Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane took the podium at the 2025 NFL annual meetings to speak with the press about the Bills and the NFL offseason.
One of the topics raised was that of the team's extensions of their own players and the status of one for RB1 James Cook following his first breakout season.
The GM in recent weeks inked quarterback Josh Allen to a new deal and has extended wide receiver Khalil Shakir, defensive end Greg Rousseau, linebacker Terrel Bernard, and corner Christian Benford.
While he hopes to get one done in the future, Beane gave the impression that the Bills are not planning on a new deal getting done with Cook yet.
"I love [James]. Proud of his success just like these other guys that we got extended," Beane said to the media. "I don't talk about negotiations. I would say his reps and him did put it out there that we did talk, so I'm not sharing anything new. It didn't lead to anything as far as closing in on a deal, so we moved on to the guys that we're on the same page with. At this point, we're onto the draft ... I don't see us doing deals anytime soon. We're gonna focus on the draft, and getting our cap in order."
Cook was drafted in the second round at No. 63 overall by Buffalo in 2022 out of Georgia. He's made two consecutive Pro Bowls with consecutive 1,000+ rushing seasons, and just finished the best year of his career in 2024 with a career high 16 rushing touchdowns. The 25-year-old is entering the final year of his rookie contract and has made his desire for a new deal known.
Very publicly, in fact.
While negotiations seem to be ongoing and Cook appears to have settled back in for now with the Bills' culture and ways of doing things in-house, he went public in February on social media with his demand for a $15 million per year pauy increase that would make him the third-highest-paid RB in the league after generational talents that have competed in the Super Bowl, the San Francisco 49ers' Christian McCaffrey and Philadelphia Eagles' Saquon Barkley.
While Cook's season was strong enough to put him atop the league in key statistical categories (a tier all involved hope he'll continue to perform to the level of), it was only one season and the first of its kind for him in terms of reaching that level of success.
It made the public display and insisted pay increase illogical in its timing and demand, as well as out of character for Cook and for a Bills player.
Suffice it to say, like the other four Bills who put pen to paper on new pacts, if Cook and his camp wanted to get an amicable deal done by now, they would have. Beane himself indicated the deals that got done were with players who were "on the same page with" the team.
He also made clear, "just because we don't have James signed today doesn't mean next year we can't get him done before he gets to free agency."
The Bills may also use the franchise or transition tag to extend him until a new deal gets completed. And with a distributed backfield of Ty Johnson and Ray Davis sharing receiving back and ground duties as well as Samuel potentially taking more carries as he regains form in Brady's system, time will tell if Cook will replicate or build on his most successful season to date.
But for now, on to the draft.
This article originally ...
