PITTSFORD — James Cook showed up to training camp without a new contract. His plan is to show the Buffalo Bills he deserves one and that they are foolish if they choose not to give him one.
Cook said he wanted to avoid the $50,000-per-day fine that comes with missing a training camp practice for an unexcused reason, just as he did for mandatory minicamp. It would be hard to prove his claim of being one of the NFL’s best running backs if he didn’t practice anyway.
And Thursday, Cook was still running long after the play was over. There’s no full tackling in NFL training camps, but Cook caught a swing pass and raced past Buffalo’s first-team defense on a play that would have been a long gain, if not a touchdown in live action.
“It shows (the Bills) that I care about it and that I’m willing to do it and willing to come out here and participate and show my teammates that I’m willing to be out here and compete with them guys,” Cook told reporters after practice Thursday.
Cook has some leverage, coming off back-to-back seasons in which he eclipsed 1,000 yards rushing and made the Pro Bowl. He also tied for the NFL lead with Baltimore’s Derrick Henry and Detroit’s Jahmyr Gibbs with 16 rushing touchdowns, tying a Buffalo franchise record.
Free-agent and extension spending showed teams are banking on the salary cap to continue to rise. It jumped to $279.2 million in 2025, nearly $100 million more than it was in 2021, but everyone’s salary is rising, not just the stars.
The Bills doled out extensions to quarterback Josh Allen, cornerback Christian Benford, linebacker Terrel Bernard, defensive end Greg Rousseau and wide receiver Khalil Shakir during the offseason worth $574.201 million total and $395.440 million guaranteed, which is the real number to note.
Buffalo could pay Cook, but it would mean not being able to pay one or multiple players in the future. Allen, right tackle Spencer Brown, Dawkins, tight end Dawson Knox and defensive tackle Ed Oliver all have cap hits of at least $17 million in 2026.
And the Bills must decide if they want to pay an exorbitant salary to a running back that didn’t play 50% of the snaps last season. Running backs are on the comeback trail after Saquon Barkley, Henry, Christian McCaffrey and Jonathan Taylor have secured hefty contracts since 2023, but all carry a heavier workload.
“James fits BUffalo, but sometimes you can’t get on the same page,” Bills general manager Brandon Beane said Wednesday. “… There’s times guys have left here that we really wanted, we just couldn’t make it work. But I could tell you, I’m hopeful when we’re sitting here at next year’s training camp that James Cook is out there practicing.”
Cook is due a $5.701 million cap hit in the final year of his rookie contract and his $15 million-per-year asking price would rank among the top-four running backs in the league. His decision to make that price tag public and sit out of voluntary workouts was polarizing to everyone but the Bills.
Teammates understand it’s a job and they are generally supportive of someone’s contract pursuits because it generally leads to more money for everyone else down the road.
“James is a pro and there’s a business side to all of this,” Pro Bowl left tackle Dion Dawkins said. “People can paint it however they want to paint it; Cook is a good dude. He’s here when he’s supposed to be, he didn’t skip the mandatory OTAs, he was here the first day of camp — it’s not a problem.”
Although a deal doesn’t seem imminent, Cook is confident that he’s going to get his money, whether it’s with the Bills or another team. Cook also knows how the contract game is played, having seen his older brother, Dalvin, go through it in 2020 with the Vikings.
The elder Cook entered the final year of his rookie contract, sat out of team activities in the spring — most of them were remote due to COVID — and eventually signed a five-year, $63 million contract in September. He also only played two years on it before being released as a cap casualty.
“We’ve had talks,” Cook said. “I’m never going to give up. I deserve what I want and I need. It’s going to eventually happen.”