino covers the Buffalo Bills.
We talked a lot about the offense. They added Joey Bosa on the def first of all. Is Joey Bosa healthy? Does he have like a hangnail or something? What's going on with him?
Is he actually playing right now? That is absolutely a great question. And right now, everything's good.
Okay, wow. That could change on any given day. It's an on again, off again in terms of he'll practice one day. He'll give him a rest day the next day. And I think that the plan is: listen, keep this guy on ice as much as you can over the course of the summer, get to the regular season, and then honestly, you ration it up slowly.
I don't think you're going to want to be in a situation where you're asking him to play 50, 60, 70% of the snaps. Like he's going to be able to, with AJ Epines and Greg Rousseau here, he's going to be able to kind of like settle into that third defensive end role, and they're going to just hopefully. Keep it together long enough throughout the season to like unleash him in the playoffs. And, you know, he's rejuvenated. You know, sometimes when you stick around a team, it doesn't go bad necessarily.
He liked his time with the Chargers, but I think to be on a true Super Bowl contender, he's saying all the right things. He seems to be revitalized. And so that's huge because they had that for a minute when they signed Von Miller. We all know what happened after the injury. It just never was the same again.
So if they can keep him healthy, which is the big question, he'll definitely add some juice to the edge rush. I hope so, because I'm like, by the time it gets cold, is he going to muscles are going to get tight? You got those big old muscles and him in the snow. I'm like, damn it, is he going to hold up? We're going to see.
Matt Milano, he's got an offseason now here where he's healthy, right? I know also Maxwell Hairston went down.
Well, what's the status on him? Yeah, so Matt Milano, you know, again, another guy that's dealt with some injuries over the last couple of years. You don't want to jump the gun and overreact to a good summer. We got to this point last year. People were excited for him coming back.
He tore his bicep. That's right.
So. You just got to be careful about getting too high and too quick. But three years ago, Matt Milano was about as good as an off-ball linebacker as there was in the NFL. If he can even be a fraction of that, that gives the Bills a weapon on defense. And Sean McDermott talked about how important it is to find him and have those weapons.
The other one, You mentioned Maxwell Harrison, they draft him in the first round. They had high hopes for him. He's super speedy guy, the fastest guy in the draft. He goes and suffers a non-contact injury last week, and now it puts his status very much in question. It could have been a tornado sale.
So they dodged a big bullet. But the problem is he's missing very important snaps for the course of the summer here. And now you question, will he be ready to assume any kind of consistent role when the season starts? It's a big question. He's probably not going to be ready till week one, two, maybe even as late as week three.
You don't want to rush him back. And so I think that it's a big question mark. They brought in Tredavius White, their former all-pro cornerback who they had to cut for financial reasons. He struggled in L.A. He was a little better in Baltimore.
They're hoping that they can rely upon him until Harrison's ready. We'll we'll see if that plan works out. Buffalo Bills beat reporter Matt Perrino is here with us on the JR Sport Brief show Coast to Coast. When you think about the expectations of this team, I mean, last year was at the foot of Harrison Buttgertz. Like every year is they got to stare in the face of Patrick Mahomes.
Are the fans in Buffalo, are they just kind of? I don't want to say used to this. Not everybody was around 30 years ago, 30, 40 years ago. But are people looking at Sean McDermott? How do the fans kind of compartmentalize everything that's happened year after year after year?
You know, it's tough because I think there's definitely the. The frustration. There's a portion of the fan base that plays the blame game, and McDermott gets his fair share. And then obviously. Brandon Bean, especially in recent years, it's it's funny because you'd think that like He might get a lifetime pass for finding Josh Allen after the Bills had 17 years of no playoffs and.
one of the laughing stock franchises in the NFL, but I feel like the heat's been turned up a bit. on Brandon Bean. And there's this feeling That They're wasting the prime years of Josh Allen. The problem is, it's like any other great player, right? Like, if you go back to Charles Barkley back in the day when he was playing in the era of Michael Jordan.
Sometimes you're just playing in an era where there's another all-time great, and Patrick Mahomes has been the kryptonite to Josh Allen. And it's not for Josh Allen not having epic performances when it matters. A lot of times it's been the defense. And so, to your question, People are wondering. They've overhauled their defensive line.
They brought in a couple of new pieces on defense. Is this the year that the defense can maybe hold up its end of the bargain? Because. In, I think, last season in the Super Bowl, the Philadelphia Eagles forced. I think it was nine punts or something like nine.
They made them, they stopped nine drives, whatever the stat is. The Bills in their last four playoff games against the Chiefs have only done that six times.
So, like, it's got to be better. It's got to be more consistent. They have to affect the quarterback. They got to turn the ball over when it matters. They were great in turnovers last year, but when it mattered in the playoffs, it just wasn't at the same level.
So, there's definitely some anxiety, some angst, some. You know, just getting impatient a little bit. But again, this is you're experiencing one of the great quarterbacks. Of obviously this generation, and maybe by the time he's done, one of the greatest ever do it. And I think there's an appreciation for that.
Amongst the fan base. Yeah, we gotta see whether or not they get over the hump. I feel like between the Bills and the Ravens, it's just hey, let's just wait until January. to see if they can get past Mahomes. And it feels like that's going to be the case again this year.
Definitely. And it's like it's crazy to start The season with those two teams on Sunday night football. It could be maybe finally the preview. Maybe one of them knocks off the Chiefs and then we get to see Baltimore and Buffalo for a chance to go to the Super Bowl or maybe Cincinnati's in the mix there. There's so that's the other part of this, too.
It's like, and this is probably something that sits with Bills fans, is like you're not only in the era of Mahomes, but you're in the conference with all the heavy hitters. You know, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, C.J. Stroud on the come up. I mean, there are great elite quarterbacks littered throughout this conference. And then in the division, Drake May, I mean, if he has the kind of rookie season to sophomore jump that some expect, now maybe you have another one in your own division if he kind of develops and evolves into what some think he can be.
So it's going to be fun, man. I cannot wait for the season to start. I mean, I feel like we spent nine months just talking about what could be, and now we're finally at the spot where we get to see what it all means. Hey, sign me up. We got the first preseason game against the Giants this weekend.
We got a couple more weeks until the regular season gets underway. Hey, Matt, thank you so much for the time. Tell everybody where they could follow you and all your work with the Shout Podcast, Syracuse.com. Fill us in. At Matt Perino on all the social media platforms, the Shout Podcast.
We stream live on video, on YouTube. And you can find it on the audio platforms on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get it. Appreciate you having me on, man. Of course, Matt, we'll catch you on down the line, okay?
Sounds good. Have a great night.
