ESPN Announces Twisted News Contract Update For Bills and James Cook

As the days get closer to the start of training camp, the Buffalo Bills know they have one lingering question regarding their championship-caliber roster.

James Cook, Buffalo's former second-round running back, is looking for a new deal as he enters the final year of his current rookie contract with the team. 

He has not received the kind of offer he has hoped for over the last few months - and surely nothing like the $15 million APY he has suggested for himself.

While Cook has been present during Buffalo's offseason workouts - he opted against a holdout from mandatory work, he half-joked, because "I like my money'' and missing is a fineable offense -  there is some concern that the league leader in rushing touchdowns last year may choose to sit out at the start of camp.

Despite the concern, one analyst notes that the team still has time to get a deal done with their star runner.

"I still think the door is open," said ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler on One Bills Live. "That's one I haven't checked on today, necessarily, but last I checked, there wasn't a lot of progress, but there was still like some optimism in the big picture that maybe they could figure something out, and they have four or five weeks to do it, whatever it is, before training camp, and then you still have camp.

"That doesn't have to be a deadline."

Fowler, to be frank, has a reputation for throwing stuff against a wall in Bristol to see what sticks. To wit ...

On the one hand, he is announcing a tale of "some optimism.''

And on the other, he is suggesting a lack of "progress.''

That's sort of twisty in the area of "news reporting.''

Now about that "deadline'' ...

There doesn't have to be a deadline, as Fowler says; an agreement could come tomorrow or at the start of camp or during the season or never at all, which would launch Cook into free agency, where he can find out if any other team wants to pay him like he's "Saquon Barkley/Christian McCaffrey Lite.''

But it's clear that what Buffalo may want with Cook is not what they will get. The Georgia running back has had back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons and has been the Bills' most consistent offensive weapon outside of MVP Josh Allen. He has earned the right to negotiate for a long-term extension.

That $15 million seems bloated. But his present salary of $5.19 million is obviously a bargain.

The longer the team waits, though, the longer Cook may opt to try and gain any kind of leverage possible for the upcoming season. And that might mean sitting out of more than just practices. ... which is the sort of thing that can derail a club that harbors legit Super Bowl hopes.