The Buffalo Bills have may of their heavy-hitters around Josh Allen locked up for the next few years, but one contract situation that still needs to be resolved is that of standout running back James Cook.
While Cook has shown up to Bills training camp, he is "holding in" and refusing to participate in any drills until a deal gets done. While fans are naturally worried about what this means, the latest update from an NFL insider makes it seem like Cook is closer to getting on the field than he appears to be.
According to Dianna Russini of The Athletic, the gap between what the Bills want and what Cook is looking for is not as wide as some of the other big holdouts in the league. Cook is reportedly sitting out to get his deal with Buffalo finalized. This holdout isn't as venomous as others around the league.
Latest James Cook contract update is good news for Bills fans
After finding the end zone just nine times in his first two seasons, Cook found paydirt 18 times, including an NFL-best 16 times on the ground, during the 2024 campaign. Cook has been a Pro Bowl player in each of the last two seasons, all while coming in just shy of 2,900 yards from scrimmage.
The Bills won't be able to hand Cook a league-changing deal. On top of the fact that the league is still getting over its analytics-induced fear of paying a running back big money, the contract handed out to Allen and some of the other offensive linemen gives the Bills some less-than-ideal financial flexibility.
Cook is still a younger back, and he provided consistency in an area where the Bills tried and failed to land a star during the early parts of Allen's career. A deal will likely get done, even if Cook is trying to make more noise than Buffalo would have liked to see.
This offense is already dying for skill position talent, and Cook is the one player in that entire group that can comfortably call himself above-average. The Bills would be committing a major tactical error by playing hardball with Cook and refusing to lock him up.