If you ask any general manager in the NFL what kind of team they would prefer to have, they would answer one that consists of homegrown talent that they can re-sign on the cheap.
Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane is no exception. The Bills have done an excellent job in recent years building their team from the draft and developing that talent along the way.
This offseason came the difficult part, though.
Paying that talent.
Buffalo has already dished out long-term extensions to players like Terrel Bernard and Greg Rousseau and cornerback Christian Benford.
There is one notable exception ... as running back James Cook is also looking for long-term extensions with the team that pays him a fair rate in accordance with the current market.
Or, in Cook's desirous case ... $15 million per year.
Beane not long ago indicated that he knew he had work to do.
"All these guys that are kind of homegrown, that's the perfect way to do it. But we know for whatever reasons as guys leave or certain things don't work out, you got to fill in in different pockets with free agency or trades," Beane said. "I commend all these guys for really wanting to be here in Buffalo…they're just really telling their agents, 'Hey, I'd love to be here. Let's see if we can get something done,' and put our heads together and found terms that we were all comfortable with."
Cook is next on Buffalo's list ... if he's even on it at all.
But generally? Buffalo understands what needs to be done to keep the homegrown youth movement going.