Buffalo Bills

Maybe Dalvin Cook should consider becoming certified as a sports agent.

James Cook, Dalvin's younger brother, scored on a five-yard touchdown run to put the Buffalo Bills ahead 10-7 over the Denver Broncos in the AFC Wild Card Round.

Reacting to the play, Dalvin suggested James is worth a $20 million average salary:

The younger Cook is signed with Buffalo through the 2025 season, but it stands to reason he and his representatives will angle for a long-term extension. During the regular season, the 2023 Pro Bowler ran for 1,009 yards and matched O.J. Simpson's franchise record for rushing touchdowns (16).

If Dalvin thinks his brother can get $20 million a year, then he hasn't been paying attention to the running back market.

San Francisco 49ers star Christian McCaffrey nearly matches that figure with a $19 million average salary, but there's a wild gulf between he the second-highest-paid running back (Jonathan Taylor, $14 million). The Philadelphia Eagles' Saquon Barkley is next on the list at $12.6 million.

Spotrac pegs James Cook's value at $35.8 million over four years. That's a far cry from a $20 million AAV.

But any good negotiator will tell you to start high since there's more room to bargain down. If Cook and his agent start at $20 million with the Bills, then they'll have a lot of room.

The Buffalo Bills released renderings Thursday of their planned new Highmark Stadium, which will be built for $2.1 billion and is scheduled to open in the summer of 2026.

The new stadium will feature two "state of the art video boards" and a new audio system that "allows targeting of sound to specific areas of the stadium." The stadium will also feature a stacked concourse to bring fans closer to the playing surface, will be fully ADA compliant and will contain "radiant heat points" to help deal with the frigid temperatures later in the season.

The Bills have been in the current Highmark Stadium since 1973, when it was first opened as Rich Stadium. The new stadium will be built across the street from the current stadium, and the Bills opted to keep the stadium as an open-air stadium rather than a dome.

The Bills will enter their new stadium while likely remaining a top contender in the AFC, with quarterback Josh Allen under contract through 2028. The open-air state of the stadium will not make it an option to host a Super Bowl, due to the conditions in the region in February, but the team will still be able to embrace the regional weather and the culture built from the original Highmark Stadium.

As the Bills prepare to close the chapter on their current stadium, the team will hope to bring at least one championship home.

Josh Allen is doing his best to keep teams in need of a head coach away from offensive coordinator Joe Brady.

The Buffalo Bills quarterback joked that Brady wouldn't make a good head coach amid interest from teams around the league.

"Nothing," Allen told reporters when asked what Brady brought to the offense in 2024. "Teams should stay away from him."

Brady has emerged as a candidate for several vacant head coaching jobs, including the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars.

The interest Brady is drawing makes sense given the success he and the Bills have had this season. In his first year as offensive coordinator, Brady has orchestrated an offense that scored the second-most points per game (30.9).

Under Brady's guidance, Allen has become a favorite to win MVP with a season that saw him throw for 3,731 yards, 28 touchdowns and just six interceptions. Allen also had 531 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground.

While Allen would prefer Brady stick around after this season, there's a good chance he'll end up getting his first head coaching gig this offseason.

Until then, he'll look to lead the Bills to a Super Bowl after a tremendous regular season. Buffalo will begin its quest toward a championship on Sunday when it faces the Denver Broncos.

The Buffalo Bills are locked into the No. 2 seed in the AFC standings and will treat their Week 18 contest against the New England Patriots somewhat like a preseason game with quarterback Josh Allen taking the field for only a short amount of time.

Head coach Sean McDermott told reporters Monday the plan is for Allen to be "out there for a short" amount of time, which is notable because it will preserve the quarterback's ongoing 114-game start streak.

McDermott also said the team will play "some starters" and rotate in other players they want to see get some game action.

The most notable development with such an approach is Allen given the streak, which underscores the quarterback's overall durability as he developed into one of the best signal-callers in the league.

"One of the things that we know is very, very important to [Allen] is his consecutive starts streak, if you will, and it's important to him for a great reason," McDermott said. "He wants to be out there with his teammates and so he will be out there for a very, very short-lived amount of time and then he'll be off rather quickly there."

That he will be taken out of the game shortly after it starts is also notable, though, as Allen is in the middle of an MVP race alongside other candidates such as Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow and Saquon Barkley.

Jackson and Burrow are still battling for playoff positioning and will presumably play their entire games in Week 18, so the Bills' leader will sacrifice the opportunity to put up some individual numbers in the middle of that MVP race.

Still, he has made quite the case for himself while leading Buffalo to a 13-3 record and completing 63.6 percent of his passes for 3,731 yards, 28 touchdowns and six interceptions to go with 531 yards and 12 scores on the ground.

He will likely see his streak of seasons with more than 4,000 passing yards end at four, but he and the Bills have their sights set on a far loftier goal with the opportunity to win the Lombardi Trophy.

Buffalo hasn't made it past the AFC Championship Game during Allen's tenure in large part because of the presence of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, but the Bills won the head-to-head showdown this season, are playing excellent football and wouldn't have to worry about another battle with Kansas City until the AFC Championship Game.

Keeping Allen healthy for a potential long playoff run is key, so the team won't take many chances in a meaningless contest against the Patriots.

The NFL MVP conversation is going to extend through the remainder of the NFL season, with Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Saquon Barkley and even Joe Burrow having their backers.

Allen, at least, put his best foot forward yet again on Sunday.

The Buffalo Bills' superstar threw for 182 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 17 yards and another score in his team's 40-14 blowout win over the hapless New York Jets.

And there wasn't any stat-padding in this one—the Bills sat Allen down for the entire fourth quarter with the contest well decided.

The Bills are now 13-3 on the season and have locked up the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs. For a number of fans and pundits, Allen has done enough this season to secure the MVP:

Let's quickly review the MVP narratives being utilized to support the MVP cases of Allen, Jackson, Burrow and Barkley.

Allen has led the Bills to a 13-3 record despite losing playmakers like Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis in the offseason, remaining one of the elite two-way quarterbacks in the sport with 40 total touchdowns on the season.

Jackson has been a statistical monster, ranking fourth in the NFL with 3,955 passing yards and second in passing touchdowns (39) while also rushing for 852 yards and eight touchdowns. He's led the Ravens back to the postseason and has them a victory away from winning a second straight AFC North title.

Barkley has eclipsed 2,000 rushing yards and is within striking distance of Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record (2,105 yards), though the Eagles may have nothing to play for in Week 18 and could treat the final game of the season as a de facto bye before heading into the playoffs.

And Burrow leads the NFL in both passing yards (4,641 yards) and passing touchdowns (42), all while completing 69.8 percent of his passes. But the Bengals are just 8-8 and in danger of missing the playoffs altogether which—fair or not—will potentially be an argument against his MVP candidacy.

No matter how it shakes out, it will likely be an incredibly close vote, and Allen is a more than deserving candidate. He showed as much again on Sunday.

NFL quarterbacks typically give offensive linemen gifts around the holidays, but the favor was returned in Buffalo this year.

Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins showcased a pendant that the team's offensive linemen combined to give Allen, who was quite appreciative of the gift.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Allen was a heavy -380 favorite to win MVP, per DraftKings Sportsbook. Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is his biggest threat (+280 underdog) followed by Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley (+1200).

For the season, Allen has accounted for 37 touchdowns (26 passing, 11 rushing). He's completed 63.8 percent of his passes for 3,549 yards (7.8 YPA) and rushed for 514 yards.

Allen has led a 12-3 Bills team that will finish with the AFC's No. 2 seed with a win in one of its final two games (at the 4-11 New York Jets, at the 3-12 New England Patriots).

It looks like that pendant could be foreshadowing for his first-ever MVP award. But Allen still has a bit of work to do before the end of the regular season. Ultimately, we'll find out the MVP winner on Feb. 8 at the NFL Honors show.

The HEARTS Act—a law designed to help improve resources and access for heart health in the United States, and one that was backed by Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin—was signed into law by President Joe Biden on Monday.

"It's super dope, man. Shoutout to Senator Schumer. Shoutout to the Smart Hearts Coalition. Shoutout to the American Heart Association and to my Chasing M's foundation," Hamlin told ESPN's Alaina Getzenberg. "We all came together to make some legacy off the field. I always wanted to, in my life, leave a legacy on the field, but to have a legacy and have meaning and purpose off the field."

Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest during a Monday Night Football matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 2. 2023. His heart briefly stopped before he was resuscitated on the field by paramedics. Hamlin returned to the NFL last season, though largely as a special teams player. This year, he won the starting safety job for the Bills.

As for the HEARTS Act, Getzenberg wrote that the law "will help put automated external defibrillators in schools and make CPR training more accessible by creating a grant program at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to support CPR and AED training in elementary and secondary schools with the purchase of AEDs, funding AED and CPR training, and the development of cardiac emergency response plans."

Josh Allen has had an MVP-caliber season and has the Buffalo Bills looking like Super Bowl contenders, but an injury could throw a wrench in his championship plans.

Allen told reporters after Sunday's 24-21 win over the New England Patriots that he lost some of the feeling in his throwing hand after suffering an elbow injury in the game. He was evaluated for a right elbow contusion but was cleared to return to the game and finished with 154 yards, a touchdown and an interception in the win.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported on Dec. 22 that Allen has been playing with a broken hand since Week 1. Despite suffering the injury against the Arizona Cardinals, Allen never had to miss any time and Rapoport reported that he was "expected to be totally fine."

Playing through the injury makes Allen's outstanding numbers look even more impressive. He's recorded 3,549 passing yards, 26 passing touchdowns and just six interceptions. On the ground, he's rushed for 514 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Those stats along with the Bills' 12-3 record have made him a front-runner to win his first MVP.

Buffalo, which has never won a Super Bowl, seems capable of doing so this year as long as Allen is on the field. The Bills beat their biggest competition in the AFC earlier this season when they took down the Kansas City Chiefs 30-21. Recently, they downed the NFC-leading Detroit Lions 48-42.

If they can take down those two contenders, it's well within reason to think the Bills could hoist the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the season.

The priority until they begin their Super Bowl journey will be ensuring Allen is fully healthy for the playoffs.

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen has been mounting an MVP campaign despite spending most of the 2024 NFL season with an injury.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported Sunday that Allen fractured his hand in Buffalo's 34-28 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1.

Allen has so far put up massive numbers even with the injury. He has thrown for 3,395 passing yards for 25 touchdowns and five interceptions. He also gone for 484 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground while establishing himself as one of the most effective dual-threat quarterbacks in the NFL.

The Bills became the first team to clinch their division on Dec. 1, when Allen became the first quarterback in NFL history to record a passing, rushing and receiving touchdown in the same game during a Week 13 win over the San Francisco 49ers.

Allen and the Bills then tied an NFL record on Dec. 15, when the team scored at least 30 points for the eighth straight game during a Week 15 victory over the Detroit Lions.

If Allen misses any time down the road, the Bills could give more carries to James Cook and Dalton Kincaid in the hopes that increased focus on the run game can help cover for the absence of Allen's passing.

Mitchell Trubisky, who has made seven appearances in relief this season, could meanwhile be called up to start under center for the first time since the Bills signed him in March. Trubisky last started in Week 14 of the 2023 season while playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

If the Bills do turn to Trubisky, the franchise will hope the switch is only a short-term solution. The team's hopes claiming the first Super Bowl in Buffalo franchise history likely hinge on Allen's availability going forward.