James Cook, Bills Reportedly Were 'Never Really Close' in Contract Extension Talks

James Cook has emerged as one of the NFL's better running backs in the past few seasons. It doesn't sound as though he's on the same page with the Buffalo Bills when it comes to determining how much that is worth in extension talks, however.

According to Albert Breer of SI.com, the Bills "already tried to get him signed. They had talks earlier in the offseason and my sense is that the two sides were never very close to finding real common ground. Which explains how quiet it's been on the Cook front since that flurry of Buffalo extensions."

Cook's value is a bit tricky to discern.

On one hand, he's been a Pro Bowler in each of the last two seasons, setting a career-high in rushing yards (1,122) in 2023 and a career-high in rushing touchdowns (16) last season.

Over the past two seasons, he's rushed for 2,131 yards and 18 scores.

But because Cook isn't as dynamic a weapon overall as a Saquon Barkley ($20.6 million average annual value) and doesn't bring the added value in the passing game like a Christian McCaffrey ($19 million AAV), it's hard to imagine him fetching that sort of top-of-the market deal.

More than likely, he's looking at something in the range of an Aaron Jones ($10 million AAV) to perhaps a Derrick Henry ($15 million AAV). The current running backs within that range also include Josh Jacobs ($12 million AAV), Alvin Kamara ($12.2 million AAV) and Jonathan Taylor ($14 million).

Somewhere in that tier is probably about where Cook should be valued.

As an executive with a pro-scouting background told Breer while discussing the league's top 10 backs, "I'd say it's Saquon, CMC, Bijan [Robinson], Henry, then a group of guys like [Jahmyr] Gibbs, Cook, Jacobs."

Another executive compared Cook's value to Jones.

So he probably has an eight-figure AAV in his future. Whether he and the Bills can agree on just what that figure should be before the 2025 season—Cook's last one under his rookie contract—remains to be seen.