James Cook Wants New $15 Million Contract, Is He Worth It?

The offseason is officially underway, and already we are starting to hear rumblings of holdouts and contract negotiations.

As they do every year, once again, Brandon Beane and the front office at One Bills Drive have a lot of decisions to make for this roster.  It feels like they're closer than ever to actually getting to the big game so is now the time to pay their guys?

Running back James Cook has already started the talk about how much he expects to get when his time comes.  He still has one more year on his contract, so technically the Bills don't need to worry about it quite yet.  However, when teams want to keep their guys happy and lock them down, they'll often extend them early.

Yesterday Cook let the world know what he would like to get.  On his Instagram Live video he pinned the phrase "$15 mill year" in a comment.

Fans are split right down the middle on this one.  On the one hand, he had a crazy year.  He led the league in touchdowns and was easily one of the most important parts of the offense outside of Josh Allen.  On the other, some of the best running backs in the league don't make $15 million.  That amount would put him second only to Christian McCaffery.  Even Saquon Barkley of the Philadelphia Eagles, a player that many thought deserved a nod at MVP this season doesn't make that amount of money.

Pundits all over the league commented all year that the difference in the Bills since Joe Brady took over was the emergence of the running game.  Is that because of Joe Brady, James Cook, or the offensive line?  Because it could be argued that both Ray Davis and Ty Johnson had incredible years too.

It's not to say that he's not worth it.  If there was no such thing as the salary cap and Terry Pegula was willing to fork it over, most fans would be all for it.  I certainly would be.  But I'm a fan and not a GM.  Most GM's don't spend money like that on running backs. If you want to see your team succeed, it's hard to put all of that money in one bag and hand it to one player (unless that player is going to make a huge impact like Josh Allen).  They're going to need it to sign some players this offseason.  Everyone claiming that they want Myles Garrett or Maxx Crosby have to understand that money has to come from somewhere.

So what do you think?  Is James Cook worth that kind of money?  Should the Bills find a way to make it happen for him?

The negotiations evidently start now.