Jon Helmkamp discusses the possibility of the Buffalo Bills moving on from star running back James Cook.
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00:00The Buffalo Bills and James Cook have been discussing a new contract all offseason,
00:05and a new update from Brandon Bean puts it into crystal clear focus exactly where things stand
00:11between the two. In this video, we're going to discuss this new update and what it could mean
00:15for James Cook's future in Buffalo. What's up, everybody? It is Jon Helmkamp with A to Z
00:22Buffalo. The saga of James Cook continues. It's been something that's been ongoing for a couple
00:27months, ever since James Cook made it publicly known that he wants $15 million per year going
00:33forward, which would make him currently the third highest paid running back in the NFL
00:38after Saquon Barkley became the first running back to top $20 million per year.
00:41So what's the update? Brandon Bean at the owners' meetings was asked about James Cook
00:46and made it very clear that the two sides have spoken, they've gone back and forth,
00:50and that they're really not close on the financial side of things right now,
00:55so much so that Brandon Bean said that they decided to move on and turn their attention
01:00to players that they felt they were more on the same page with.
01:03Ever since James Cook made his contract desires known, Bean has gone on to extend Greg Rousseau,
01:09Terrell Bernard, Khalil Shakir, Christian Benford. He's gotten a lot of other work done
01:16while James Cook is still sitting out there without a new contract. So as we're heading
01:21into the NFL draft season, Brandon Bean said that they're on to the draft, that they're not
01:26likely going to get anything done with James Cook at this point. He did say,
01:30maybe we'll have something done with James Cook before he becomes a free agent, but that doesn't
01:35sound to me like they're really interested in working on a new contract situation throughout
01:40the course of this season. So one more piece of information that just became publicly available,
01:45James Cook actually listed his Buffalo area home for sale.
01:49Obviously that brings about a ton of speculation. I'm not sure exactly what it means. It could mean
01:54that he thinks the trade is eminent and that he's moving. It could mean nothing. It could mean that
01:58he just wants a short term option and to put some money in the bank. Who knows? It's all speculation
02:03at this point, but there's a lot of smoke around James Cook and not necessarily in the right way.
02:10If you're a fan of wanting James Cook on the team for the foreseeable future,
02:14I think that James Cook is an incredible asset. I've said it on video before
02:18that I think that James Cook deserves to get paid, but I also understand the financial side
02:22of things. James Cook had an incredibly efficient season where he tied the league lead in rushing
02:28touchdowns, despite having almost 150 carries less than Derek Henry. It's a very interesting
02:34situation that's brewing, especially when you look at this year's draft class and you understand
02:38that this is a historically deep running back class and that Brandon being currently has two
02:44second round picks at his disposal where one of those could be allocated to the running back
02:48position. So how this shakes out in the coming weeks leading up to the NFL draft is going to
02:52be very important to watch, but it does seem like something might potentially be brewing
02:59with the bills potentially looking to move on from James Cook. We'll see. We'll see what moves
03:04Brandon Bean decides to make, but as of now, the two sides aren't anywhere close to getting a deal
03:09done to lock him up for the future. Let me know what you guys think about the James Cook situation
03:13and what Brandon Bean should do in the comments down below, and I'll catch you guys next time.