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Thomas, 27, was entering the final year of his deal and already had three Super Bowl appearances, two first-team All-Pro nods and one MVP on his resume.

鈥淚 wanted to stay here,鈥� No. 34 said on July 21, 1993, in Fredonia.

If only the situation between the Bills and current running back James Cook were similarly simple.

Jimbo wants to get paid and likely merits a raise after his 18 regular-season rushing touchdowns in 2024 tied for the league lead. The Bills want Jimbo rewarded for his production, but the Brandon Beane-led regime has never signed a running back long-term.

So as Cook鈥檚 expected arrival at mandatory minicamp on Tuesday approaches (update Tuesday, 10:18 a.m.: Cook was at the Bills' facility), what is the best route to extending the player-team relationship to cover Cook鈥檚 prime?

My idea is a two-year bridge contract through 2027 that provides Cook with generational wealth, but doesn鈥檛 have the potential to kneecap the Bills鈥� cap situation.

(A quick detour: Cook would be foolish to skip minicamp and incur as much as $101,716 in fines, but he should 鈥渉old in鈥� 鈥� decline to go through drills of any kind aside from stretching. Just watch.)

The Bills have four current options. 1. Do nothing (their current tact). 2. Extend him long-term to align Cook with the league鈥檚 highest-paid running backs (obviously not a priority). 3. 鈥淪weeten鈥� his 2025 contract by adding guaranteed money or easily attainable statistical bonuses (good faith move). 4. Discuss a bridge deal with Cook (bingo).

For insight, I again turned to J.I. Halsell, executive vice president for client compensation at 3 Strand Sports & Entertainment and a former salary cap analyst for the Washington Commanders.

Right away, Halsell ruled out the Bills needing to discuss the sweeten-the-contract option since Cook is under club control this year and the team has the 2026 franchise tag at its disposal.

Halsell said the bridge option is 鈥減lausible.鈥�

A two-year extension would put Cook under contract for his age-27 and age-28 seasons. This would be his payday, Halsell said, 鈥渂ecause at age-28 and age-29 of a running back鈥檚 career, most clubs are leery of making a significant investment at that stage of the player鈥檚 career. Cook would need to be comfortable with this being his one significant bite at the proverbial contract apple.鈥�

Halsell鈥檚 target for Cook in a two-year bridge concept is $25 million total, including $21 million guaranteed. According to the industry website Over The Cap, only five running backs have contracts with that much guaranteed money.

The exercise for Halsell started with projecting the 2026 franchise tag at a fully-guaranteed $14 million, followed by determining the salary that would allow Cook to be fine foregoing free agency in 2027.

Cook鈥檚 camp would start a bridge deal negotiation with making sure at least $14 million is guaranteed.

Halsell鈥檚 analysis: Approximately 85% of Cook鈥檚 two-year deal should be guaranteed, which would be in line with 83% for Baltimore鈥檚 Derrick Henry and 87% for Philadelphia鈥檚 Saquon Barkley.

The new money average-per-year of $12.5 million would rank fifth among all running backs, more than Green Bay鈥檚 Josh Jacobs ($12 million) and New Orleans鈥� Alvin Kamara ($12.25 million), but less than Indianapolis鈥� Jonathan Taylor ($14 million).

Including this year鈥檚 $5.271 million, the big picture for Cook would be a three-year, $30.271 million deal for an average of $10.09 million, which would be seventh in the league, just ahead of Minnesota鈥檚 Aaron Jones.

鈥淚n identifying a win-win for both Cook and the Bills in this two-year bridge extension, Cook鈥檚 win is the $21 million guaranteed and, to a lesser degree, getting another bite at the apple before age 30,鈥� Halsell said. 鈥淔or the Bills, the win is controlling Cook鈥檚 rights for the next three seasons, likely the prime of his career.鈥�

Working in Cook鈥檚 favor 鈥� a point that should be emphasized by his camp 鈥� is his workload compared to other running backs who were recently extended.

Through three years, Cook has 533 rushing attempts. By comparison, when signing after three years, Henry was at 804, Taylor 756, Joe Mixon 693, Christian McCaffrey 623 (plus 303 catches) and Kamara 485 (plus 243 catches).

When they played four years before re-signing or leaving, David Montgomery was at 915 carries, Jones 651 and James Conner 532.

The Bills should believe Cook has plenty of tread on his wheels. He played only 44.6% of the Bills鈥� snaps last year, including only 105 total in the fourth quarter (regular season). That鈥檚 far fewer than the Los Angeles Rams鈥� Kyren Williams (266), Atlanta鈥檚 Bijan Robinson (224), Barkley (187) and Henry (154), a product of blowout games and the Bills鈥� trust in Ty Johnson to play in two-minute situations.

Cook should consider the two-year, $25 million extension because he had a front-row seat to older brother Dalvin鈥檚 contract history with the Minnesota Vikings. Dalvin was a second-round pick in 2017 and signed a five-year, $63 million extension in 2020 and earned $27.3 million before he was cut. The long-term strategy wasn鈥檛 exactly better.

A league executive I talked to said Cook should go to his camp to urge them to get something done because running back is the game鈥檚 most physical position and if he gets banged up this year, his market value would plummet.

If the Bills were in a different spot like rebuilding or having already won a Super Bowl, I could better justify them letting Cook play out his contract, then sign elsewhere while the Bills draft his replacement.

The championship window remains wide open, and to beat Kansas City and Baltimore and Cincinnati and remain in control of the AFC East, every available hand must be happy and available. The Bills should make Cook at least semi-happy by pursuing a two-year extension.