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Buffalo Bills RB James Cook.
Buffalo Bills running back James Cook has made his intentions for his with the team very clear — he wants a new contract, and wants to be paid among the league’s top running backs.
Cook is entering the final year of his rookie contract and coming off the best season of his career, topping the 1,000-yard mark on the ground and rushing for a league-high 16 touchdowns. The running back has publicly stated a goal to get a new contract with a $15 million per year average, hinting in a social media post this week that a deal could be coming in the future.
James Cook Drops Hint
The Bills running back took to Instagram this week to share a post that many fans viewed as an indication that a new contract is on the way. After initially removing images of the team from his feed, Cook shared a picture of himself signaling a first down in the AFC Championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Below the picture was an emoji of an hourglass and another of a devilish grin.
Cook’s post came a day after Bills head coach Sean McDermott dropped a strong hint that the team was working on a contract extension with Cook.
“The business part is going to take care of itself,” he said at the NFL combine, via Pro Football Talk. “[General manager Brandon Beane] is on top of that and will be on top of that moving forward.”
Prior to that comment, McDermott shared some big praise for Cook and made it clear that the team highly values its No. 1 running back.
“I love James,” McDermott said. “When you’re a coach — I’m gonna take the business part out of it for a second, if I can —when you’re a coach and you’re on the field with the players, and you’re in the meetings watching them develop on the field, off the field. He’s a great example of the joys that comes with coaching; it’s developing and watching a young man develop in both those areas. And to go on the field, in this case this season in particular, and have the success that he experienced, and how he helped our team, it’s just a great feeling as a coach to watch him do what he did.”
Bills Hand Out Another Big Extension
The Bills already locked down another key member of the offense, giving a four-year extension to wide receiver Khalil Shakir worth up to $60.2 million. The deal includes $32 million guaranteed at signing, the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported in a post on X.
After signing the deal, Beane hinted that the Bills would be locking down more players before they can head to free agency.
“We’ve got a number of guys that you could say deserved extensions,” Beane said, via SI.com. “You also have a cap, and we’re trying to, we’ve been waiting, we got some clarity last week on the range of the cap,” said Beane. “Some moves you do can acquire cap space, others can cost you, so we’re balancing all of that while having conversations. And some of the conversations haven’t started yet. You don’t want too many going at the same time, but we’ll continue those.”
Nathan Dougherty is a sports reporter covering the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins. Previously he wrote for the Rochester Business Journal and served as the assistant editor of athletic trade magazines Coaching Management, Athletic Management and Training & Conditioning. He is based out of Rochester, New York, and loves everything football. More about Nathan Dougherty
