{"id":15810,"date":"2025-05-01T17:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T17:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/15810\/"},"modified":"2025-05-01T17:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T17:57:10","slug":"bills-hoping-to-extend-rb-james-cook-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/15810\/","title":{"rendered":"Bills Hoping To Extend RB James Cook"},"content":{"rendered":"

MAY 1:\u00a0During an interview with Go Long\u2019s Tyler Dunne (subscription requred<\/a>), Beane said Cook has \u201cgot to still show he\u2019s\u2026 the guy we saw if he wants to get that pay day. Either from us or someone else.\u201d A repeat of the production seen in 2023 and \u201924 may therefore be needed for Buffalo to make a long-term commitment. Beane added he views the top tier of running backs as a small group; it will be interesting to see if Cook joins it this offseason or if the team continues to wait on an extension.<\/p>\n

APRIL 29:\u00a0A big topic of the offseason in Buffalo has been centered around the contract desires of running back James Cook<\/a>, who has been vocal about wanting a contract extension to help him get out of his rookie deal. Cook made the decision to skip the team\u2019s voluntary workouts this month, potentially marking the start of a hold out. General manager Brandon Beane, though, has confidence that Cook\u2019s situation will be resolved with an extension eventually. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show today, Beane told McAfee that Cook \u201cwill be here this year and hopefully beyond<\/a>,\u201d according to Michael David Smith of NBC Sports.<\/p>\n

A second-round pick from 2022, the Georgia product has improved each season of his career. A rookie season behind Devin Singletary<\/a> saw him rush for only 507 yards and two touchdowns, adding 180 yards and a score through the air. In 2023, Cook took over as the starter and turned in a 1,000-yard rushing season (1,122 yards, to be exact) but only scored two rushing touchdowns, though he added 445 yards and four scores in the air.<\/p>\n

Last year, Cook put it all together. In 16 games, he rushed for 1,009 yard and led the NFL with 16 rushing touchdowns. He added 258 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns, as well. These efforts on an average salary of $1.46MM per year just aren\u2019t adding up for Cook.<\/p>\n

Cook is on record as seeking a salary of $15MM per year<\/a>, which would make him the third highest-paid running back in the NFL, behind only Saquon Barkley<\/a> and Christian McCaffrey<\/a>. Given the amount of tread still left on his 25-year-old tires, a raise certainly makes sense, but apart from the league-leading rushing touchdowns last season, it\u2019s hard to argue that Cook has contributed as much as Barkley or McCaffrey in his career.<\/p>\n

Still, Beane seems to be willing to play ball on extension conversations. He seems willing to take his time, though, as well, considering Cook has another year on his contract (and a franchise tag has been a popular option for keeping running backs around), but it sounds like Beane has every intention of keeping his star rusher happy to keep him in the building.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MAY 1:\u00a0During an interview with Go Long\u2019s Tyler Dunne (subscription requred), Beane said Cook has \u201cgot to still…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2048],"tags":[215,4256,214,53,2086,7,3027,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-15810","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-buffalo-bills","8":"tag-bills","9":"tag-brandon-beane","10":"tag-buffalo","11":"tag-buffalo-bills","12":"tag-buffalobills","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-james-cook","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114433873960619977","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}