ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Running back James Cook and the Buffalo Bills have reached agreement on a four-year, $48 million contract extension that includes $30 million guaranteed, his agents, Zac Hiller and Matt Leist of LAA, told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Wednesday.
Bills general manager Brandon Beane said Cook signed his new deal, which links him with the team through 2029, before practice Wednesday morning.
"We paid now, so let's go play football," Cook said when asked about competing off the field for the contract.
The extension comes a day after Cook returned to Bills practice Tuesday following a hold-in that spanned more than a week, during which the running back missed Buffalo's first preseason game. Cook was in full uniform and fully participated throughout Tuesday's session. He missed four practices during the hold-in, although he did warm up with the team before the preseason game.
"Not more so it would help. Just trying to protect myself," Cook said on holding in. "Just trying to stay healthy and just get everything done before I can go out there and play with a clear mindset and just be locked in."
Cook said, "I kind of knew, yeah," when asked about participating in Tuesday's practice.
For the Bills, Cook being back at practice was important for negotiations.
"I think we had an understanding that we need to practice if we're gonna be able to get back to the table," Beane said. "And so I think there was good faith on both parts from him and his agent to our side, and once we got him back on the practice field, we really worked hard."
Beane said the deal was completed around 11 p.m. ET Tuesday.
"James could only envision himself as a Buffalo Bill," Hiller said. "We are extremely thankful to the entire Bills organization and glad we could make that happen."
The Bills and Cook maintained throughout the offseason that they wanted to come to an agreement, with negotiations beginning early in the offseason when the Bills came to terms with three other members of the 2022 draft class on extensions in addition to Greg Rousseau and Josh Allen. They took a pause with Cook ahead of the draft and resumed around training camp with the running back's return to practice helping to move things forward.
Beane said he was worried about the hold-in being a distraction but that the core of the team understood what the situation was. The fact that Cook participated in meetings and walkthroughs helped.
"That's fire," cornerback Christian Benford, a fellow 2022 draft class member, said when informed of the news after practice. "I'm happy for him. He stuck it out. I mean, I thank the Lord that he got something ... that he's happy with, so I'm blessed and honored for him. So he's a great kid, hard worker, no bad intentions ever in life."
Beane emphasized that honesty on their side and Cook's resulted in good conversations.
While the two sides were able to come to agreement, Cook said he was willing to hold in "however long it took." Asked if that included into the season, he said, "However long it took. But we got it done, so we don't need to be discussing that and let's play football."
Cook, coming off a career season, is a two-time Pro Bowler and Buffalo's lead running back, but he still had to share the workload. He was on the field for 47.5% of offensive snaps in games he played last year, with Ty Johnson often coming in on late downs and Ray Davis also getting some opportunities.
"We like what [Cook] provides, and we do see him as a three-down-type player and we think he could take more, but we also want to use our other weapons and keep him as fresh as possible," Beane said Wednesday. "We think that's the best utilization of him, and we just look at, I know he gets put in the running back room or guys get put in a tight end room, but it's just trying to find a variety of weapons and skill sets and he's got a skill set that we wanted to maintain and keep with this offense."
A member of a Bills offense that broke records, Cook tied a team record (with O.J. Simpson) with 16 rushing touchdowns in 2024 (tied for the most in the NFL). That was up from his combined four rushing touchdowns in 2022-23 and corresponded to Joe Brady taking over as the full-time offensive coordinator last season. Cook was fifth in yards per rush (4.9) and yards before contact per rush (3.1).
Cook averaged 12.9 rushes per touchdown in 2024, the third fewest by a running back with at least 200 carries in a season over the past 20 years.
"I wouldn't say [the process was] difficult," Cook said. "I handled it the right way I felt like, and all in all, we got stuff done."