Dalvin Cook calls for Bills to pay his brother following stellar outing vs. 49ers

Buffalo Bills running back James Cook looked phenomenal in his team's Week 13 win over the San Francisco 49ers, and his brother wants him to be compensated.

Kyle Silagyi | 3 Hours Ago

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Buffalo Bills running back James Cook went dashing through the snow in his team’s Week 13 thrashing of the San Francisco 49ers, rushing for 107 yards and one score on 14 attempts to carry the load for the team in a game that required a heavy emphasis on the rushing attack.

Roughly two feet of snow had fallen atop Highmark Stadium ahead of Sunday night’s clash, and both teams, thus, opted to lean on the ground game. Though Buffalo got all of its rushers involved in the 35-10 win, it was Cook who shined brightest, his career-long 65-yard touchdown in the second quarter setting the tone for the remainder of the game. He averaged a whopping 7.6 yards per carry in the victory, setting a new season-high in the stat as he topped 100 rushing yards for the second time this year.

It was just the continuation of what has been a stellar third professional season from Cook, as he’s already reached paydirt 12 times this year, doubling his previous career high in total touchdowns (six in 2023). He’s one of the NFL's premier backs, and it’s likely only a matter of time before the 25-year-old is paid as such; his brother, four-time Pro Bowl running back Dalvin Cook, is among those who believes Buffalo should pay Cook sooner rather than later, taking to X during Sunday night’s game to urge the Bills to extend his brother’s contract.

Pay the man 4️⃣ https://t.co/0Aj4XT4rCx
— Dalvin “4️⃣” Cook (@dalvincook) December 2, 2024

Cook, a second-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, is currently in the third year of his rookie contract, meaning that he has another year left on his deal after the conclusion of the 2024 campaign. He could theoretically receive an extension as early as next spring, and it could be structured in such a way that his 2025 cap hit (which is currently set at $1.8 million) would not be significantly (if at all) altered.

That said, while Buffalo’s Week 13 win proved Cook’s excellence, it also proved that the team possesses a duo of other talented backs in Ray Davis and Ty Johnson (who averaged 5.7 and 5.6 yards per carry, respectively). Cook is undoubtedly the team’s most prolific rusher, but with players like Greg Rousseau, Christian Benford, and Khalil Shakir also needing extensions in the near future, where a potential Cook extension falls on the Bills’ priority list remains to be seen.

It fortunately doesn’t look as though Cook’s contract will provide any issues in the immediate future, as he, again, has another year left on his rookie deal. That said, one can understand why his brother, who himself was once one of the NFL’s highest-paid running backs, is vying for him to receive significant compensation sooner rather than later.

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