James Cook scrubs Bills off of social media following reported contract drama

On the heels of stirring up headlines just yesterday, Buffalo Bills rising star running back James Cook is at it again. As he enters the final year of his contract, this is the first off-season he is eligible for a contract extension; and he’s making it known he wants one. On Tuesday night he pinned his own Instagram comment saying “15 mill year.” Now, in a Stefon Diggs-esque move, he’s unfollowed the Buffalo Bills official account on Instagram.

The third-year back has also changed his profile picture from him in Bills gear and deleted almost all Bills-related pictures from his profile. Right before Stefon Diggs got his contract extension from the Bills a few years ago, he did the same thing. Diggs is known to be a cryptic message sender and uses social media as a negotiating tactic. It appears Cook is doing some of that on his own.

On the heels of stirring up headlines just yesterday, Buffalo Bills rising star running back James Cook is at it again. As he enters the final year of his contract, this is the first off-season he is eligible for a contract extension; and he’s making it known he wants one. On Tuesday night he pinned his own Instagram comment saying “15 mill year.” Now, in a Stefon Diggs-esque move, he’s unfollowed the Buffalo Bills official account on Instagram.

The third-year back has also changed his profile picture from him in Bills gear and deleted almost all Bills-related pictures from his profile. Right before Stefon Diggs got his contract extension from the Bills a few years ago, he did the same thing. Diggs is known to be a cryptic message sender and uses social media as a negotiating tactic. It appears Cook is doing some of that on his own.

While yes, some might say “Hey it’s just an end-of-the-season reset thing on social media,” why would he unfollow the Bills? It’s also clear he wants his payday, after alluding to the fact he wants near top of the running back market pay. With the pot being stirred, it has Bills Mafia up in arms. Some say to give Cook whatever he wants, while others are arguing no way.

Should the Buffalo Bills pay cook the big money?

Fresh off of back-to-back 1,000+ yard seasons, and back-to-back Pro Bowl honors, Cook has definitely earned his extension. However, giving him $15 million a year would make him the second-highest-paid running back in the league on a yearly basis. The former Georgia Bulldog would earn more than Alvin Kamara, Saquon Barkley, Jonathan Taylor, and Josh Jacobs. He’s a vital piece to the Bills offense and is arguably their second-best offensive player. With that said, he wants bell-cow back money and while he is the lead horse, the Bills like to deploy a stable of halfbacks.

There are numerous arguing points both ways about whether the Bills should extend Cook or not. He’s young, a homegrown player with great burst, and was vital to the Bills’ offensive success this season.

On the other hand, running backs unfortunately have the shortest shelf-life in the NFL. We’ve seen numerous times where a running back gets a pay day and is never the same. Yet, we’ve seen the opposite as well. What we have never seen though, is the Bills under Brandon Beane, offer a big contract to running back. Again though, they have never had one develop like Cook.

It is an extreme tug-of-war situation with extending Cook. Another great point is, that the Bills are not spending massive amounts of money on a star receiver anymore, so they could allocate that to Cook, a rising star. At the end of the day though, it seems like both sides will need to come to an agreement in between their numbers. His estimated market value is currently just north of $10 million a year. So perhaps Beane can meet him in the middle at around $12-$13 million. That way, the Bills can get him on a more team-friendly deal, but he also gets near what he wants.

At the end of the day, he does play with the reigning MVP and one of the league’s best offensive lines. Both of which, contribute directly to his success. Spotrac recently released an estimated extension fair for both sides.

How a 3 year, $45M extension ($22.3M guaranteed) for #Bills RB James Cook can remain team-friendly for the next 2 seasons. pic.twitter.com/1LX3zpmNBo

— Spotrac (@spotrac) February 13, 2025

Whether you want the Bills to extend Cook or not, he’s made it clear he wants his money. A holdout could be looming for what’s already set to be a long offseason in Buffalo.