NFL Running Back Salaries Surge, Spotlight on James Cook

The three signings that have happened here this week with the running back position between Bijan Robinson, Jamar Gibbs and Jonathan Taylor. How do you think James Cook of the Buffalo Bills feels right about now when Buffalo signed him for what 11 and a half million and he was you know he had almost hold out in order to be able to get that but now he went from being a pretty good like top top eight or nine but now he's like 13th or 14th in average salary my goodness uh but I guess running backs are a hot commodity again now huh boy that was quick yeah that that was surprising right and by the way Cook led the NFL in rushing last year so yeah he says you know what uh I'm holding out too right um so he should be a little higher on the pecking order but it is amazing yeah listen it was only a matter of time that the Barkley thing really kind of opened the door to other teams saying all right we got all this extra salary gap space you know the NFL you get 10 to 20 million dollars more every single year um you know and some of these teams are you know kind of cut back a little bit on other positions and and you know the running back is he's doing right what are you gonna do um even now it's 20 to 25 million compared to other positions it really is not that much if you're you know the best ones as they these guys are so but I figured we were talking about this you know on the podcast with Gibbs it was a matter of time you know whoever gave them you know I don't think it was the Lions or even the Falcons that were saying no no no no no I think it was Bijan Robinson and Jameer Gibbs that were saying all right you know whatever you whoever signs first the other guy's got to get a couple of just just because of ego and everything else and that's exactly what happened you know Robinson signs and then a couple days later you know yesterday um you know Gibbs signs and he got just just a couple of dollars more just to kind of throw it in your face all right I won the battle how about that but yeah they're making good money now they are next up would be a field goal kicker I guess that'll be the next position I I I guess right because it's like like now all of a sudden now these guys are taking up a significant portion of the uh of the cap here and listen if you're Bijan if you're Jameer I get Taylor this is his second contract guaranteed contract I believe because I think he's older than both of them uh at uh at 20 I think he's 27 years old so this he's got yeah he's up there but Jameer Gibbs is only 24 and listen Bijan both guys well worth it but you better be very confident in some of the other spots because I think Montgomery not being in Detroit this year you know all of a sudden there's going to be coming a lot of wear and tear on a guy you're paying 23 24 million dollars a year to from the running back position and you and I both know defensors are going to be looking at what they did last year and be like yeah you're not going for 85 yards man like that's just that's not happening here which means and that's a lot more touches a lot more wear and tear on him as well and look at Saquon you know two years ago he rushed for 2,000 yards last year barely got a thousand believe it or not you know 1140 you know just over a thousand yards which you know with 17 games really isn't that much per game so yeah you know these guys are going to come back to the pack a little bit but you know I I guess you have to pay them Joe but I don't know you know I've said this about the owners you know like like uh you know Gibbs right so there is Robinson getting 67 million dollars uh for three years right I don't know why the Lions just didn't say all right there's the market you're as good as him he's as good as you we're going to give you 67 million instead they got to give him like a half a million more and a half a million almost almost a million more in in incentives and a half a million more in in guaranteed money why but why do that why there's the guy here's the best running back we'll match it there you go but instead they just ever so slowly give him more and more and more money and it just doesn't make any sense I mean what's the guy gonna walk away I mean honestly he's got a year left on his contract Gibbs then the Lions could have said played this year under your contract and then you know what we're gonna franchise you next year and the franchise for running back is not 25 million dollars it's probably around 15 million so now you got it under control for two more years and hell I'll franchise you again the year after it's still not gonna probably be 25 million and by that time you're gonna be 27 I know the system sucks for certain players but if I'm the owners I'm the GM what are you gonna do I'm gonna give you 20 million dollars I'm not giving you 25 too bad I'll give you 15 20 million go ahead and walk away from that I dare you these guys wouldn't