Buffalo’s been busy this offseason, locking in key players and reloading for what could be another serious playoff push in 2025. They’ve got a defense that can punish anyone, a quarterback who’s primed for another MVP season, and young talent that’s hungry to prove itself. But it can’t all be sunshine and rainbows, can it? For all the good vibes in Buffalo, the James Cook standoff is turning into a real headache for Sean McDermott. After a league-leading 16 rushing touchdowns, the RB wants his respect. But it’s week 2 of preseason, and neither Cook nor the Bills are willing to budge. However, that can change now.
The Rams just made a move that gave the Bills all the leverage in the world, and Cook might have to lower his demands. Insider Jonathan Acosta seems to believe that James Cook might now be forced to lower his salary hopes after Kyren Williams signed a three-year, $33 million extension with the Rams. “Kyren Williams agreed to his extension, 3 years, 33 million with the Rams. Cook is in that category. Someone’s going to have to budge, and it looks like its going to have to be Cook coming down from 15 million a year,” he said.
Exactly, we don’t think anyone (not even the Bills fans) thought the $15 million demand was reasonable. Cook’s asking price is starting to look out of step with the market. And now with Kyren’s deal, it pretty much resets what teams are willing to give solid-but-not-superstar every-down backs. With the Bills’ top-51 cap space ($-574,277) already tight heading into 2025, they’ve got plenty of reason to stand their ground instead of meeting Cook’s opening number. That means Cook might need to come down from that figure to a more “reasonable” $10 to $12 million range, instead of $15M.
No doubt, Cook’s 2024 numbers definitely gave some ground to his demands: 1,009 rushing yards and a league-leading 16 rushing touchdowns. But it’s worth remembering he did that on 207 carries, which is more of a mid-tier workload than the kind of heavy, every-down usage you see from the true workhorse backs.
You can’t really blame the guy who was expecting big money. He’s watched the Bills hand out big contracts to Khalil Shakir, Greg Rousseau, Terrel Bernard, and Christian Benford this offseason. Then Josh Allen got a new deal with an NFL record in guaranteed cash. So yeah, we can see why Cook might be feeling a little left out. But going beyond the market value is rather unreasonable.
So far, the front office is treating Cook’s holdout more like a business move than a full-blown roster crisis. It feels like they’re happy to let the market (and maybe the preseason) do some negotiating for them. And Cook? He didn’t really help his case when he turned down Sean McDermott’s request.
James Cook declines Sean’s request, elongating the Bills’ leverage
Yeah, he couldn’t help but make things worse. Sean McDermott said he and James Cook had “a good conversation,” and while Cook did warm up with the team, he told them he didn’t want to play. McDermott summed it up pretty bluntly: “We wanted him to play. I wanted him to play… That’s where we’re at. No change.”
Cook’s “no” really shows how dug in both sides are in this contract standoff, and it’s coming right in the middle of a key stretch of the preseason. McDermott called their chat “good,” but the message from Cook couldn’t be clearer: he will not fully step onto the field unless he’s given what he wants.
But Bills are showing no mercy either. That stance from Cook matters because the Bills aren’t exactly empty at running back. They’ve got Ray Davis, last year’s fourth-rounder, who had 113 carries as a rookie, and vet Ty Johnson. They’re both getting extra snaps while Cook stays on the sideline.
Cook’s timing might end up hurting his own leverage. If the backups look solid in real preseason action, both fans and the front office could start pushing for him to settle for less. That’s exactly the kind of situation analysts have been saying could crank up the “panic meter” as the camp goes on.
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