The new contract handed out to Saquon Barkley by the Philadelphia Eagles has set a new precedent in the market, and Buffalo Bills player James Cook is well aware of it.
It was announced by ESPN Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter that Barkley would soon sign a new two-year contract with the Eagles which makes him the highest-paid running back in the sport.
Barkley will have an average annual value of $20.6 million, and that means a new precedent has been set for other running backs who are of serious value to their teams.
Cook shared the news of Barkley‘s extension on X and added the eyes emoji, suggesting that he could try and secure a new deal from the Bills that will result in more money for his services.
James Cook sniffing around a new deal
There is no doubt that Barkley has been operating at a different level this season and if any running back was to break the $20m ceiling, it would have been him.
Despite that, Cook is coming off a 2024 season where only Jahmyr Gibbs scored more touchdowns than him throughout the league (18 total scores). He might not expect the same money as Barkley, but he will probably expect some sort of raise.
Last month, the NFL announced that there will be a considerable increase in each franchise’s salary cap for 2025 and that the figure will be confirmed once the league’s negotiations with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) are completed
The final amount will be in the range of $277.5 million to $281.5 million, a considerable increase from the estimated cap for 2024, which was $255.4 million and $224.8 million in 2023.
In other words, in the last two years, the increase will be at least $53 million.
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