The Buffalo Bills are bracing themselves for trouble while hoping for the best.
And so is running back James Cook.
Cook has been one of the better running backs in the sport over the last few seasons. He's coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard campaigns and even led the league in rushing touchdowns last season.
Yet with all his success over the last few years as a former second-round pick, Cook has struggled to do the one thing that most top runners have struggled with over the years. ...
Receive a second contract with the team that drafted him.
Cook skipped the recent Bills voluntary workouts.
And as a sign that reinforces the fact that they are not close on a deal with Cook - who has suggested he'd like to make $15 million per year in a new extension - he's beginning his holdout by staying away from the facility.
Said GM Brandon Beane, trying to downplay the move: "I mean, it's voluntary.''
Ah, but now - on the heels of the Bills recently shutting down talks with the standout piece of the Josh Allen-led offense - Cook is speaking out, in a way, about what might come next.
"I necessarily don't want to talk about it right now, because it's like, it's something I want to hold in to myself,'' Cook told PokerNews in his first remarks about the possibility of a holdout. "Just let the business take care of the business.''
That's a coy way of revealing a willingness to keep the door open here to holdout out, obviously.
While Bills fans may be getting concerned over the lack of a deal at this point with the star running back - and while this thing could turn bitter and biting - the team continues to run a glass half-full approach to negotiations, even falling short of confirming that this is a holdout.
Beane has insisted the team is confident that Cook will be "ready to go.''
And now Cook is hinting at something else.