Current Contract Holdouts by Two Offensive Pro Bowl Stars
Every year, one or many NFL teams have a contract dispute that boils over through training camp and sometimes even the regular season. When players and team executives disagree on new contracts, it can get ugly, leading to holdouts that make both sides look bad. A player holdout means that they abstain from team activities, mandatory or not, which puts the team in a tough spot to be relying on a backup to replace the production. Notable holdouts in recent years include: Kam Chancellor, Chris Jones, and Le’Veon Bell, who missed the entire 2018 season due to his holdout. With the preseason now underway, many players are still holding out, which we’ll address in this article.
James Cook
It seems like every season, there’s a running back holding out to try and get a better contract, and for good reason, too. Quarterbacks get an exorbitant amount of money that they’re pretty much in their own category, salary-wise. When it comes to the other main skill position of wide receiver, those players also make a significant amount more than running backs; the top-eight running wide receivers make an average of $33.34 million per year, meanwhile the top-eight running backs make only $14.23 million per year. This is why the soon-to-be 26-year-old James Cook is looking to earn his payday. Cook, who has been fighting for a long-term deal for months, was selected for the Pro Bowl the past two seasons and tied for the league lead in rushing touchdowns last year with 16.
However, reports indicated that he was looking for a $15 million per-year contract that would tie him with Derrick Henry as the third-highest paid running back in the league. This is something that the Bills haven’t been able to agree on at this point, which means that the team is willing to start the year with second-year back Ray Davis as the bell cow. His big contract also comes into question since Cook played in 48% of offensive snaps last year. For comparison, all of the fully healthy running backs making $14 million or more per season played in at least 57% of their team’s snaps in 2024. Also, the RB committee has to be utilized because Cook hasn’t proven himself as a reliable pass blocker, whereas Ty Johnson has, which allowed Johnson to play over 300 snaps last year. The new wrinkle in this story is Kyren Williams, who had been leaned on far more with the Rams than Cook had with the Bills, signed a three-year contract averaging $11 million per year. Williams, who played in 87% of offensive snaps and has accumulated similar stats to Cook, ended up taking a discount to stay with a high-powered offense.
Terry McLaurin
The most recent contract dispute is happening between Terry McLaurin and the Commanders. Unlike Cook, McLaurin isn’t currently playing under a rookie contract and is looking for a big second contract extension to put him among the top receivers in the league. The receiver from Ohio State currently averages $22.78 million per year and is seeking roughly a $10 million per-season raise from Washington. It has been reported by Diana Rossini of The Athletic that McLaurin is looking to target DK Metcalf’s $33 million average annual value as a starting point for contract talks. McLaurin has accumulated at least 77 receptions and 1,050 receiving yards every season since 2020, earning selections to the Pro Bowl in 2022 as well as last year when he helped the team advance to the NFC Championship.
The Josh Harris regime of the Commanders is still very new and fresh. After exceeding all expectations last season, the team led by Jayden Daniels became a favorite around the league, and it seemed like nothing could go wrong until this point. Now the team must decide on what to do with McLuarin, who was placed on the PUP list before requesting a trade from the team. The first option to think of immediately is that the team should honor his trade request, which would alleviate some more cap room and add a helpful piece to replace him. On the other hand, if there are no trade partners who want to pay a 30-year-old receiver $30 million a year, then that might be difficult. At this time, the Commanders have first-time Commander Deebo Samuel slotted in as the number-one wide receiver, who was selected as a First-Team All-Pro in 2021, but hasn’t done much since, averaging about 55 receptions for 731 yards and four touchdowns per season since then. No matter what happens, the Commanders will want to put this ugly contract dispute behind them and try to improve on their 2024 season.
