James Cook had a monster of a breakout season for the Buffalo Bills in 2024. He tied for the league-lead in rushing touchdowns with 16, and developed from just an explosive weapon into a do-everything back. He emerged into one of the best running backs in the NFL.

Now, he wants to get paid like it.

With one year left on his rookie contract, the noise is getting louder about Cook’s desire for a new deal, which is completely fair coming off the season he had. Based on his pinned comment in his latest Instagram live, it looks like Cook is aiming for top dollar.

$15 million per year is a lot of money. That would place him as the second-highest paid running back in the league behind only Christian McCaffrey. It would have him paid higher than Jonathan Taylor ($14m), Saquon Barkley ($12.58m), Alvin Kamara ($12.25m), and Josh Jacobs ($12m) in average annual salary.

That’s a lot of cheddar, but I understand it. The running back position typically has a short shelf life in the NFL, and backs need to maximize their earnings while they can. Cook will be 26 years old in September, so this next contract could potentially be the only contract of significant value during his playing career.

While Spotrac isn’t the end-all, be-all, they currently have a market value on Cook at $10.2m per year. There’s a pretty big gap between that and what Cook is apparently looking to receive.

All of this needs to be taken with a grain of salt. We’re speculating based on a simple comment on an Instagram live. Maybe he’s set on that number, maybe he’s starting high for negotiation’s sake. Maybe he’ll take a team-friendly deal to continue to stay in Buffalo, the team that has drafted him and developed him into one of the league’s best. Then again, maybe he won’t, and he’ll dig his heels in.

At the end of the day, it can’t be overstated how valuable Cook has been to this offense over the last two seasons. His explosive running style had created plenty of huge plays for a Buffalo offense that can beat defenses in a variety of ways. We don’t know how this will play out, but the heat is getting turned up heading into Cook’s last season on his rookie contract.