James Cook AFC Offensive Player of the Month (September 2025)!

[mbs]

5 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

No one was allowed to make him any offers. He was still under contract with the Bills. If he had access to the open market, he'd be gone or we'd be paying much more.

Ah yes. That's true. But the market would be there next year and if there was a good chance he'd get it, he would have played out his rookie deal. Probably should have, I guess.

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

I definitely was a Cook hater in the offseason. I thought production would dip slightly, but the Bills would be able to  replace him for the most part. I’ll eat that crow and ask for seconds. Really doesn’t matter if I was wrong. I’d rather be wrong than have him fail just to prove I’m right. 

[Buffalo Ballin]

Honestly, we don't want James Cook to block. NFL RBs already have a short life span. Now we want him to block, too?

 

Cook's new contract is nice. Could he have gotten bigger contract if the situation was open market? YES. We got lucky, brahs.

 

Congrats to James Cook. Will he get another big contract after this? Slim chance.

 

 

 

 

[Chandler#81]

Congrats James!

[ganesh]

Congratulations James Cook.  Well earned and Well deserved !!!  Go Bills !!!

[HardyBoy]

20 hours ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Overpaid

Not worth the money

Not elite

Troublemaker

Not a team player

Diva

Can't catch

Cant block

Can't break tackles

Don't pay running backs

Ray Davis or Gore Jr would be just as good

And the classic, "If he behaves" post...

 

Any other horribly inaccurate takes I am missing??  Feel free to own up to them... 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, you forgot he had a 100% fumble rate at one point

[DapperCam]

15 hours ago, Fan in Chicago said:

Well earned!! Way to go, James Cook. 

 

And his performance is at least the same if not better than in his contract year. Which says a lot about the type of person he is. 

If he stays healthy he has a chance at another big payday. His touches have been less than featured backs too, which makes it more likely. He definitely still has a financial incentive to ball out.

[Inigo Montoya]

I think the Bills being on Hard Knocks this season may have provided some impetus for Beane to get Cook resigned.  It's a bad look for the program to have a high profile hold out like that, especially when the theme of the entire Hard Knocks season was the family vibe that exists in Buffalo. 

 

What I was worried would be a negative for the Bills may have ended up being a big positive.

[ganesh]

28 minutes ago, Inigo Montoya said:

I think the Bills being on Hard Knocks this season may have provided some impetus for Beane to get Cook resigned.  It's a bad look for the program to have a high profile hold out like that, especially when the theme of the entire Hard Knocks season was the family vibe that exists in Buffalo. 

 

What I was worried would be a negative for the Bills may have ended up being a big positive.

I think the Bills were always willing to give him 12M a year....He wanted 15.  The Bills sweetened the pot by giving him more guaranteed money ($30M ??) then they originally offered and that turned the scales for Jimbo.   Go Bills !!!

[todd]

Beane can’t draft.

[warrior9]

1 hour ago, DapperCam said:

If he stays healthy he has a chance at another big payday. His touches have been less than featured backs too, which makes it more likely. He definitely still has a financial incentive to ball out.

No, not really. He's at 87 and Taylor, Irving, Jacobs, Barkley are at 90. He's top 7 in touches and only 3 away from being third.

 

Odds are after this game he's number 2 in touches because number 2 right now is Kyren at 98 and he played last night. 

Edited yesterday at 02:30 PM by warrior9

[DapperCam]

Just now, warrior9 said:

No, not really. He's at 87 and Taylor, Irving, Jacobs, Barkley are at 90. He's top 7 in touches and only 3 away from being second.

I mean over his career. Even going back to college he split the load.

 

I agree in the first 4 games of this year he’s been getting “bellcow back” carries. It will be interesting to see if that continues.

[warrior9]

Just now, DapperCam said:

I mean over his career. Even going back to college he split the load.

 

I agree in the first 4 games of this year he’s been getting “bellcow back” carries. It will be interesting to see if that continues.

Got you, I updated and edited my original post. 

 

But yeah you're saying his "wear and tear" is significantly less over his career than a Barkley / Taylor, etc. I'd agree. 

 

My only concern with paying cook the whole time was now we're going to lose an OL this offseason (I believe McGovern and Edwards are up for contracts) and then... does that affect his production moving forward? This year was never a concern because we returned all 5 OL. 

[PonyBoy]

On 10/2/2025 at 6:24 PM, Buffalo Ballin said:

Honestly, we don't want James Cook to block. NFL RBs already have a short life span. Now we want him to block, too?

 

Cook's new contract is nice. Could he have gotten bigger contract if the situation was open market? YES. We got lucky, brahs.

 

Congrats to James Cook. Will he get another big contract after this? Slim chance.

 

 

 

 

 

Your post makes me smell Hawes lined up in the backfield with him for power blocking while Cook follows the  bodies the bodies in Hawes path 😃