Thirty-two summers ago, the Buffalo Bills completed four months of negotiations to sign Thurman Thomas to a four-year, $13.5 million contract to make him the NFL’s highest-paid running back.
Thomas, 27, was entering the final year of his deal and already had three Super Bowl appearances, two first-team All-Pro nods and one MVP on his resume.
“I wanted to stay here,” No. 34 said on July 21, 1993, in Fredonia.
If only the situation between the Bills and current running back James Cook were similarly simple.
Jimbo wants to get paid and likely merits a raise after his 18 regular-season rushing touchdowns in 2024 tied for the league lead. The Bills want Jimbo rewarded for his production, but the Brandon Beane-led regime has never signed a running back long-term.
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Buffalo Bills running back James Cook, who is seeking a contract extension, scored 16 rushing touchdowns in the 2024 regular season, tied for most in the NFL. Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
So as Cook’s expected arrival at mandatory minicamp on Tuesday approaches, what is the best route to extending the player-team relationship to cover Cook’s prime?
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My idea is a two-year bridge contract through 2027 that provides Cook with generational wealth, but doesn’t have the potential to kneecap the Bills’ cap situation.
(A quick detour: Cook would be foolish to skip minicamp and incur as much as $101,716 in fines, but he should “hold in” – decline to go through drills of any kind aside from stretching. Just watch.)
The Bills have four current options. 1. Do nothing (their current tact). 2. Extend him long-term to align Cook with the league’s highest-paid running backs (obviously not a priority). 3. “Sweeten” his 2025 contract by adding guaranteed money or easily attainable statistical bonuses (good faith move). 4. Discuss a bridge deal with Cook (bingo).
For insight, I again turned to J.I. Halsell, executive vice president for client compensation at 3 Strand Sports & Entertainment and a former salary cap analyst for the Washington Commanders.
Right away, Halsell ruled out the Bills needing to discuss the sweeten-the-contract option since Cook is under club control this year and the team has the 2026 franchise tag at its disposal.
Halsell said the bridge option is “plausible.”
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A two-year extension would put Cook under contract for his age-27 and age-28 seasons. This would be his payday, Halsell said, “because at age-28 and age-29 of a running back’s career, most clubs are leery of making a significant investment at that stage of the player’s career. Cook would need to be comfortable with this being his one significant bite at the proverbial contract apple.”
Halsell’s target for Cook in a two-year bridge concept is $25 million total, including $21 million guaranteed. According to the industry website Over The Cap, only five running backs have contracts with that much guaranteed money.
The exercise for Halsell started with projecting the 2026 franchise tag at a fully-guaranteed $14 million, followed by determining the salary that would allow Cook to be fine foregoing free agency in 2027.
Cook’s camp would start a bridge deal negotiation with making sure at least $14 million is guaranteed.
Halsell’s analysis: Approximately 85% of Cook’s two-year deal should be guaranteed, which would be in line with 83% for Baltimore’s Derrick Henry and 87% for Philadelphia’s Saquon Barkley.
The new money average-per-year of $12.5 million would rank fifth among all running backs, more than Green Bay’s Josh Jacobs ($12 million) and New Orleans’ Alvin Kamara ($12.25 million), but less than Indianapolis’ Jonathan Taylor ($14 million).
Including this year’s $5.271 million, the big picture for Cook would be a three-year, $30.271 million deal for an average of $10.09 million, which would be seventh in the league, just ahead of Minnesota’s Aaron Jones.
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“In identifying a win-win for both Cook and the Bills in this two-year bridge extension, Cook’s win is the $21 million guaranteed and, to a lesser degree, getting another bite at the apple before age 30,” Halsell said. “For the Bills, the win is controlling Cook’s rights for the next three seasons, likely the prime of his career.”
Working in Cook’s favor – a point that should be emphasized by his camp – is his workload compared to other running backs who were recently extended.
Through three years, Cook has 533 rushing attempts. By comparison, when signing after three years, Henry was at 804, Taylor 756, Joe Mixon 693, Christian McCaffrey 623 (plus 303 catches) and Kamara 485 (plus 243 catches).
When they played four years before re-signing or leaving, David Montgomery was at 915 carries, Jones 651 and James Conner 532.
The Bills should believe Cook has plenty of tread on his wheels. He played only 44.6% of the Bills’ snaps last year, including only 105 total in the fourth quarter (regular season). That's far fewer than the Los Angeles Rams’ Kyren Williams (266), Atlanta’s Bijan Robinson (224), Barkley (187) and Henry (154), a product of blowout games and the Bills’ trust in Ty Johnson to play in two-minute situations.
Cook should consider the two-year, $25 million extension because he had a front-row seat to older brother Dalvin’s contract history with the Minnesota Vikings. Dalvin was a second-round pick in 2017 and signed a five-year, $63 million extension in 2020 and earned $27.3 million before he was cut. The long-term strategy wasn’t exactly better.
A league executive I talked to said Cook should go to his camp to urge them to get something done because running back is the game’s most physical position and if he gets banged up this year, his market value would plummet.
If the Bills were in a different spot like rebuilding or having already won a Super Bowl, I could better justify them letting Cook play out his contract, then sign elsewhere while the Bills draft his replacement.
The championship window remains wide open, and to beat Kansas City and Baltimore and Cincinnati and remain in control of the AFC East, every available hand must be happy and available. The Bills should make Cook at least semi-happy by pursuing a two-year extension.
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