The cost of new stadiums keeps going up. The value of NFL franchises keeps going up. The end result is more borrowing by NFL teams that are building new stadiums.
Via Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal, the NFL’s owners approved a pair of debt moves this week.
First, the Bills got a $650 million debt waiver. The Bills needed the dispensation because they’re responsible for the overages on the $1.4 billion stadium. The current cost of the new Highmark Stadium has reached $2.2 billion.
The Titans separately received approval for an extra $100 million in debt for their new stadium.
The debt for teams building new stadiums will keep going up, because the price of new stadiums is never going to go down.
Especially at a time when many are saying that the price of everything is about to go up.
Former Bills G.M. Doug Whaley has joined the emerging trend of college football programs hiring General Managers.
Sort of.
Via Stephen Thompson of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said Thursday that Whaley has essentially been operating in the role of G.M. “for a couple of years.”
The program later said that Whaley isn’t employed by the school. He works for Alliance 412, the NIL collective associated with Pitt.
Still, Whaley is doing more than coordinating payments to players. Narduzzi said, for example, that Whaley had been “watching video tape” in the team’s facility on Wednesday.
Whaley is apparently still affiliated with the UFL as well.
Whaley spent a decade with the Steelers before joining the Bills in 2010. He became the G.M. in 2013. He was fired after the 2017 draft. He thereafter joined the XFL, for both its 2020 return and 2023 revival.
Even if concerns about injury and aesthetics have become embarrassing pretexts for dumping the tush push, the effort to nudge the play out of the rule book has likely started the clock on the official expiration of the technique.
By flagging the play as a catastrophic injury waiting to happen, the league has (intentionally or not) activated the legal bat signal.
As noted by Kalyn Kahler of ESPN.com in an excellent postmortem on the tush push escapades in Palm Beach, NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills harped on the injury risk, to league staff, the Competition Committee, coaches, and owners.
“It’s all about health and safety,” an unnamed owner told ESPN.com. "[Dr. Sills said], ‘It’s not if but when a catastrophic injury occurs.’”
When incoming general counsel Ted Ullyot sees that quote, the die will be cast; he’ll say they need to get rid of the play before someone literally dies.
Even if the data doesn’t support it, Sills’s adoption of a hair-on-fire posture (possibly at the nudging of those who want to kill the play, including the Commissioner) becomes a massive problem for the league if/when a serious injury happens during a tush-push play.
It’s why the NFL changed the kickoff, even if they never say it out loud. They wanted to eliminate the very real risk of (another) catastrophic injury when two large, strong men run in opposite directions at top speed and collide. They have.
By introducing the vague possibility of a catastrophic injury on the tush push, the eventual reality (if it happens) of a catastrophic injury makes those remarks a goldmine for proof of league liability. For that reason alone, it now seems obvious for the first time that the anti-tush push forces will get what they want. Especially since the push doesn’t really change what fundamentally is a very effective quarterback sneak.
Indeed, the Eagles will still run the sneak. And they’ll do it very well. If/when a serious injury happens, the notion that it happened during the inherently dangerous tush-push play will be off the table and unavailable to the lawyer who is hired to obtain maximum compensation for the player who suffered it.
There it is. Game over for the tush push. And the lawyers will be the ones who make it happen — especially since that advice will mesh with what the league office seemingly wants to do, anyway.
The Bills have a James Cook problem.
During the annual meetings in Orlando, G.M. Brandon Beane made it clear that Cook won’t be getting a new contract “anytime soon,” after initial talks went nowhere.
Cook has now made his next move in the eight-figure chess match. Via WIVB.com, Cook’s Orchard Park house is now on the market.
The home was purchased in 2022 by an LLC owned by Cook’s brother, Dalvin. Regardless, it’s where James lives. And it’s currently for sale.
Cook has a $5.3 million salary for 2025, the last year of his rookie deal. He has made it clear he’s looking for at least $15 million per year.
A holdout isn’t a viable option; the current labor deal would strip him instantly of a fourth year of service, making him not eligible for free agency in 2026. A hold-in becomes more plausible, with Cook showing up but not practicing until he gets a deal — or until the team tells him he need to get to work.
Next year, the Bills and Cook could end up playing the franchise-tag dance. Which could potentially further delay his second contract, as it did for Saquon Barkley.
Cook, 25, was a second-round pick in 2022. He’s a two-time Pro Bowler, and he scored 18 total regular-season touchdowns in 2024.
Bills cornerback Christian Benford’s new contract will change his life. But not his approach.
Benford said in announcing the deal that the money, about $70 million over the life of the contract, will make an enormous difference to his family.
“Let’s be for real – like, it’s a life-changing moment,” Benford said, via the Buffalo News. “Let’s just put all things to the side. Let’s clear the air. Let’s address the elephant in the room. Like, this is life changing – like, family, legacy, everything.”
But Benford said that on the field, he’ll be the same player he’s been since the Bills drafted him in 2022.
“My drive’s already still strong to be the best in the league,” Benford said. “It don’t change nothing. I don’t feel different. My mindset is still the same. Get to the Super Bowl, be the best in the league. But yeah, for the drive standpoint, it ain’t really touch that foundation.”
