
Mike, Jenna and Dan discuss all of that and more on the latest episode of the Buffalo Plus Podcast.
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Dan Fates
I like my money.
Mike Catalana
Definitely do, but.
Dan Fates
So that's why I'm here. This is the Buffalo plus podcast, brought to you by Connors and Ferris.
Jenna Cottrell
All right, welcome back to the Buffalo plus podcast, presented by Connors and Ferris, Mike Catalana, Dan Fates. I am Jenna Cottrell. Please be sure to, like, comment, subscribe and share. We are at day one of mandatory camp here in Orchard Park. The biggest story of the day.
Dan Fates
I feel like we're usually on the other side.
Jenna Cottrell
Yeah. I'm not going to lie. I had to. But the biggest story of the day, Daniel Focus.
Dan Fates
Is the fact that we are on different sides.
Jenna Cottrell
Focus. Michael. James Cook in attendance.
Mike Catalana
Yeah. I mean, honest with you, I was a little surprised that he was here and he participated. So I think if you're a Bills fan that wants to see him out there and here for the season, this was a step in the right direction. But I don't think that solves the whole issue. I think this is a positive, but it doesn't say like, oh, everything's great and it's going to be fine. Yeah.
Dan Fates
And James was asked after practice point blank why he felt the need to attend mandatory minicamp. And guys, he said, I like my money.
Mike Catalana
Definitely do, but.
Dan Fates
So that's why I'm here.
Jenna Cottrell
Here's my take. I think he said the right things today. Did he say that? Yes. He probably now is like, I probably shouldn't have said that. But I think when you see it written out in a tweet or an article, it hits different than when you actually hear it yourself.
Mike Catalana
Well, let's think about what's the difference. He hasn't been here for the non mandatory portions of camp.
Dan Fates
Correct.
Mike Catalana
He came today and he went out on the field. You wouldn't have noticed any difference. He's out there running his routes. He's playing football at the level that it is as an ota. And the reality is the mandatory camp, football wise, is no different than the other camps. But the difference was if he did not show up, it was fine. Bigger fine. Third day would have cost him about 100,000 bucks. So him not showing up at the other times did not impact his bottom line at all. This one did. So that is the truth. I'm thinking of it in the context of playing football this year and with this team because from this moment on, if he misses anything, he's fine for every bit of it.
Dan Fates
So my thought is, as Jenna said, yeah, it's not that big of a deal. I thought James was very poignant and picked each of his words carefully. I think he answered everything else phenomenally. It was the respectful dialogue that we had been seeing throughout this off season between Brandon Bean and kind of reading through the I love Jimbo and all these things. And he was asked about, hey, all this stuff is going to work itself out. Do you want to be in Buffalo? I love Buffalo. Why? Why are you going to come to training camp? All of these things. He said, yes, because I need to be on the field because I want to win a Super Bowl, I want to help my team. All those things were the right things. I think he made a point by saying, I like my money. He's made it very clear that he wants money. He wants to get paid. And he chose those words, I thought, as a very poignant way to get a point across. He did say it as we showed. Or if you're watching or listening, there was a smirk. Yeah, okay. But I think he meant that. I think he meant like, I'm really only here because if I didn't have to be here without getting fined, I wouldn't be here.
Jenna Cottrell
I mean, yeah, I think, I think that is true. But he could have held in. Like, he could have come today and not do. Done any of the drills. But he did show up. He did participate. He did everything that was asked of him. It's not like he only did individual work. Like, he did all this stuff. So to me, I agree. I hear what you're saying completely. And. And I think you're right. I think it is. I think it's honesty. It's a little bit of truth of like.
Dan Fates
And we love that.
Jenna Cottrell
I, yeah, and I. I like that.
Mike Catalana
And we did get Josh to say he loves Jimbo.
Dan Fates
Yes.
Jenna Cottrell
I wish we had. We could have like a counter during press conference.
Dan Fates
We also. The reason too, I think this was as surprising as it was is on the Adam Schefter podcast over the weekend, you probably heard that Schefter said these two teams, these two sides are really far apart, that he didn't expect to see him in Buffalo anytime soon. Said it was pretty much going to be Ray Davis season coming into training camp. Didn't know when it was going to be. I don't think that James Cook showing up to Mike's point means that they are any closer to a deal.
Jenna Cottrell
I agree.
Dan Fates
I think it is a good move to show up.
Mike Catalana
I agree.
Dan Fates
Because you win nothing in the negotiation by not showing up. The team has the upper hand in that. I mean, he's under contract, but they have the upper hand to say Don't. If you don't show up, that's fine. We'll find you. Yeah, like James doesn't have that here. So I liked that he showed up. That was a good sign. He looked good as most offensive players did today. We can get to that in a second. But I, I again, I do take Schefter for his word and maybe it was agent talking to Schefter to say, hey, we're not that close. But again, this is, I don't think him showing up today means they are closer to a deal than what they were this weekend.
Mike Catalana
And, and that's the information he got. It depends if it's coming from the agent. They want more. Look, there's several ways this can play out. He could sign a new contract with the Bills, they come to some agreement, he signs an extension. You could have a messy hold in with issues at camp. I personally don't expect that. I really don't because I think maybe this is just me. There's another option here. As much as he says I love it here and maybe he does, but if he doesn't see the money that he wants, he may eventually and maybe in his mind he already has settled in of saying, you know what if they don't give me what my want, I play out this year and then I get an opportunity to go somewhere else. Because he'll love playing there too. Because he'll get the money that he wants to get. Doesn't mean he dislikes Buffalo, but he wants that money and he wants the playing field.
Dan Fates
You know what I'm going to say.
Jenna Cottrell
It'S all a business.
Dan Fates
It's all business and it's the Tremaine Edmonds. We hope he balls out. And if Tremaine Ball, when he balled out and played really well and was the Pro Bowler, that was great. Thank you for your service. We're moving on to the next guy. So it is that James also was asked if there is any personal side to this. And Jen, I thought James answer there.
Jenna Cottrell
Was perfect about it being a business.
Dan Fates
It's a business.
Jenna Cottrell
Yeah.
Dan Fates
There are no hard feelings.
Jenna Cottrell
Yeah.
Dan Fates
He hopes it all gets worked out. He kind of crossed that bridge. He talked about that he would show up at training camp. He said that when Tim Graham kind of pressed him to say would you be participating in training camp? He kind of dodged that question and said, I'm just working every day. We'll see what happens when we get to training camp.
Mike Catalana
Well, in fairness to him, he doesn't have to give away any of that, Yeah, I think that's smart. I think it's smart for him. Look, he's going to look out for himself. He should. This team is better with him on the team. I think we would all agree to that. At the point if they do need to move away from James Cook, it would be when they have an entire off season to try to figure that out. I talked to Ray Davis. You know the way Ray Davis is, he's ready for whatever it is he thinks. I said to him, you never know what the circumstances are about, needing to do more. His answer was, we got a group of guys who can do more. They are all supportive of each other. I think Ray's a very good player. But in this season, James Cook on the field and playing well would be great for the Bills. I think if you're telling me today, I think that's the way it plays out. I could see it just playing out under this contract and then he moves on and good for him and actually good for the Bills. If it does get to that point and he gets a big deal with somebody else, it's a much better chance at a better draft pick that you get his compensation at some point. Now, that's a ways off.
Jenna Cottrell
Yeah.
Mike Catalana
They haven't even gotten to training camp. But these are the things that happen.
Dan Fates
And if you want to talk ways off, I know it's been brought up the possibility of a transition tag or a franchise tag. I just don't see that being the case. Usually teams use those franchise tags as a. The bookmark to get a long term deal done. They're not getting a long term deal done this year. I don't see one necessarily happening with the sides seemingly as far apart as they are right now.
Mike Catalana
Yeah, I, I agree. So, you know, again, we will see how it plays out. But if you'd asked me and we did talk about this, like last week, I didn't think he was going to be here today. He's here. He practiced. Good news in that case. Now let's see where it goes from there.
Jenna Cottrell
Sean McDermott saying he respects the decision made. Josh Allen, very complimentary of James Cook being here. And I do think it does say something about him showing up. It would have been easy for him to skip. I know there's the fine, but like, where things were at. I agree. I was, I was kind of like, oh, okay, James Cook is here. I was, I was a. I wouldn't say shock, but I was, I was a bit surprised.
Dan Fates
Also, credit to James for talking.
Mike Catalana
Yeah.
Jenna Cottrell
Also. Yes.
Mike Catalana
Because He's. First of all, he's not a big talker, though.
Dan Fates
Not a big talker.
Mike Catalana
He could be. He could have 130 yards in the game. He. He's not. I got to get in front of the microphones. He's never really that.
Dan Fates
So I thought that was the mature, grown up thing to do to answer all the questions. So we weren't left wondering.
Jenna Cottrell
Yeah.
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Jenna Cottrell
No. Agreed. All right, so, football.
Mike Catalana
All right, Josh.
Dan Fates
Well done.
Mike Catalana
That was funny. That was funny.
Jenna Cottrell
So this was the first time we saw Josh Allen after getting married, obviously. And reporters tried to ask him about the wedding.
Mike Catalana
Yeah, he kind of sorta. I did not ask it, but I would have sort of stammered through a question too. You know, you don't wanna be like, sir, Josh, tell us about your wedding. So it was more like your big event, your big moment. And then he cut that off.
Dan Fates
You're trying to circumvent ways to be respectful while trying to be, like, coy around it. And Josh, so good with the media, was just so perfect asking about it and finally was asked about what it's like wearing the wedding ring and how are you getting used to it on the field. And Josh goes football. That segued into the rest of the press conference, but it was. Yeah. Josh did talk about the fact that the biggest decision he ever made was this offseason and marrying his best friend. Everything else kind of falls into place. Handling the first offseason where you're the reigning mvp. He said it doesn't feel any different because that doesn't mean anything and isn't worth a whole lot when it comes to winning a championship.
Mike Catalana
I agree.
Dan Fates
Again, that perspective. We heard Joe Brady talk about that earlier this offseason that you wouldn't know. He's the guy that's the MVP showing up the building that he feels hungry still.
Jenna Cottrell
Yeah.
Mike Catalana
By the way, he wasn't that great today. Listen, it's seven on seven. Joe Andreessen. Joe Andreessen he was hauling out the short shorts.
Dan Fates
Try to be the next Fred Warner.
Mike Catalana
I mean, I'm kidding. You got a bunch of guys out there, threw a couple of picks and the ball's knocked down. It's just usually we joke about it when Josh is, like, when you see him at training camp, the ball rarely hits the ground. Like, he just makes plays. It's a little off table.
Jenna Cottrell
You gotta get used to the ring.
Mike Catalana
Yeah, that's it.
Dan Fates
Josh did say that, like, he uses this time to try and see what he can get away with is like, this is kind of the time where you feel it out. You make mistakes in practice. You can learn from them.
Jenna Cottrell
Yeah.
Dan Fates
Other note, on defense.
Mike Catalana
You all right?
Jenna Cottrell
Yeah.
Mike Catalana
Yeah.
Dan Fates
Christian Benford is a really, really good football player. Josh threw a perfect ball down the sidelines to Tyrell Shavers. You couldn't have placed it into his hands any better. And as Shavers is trying to get his feet down and stay in bounds, Benford just rips it out of his hands. I mean, it was textbook what you talk about and what you teach Special. That little moment where I go, I was asking some people, like, former players, like, how do you replicate when they do a run play and they're not even in pads? Like, this is so hard to tell. You're looking to see about positioning and technique, so you can't really always base things off the results. But that was a result where I went. That's a top tier cornerback play.
Jenna Cottrell
Yeah.
Mike Catalana
Yeah. A couple players sitting out, including Cole Bishop.
Jenna Cottrell
Yeah.
Mike Catalana
You don't see that. As we say, these are just a few days in camp, but it's the last thing you give the team before they come back from training camp. I know. I asked Bobby Babich last week about expectations, and he shut that down and said, you know, nobody. Players have higher expectations, they should have higher expectations than we have for them. Their expectation is that he would come in and earn the job and play. I'm not saying he can't do that. But Demar was out today, too, and you would you want to see him out on the field? You really do. Because this is.
Dan Fates
That's what stunted his development last year.
Jenna Cottrell
And Sean McDermott emphatically said, doesn't matter if you're an old guy or a young guy, whoever is out there is a player that has earned our trust. He was almost like hitting the table talking about it. And I. I was like, wow, okay. Like, that sends a message.
Mike Catalana
That was Sean, because he's also heard the idea that people say, like, well, you don't want to play.
Dan Fates
He doesn't. The rookies. You know what? Doesn't matter that the rookies don't.
Mike Catalana
Jim Benford started week number one in la.
Dan Fates
Osiris Torns, like, right.
Mike Catalana
Nailed it.
Jenna Cottrell
It sounded kind of weird.
Mike Catalana
Yeah, yeah. Because we were expecting.
Dan Fates
But like, that's. That's something that we've actually joked around with Sean at. At the combine and things like that or at the golf events that we've done with him. Like, hey, you know, you don't play rookies. And he's like, yeah, I hear it all the time. It was a mic drop today of. He did say, especially in the defensive line, they're going to lean into some of their youth. That's a big part of it. He's excited.
Mike Catalana
He said young players are gonna play.
Jenna Cottrell
That's what he said.
Dan Fates
He goes. And they're gonna go as far. The defense is gonna go as far as the D line goes. That is a lot of pressure and emphasis on that spot. But for him to say, there's this thought that Sean McDermott doesn't play young guys. He goes, you earn the job because when I put you out there, the guy next to you has to trust that you're gonna do your job. Yeah, I liked that. Little Sean pushing back a little bit.
Jenna Cottrell
Yeah. But it's true. Like, you gotta trust the guy next to you. And now McDermott did say that he expects most of these guys to be ready to go in terms of when training camp starts and all that, so that is a positive note. But obviously you would have loved for him to be out there today, considering the time he missed last offseason and just what he needs to do to cement himself on the field.
Mike Catalana
And Taron Johnson dealing with an injuries out there.
Dan Fates
Labrum.
Mike Catalana
Labrum.
Dan Fates
Katherine Fitzgerald from the Buffalo News talked to him last week. So that's. That's a tough injury.
Mike Catalana
Yeah, but he's a tough.
Jenna Cottrell
And the shoulder.
Mike Catalana
The shoulder, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's taking a lot of hits, but.
Dan Fates
It'S not his forearm. It's not from the broken forearm last season. So that's a positive in the sense of it's not a recurring injury, it's just a new injury, which also is great.
Jenna Cottrell
Yeah. Anything else?
Mike Catalana
No, I think it's what, like six weeks? And this is. You know, it's funny, sometimes people would say, like, it's. It's time to get a little time off. It's ramp up time for these guys physically.
Dan Fates
Yeah, I got that vibe from Sean where it's like, oh, it's minicamp. The guys are all together, like, just high five and do walk. And he's like, this is the ramp up. Because when we hit training camp, we got to be going. They're going.
Jenna Cottrell
Yeah. Which is true.
Mike Catalana
I think that's where the game has changed the most.
Jenna Cottrell
It's our. Our break.
Mike Catalana
Well, from years ago when it was.
Dan Fates
Got any plans?
Mike Catalana
Limited. Limited football. Right. You're supposed to say football, football. Limited off season work. And then they would come in for training camp and get themselves in shape. Oh, no. They put a lot of stuff in. The basics are in.
Jenna Cottrell
Yeah.
Mike Catalana
It's ready for football when they get to training camp. So that's Fisher in a. Yeah.
Jenna Cottrell
Which is crazy to think about.
Mike Catalana
I know.
Jenna Cottrell
We're like six weeks away.
Mike Catalana
Yeah.
Jenna Cottrell
Got my super bowl coming up.
Mike Catalana
Yeah.
Jenna Cottrell
My. Actually, my mom, Val. Super bowl coming up. All right, that'll do it for my Super Bowl. Yeah, that'll do it for us here. Please be sure to, like, comment. Subscribe. I'm the officiant and share.
Dan Fates
That got weird for a second.
Jenna Cottrell
I didn't even think. Obviously, I knew that.
Mike Catalana
Yeah.
Dan Fates
I'm supposed to talk for a living. That's the most nervous of it. You think you're nervous, Jenna? I'm nervous.
Mike Catalana
There's. There's odds on that. Let's see how it goes. What does that mean on how he does?
Jenna Cottrell
What do you have? What do you mean? Okay. For Mike. Yeah. It screwed me up because usually Mike's over here. For Mike and Dan, I am. Jenna, we'll catch you next time here on the Buffalo plus channel, presented by Connors and Ferris. Like comment, subscribe and share. Like comment, subscribe and share and.
Date: June 11, 2025
Hosts: Mike Catalana, Jenna Cottrell, Dan Fates
The episode provides in-depth coverage and analysis of Day 1 of Buffalo Bills mandatory minicamp in Orchard Park. The main storylines include James Cook’s contract situation and attendance, Josh Allen’s offseason—including his recent marriage—and notable developments and player performances from minicamp.
The discussion is candid, insightful, and maintains the Buffalo Plus team’s signature blend of humor and analysis. The episode is rich with context—balancing player perspectives, front office strategy, and on-field performance. It offers a clear-eyed look at contract realities, team dynamics, and the mood inside the locker room as the Bills head into a critical summer.
For Buffalo Bills fans, this episode delivers must-know updates and behind-the-scenes context for the 2025 season’s early storylines.