PITTSFORD, N.Y. — When coaching camp practices started on July 23, so far as operating again James Prepare dinner was involved, the Payments doubtless thought they had been transferring ahead with the 2025 season. Prepare dinner reported to coaching camp on time, and he was on the sector totally working towards by way of the primary eight classes.
Even on the primary day of camp, when requested about Prepare dinner, head coach Sean McDermott declared, “He’s able to go.”
That was, till the ninth observe arrived on Sunday.
Prepare dinner’s lack of participation appeared to catch most within the constructing without warning. The Payments had been handing out some “vet relaxation” days. Even along with his needs for a brand new deal, the “vet relaxation” day appeared essentially the most logical clarification for his absence since he had already begun working towards and totally participated in necessary minicamp in June.
Prepare dinner pulled the unorthodox transfer of starting his hold-in after totally working towards for over every week, declaring it “enterprise”, main the Payments to concern a rare-for-them “no remark” as they had been leaving the observe area, and now they’re in an extremely delicate scenario.
The Payments have had a number of cases of gamers looking for new offers forward of the season and negotiating whereas the participant was working towards. In some instances, they’ve agreed to phrases, others they haven’t, and it lingered into the next offseason.
Common supervisor Brandon Beane has not had a scenario like this one at Payments coaching camp.
However it’s slowly devolved. Prepare dinner was seen for the whole thing of Sunday’s observe, appeared engaged along with his teammates, and was proper subsequent to the remainder of the operating backs as they had been going by way of drills.
Then on Monday, with cameras and smartphones pointed in his route as he slowly walked out to observe in avenue garments for the second day of the hold-in, he entered the observe space and did a fast about-face into the transportable rest room. Prepare dinner exited, took a direct line to the close by medical tent, disappeared from view and wasn’t seen for the remainder of observe. The Payments had Tuesday off, and on Wednesday, Prepare dinner didn’t seem at observe as soon as throughout his third day of the hold-in.
Prepare dinner is within the closing 12 months of his rookie deal, and along with his escalators on account of efficiency, will make simply over $5 million in base wage and account for just below $6 million on the 2025 cap. After tying a single-season franchise document in speeding touchdowns (16) and hitting the 1,000-yard speeding marker, Prepare dinner is clearly hoping to be higher compensated.
For a crew targeted on lastly pushing to the Tremendous Bowl looking for the franchise’s first-ever Lombardi Trophy, this has turn out to be considerably of a ‘will he or received’t he observe’ distraction on a day-to-day foundation that they doubtless don’t love, to place it mildly.
To be clear, Prepare dinner is extraordinarily well-liked within the constructing. The entrance workplace, teaching employees, and his teammates have all spoken very fondly of Prepare dinner each earlier than and after his needs for a brand new deal intensified over the previous few days.
What makes the observe pullback a bit sudden is what Prepare dinner mentioned on July 24, when requested about his thought course of about whether or not to observe or not at coaching camp.
“I didn’t actually give it some thought. I simply, I knew I used to be going to come back out right here and work,” Prepare dinner mentioned. “I don’t owe it to no one however my teammates and myself and my household. So by me collaborating, displaying my teammates that I really like the sport and I’m prepared to be out right here.”
So, then, what modified? Why did Prepare dinner go from the ‘head down and work’ mindset to the exact opposite in beneath two weeks?
That’s what has made the complete scenario so perplexing to many.
“James Prepare dinner solely desires to be a Buffalo Invoice. This isn’t some $200 million Micah Parsons-Jerry Jones negotiation,” mentioned Zac Hiller of LAA, certainly one of Prepare dinner’s brokers, when reached by The Athletic for remark Wednesday about why the observe method modified. “We’re hopeful there’s a decision quickly, and we’ll preserve working towards that day-after-day.”
So what precisely is happening right here? Let’s dive in.
A staring contest, or so it appears
After the Payments’ exit from the playoffs final season, it didn’t take lengthy for them to get to work. The 2025 NFL Mix started, and the Payments went on a spree of 1 contract extension after one other. Huge receiver Khalil Shakir, linebacker Terrel Bernard, and defensive finish Greg Rousseau had been the primary three. Then the Payments acquired a brand new cope with quarterback Josh Allen over the road, adopted by one other extension in late March to cornerback Christian Benford.
In Shakir, Bernard, Rousseau and Benford’s instances, they had been all getting into the ultimate 12 months of their rookie offers — a lot the identical as Prepare dinner.
However earlier than the Mix, Prepare dinner issued his now notorious insinuation that he needed $15 million per 12 months, which might tie him with Derrick Henry for the third-highest common per 12 months for operating backs. Whether or not or not that’s Prepare dinner’s final objective or simply him placing one thing out on social media within the warmth of the second stays unclear.
The social media publish didn’t deter the Payments from retaining talks lively with Prepare dinner. Beane didn’t put an excessive amount of inventory into it when requested about it on the NFL Mix, both. The Payments have made it clear they need Prepare dinner again, and Prepare dinner additionally desires to stay with the crew. Each side had publicly mentioned all the suitable issues main as much as the start of the hold-in.
Although if there was one quote from Beane that would have foreshadowed the place issues presently stand, it was when he spoke to the media on July 23.
“It’s a enterprise. We’ve to suit it in, not solely money, however cap, and generally, you’ll be able to have a look at it and say, ‘Effectively, you realize, you go to this web site or no matter, they may match him in in the event that they did this and this.’ However we even have to take a look at ’26, ’27 and past, as a result of you’ll be able to stroll your self into a type of years the place you’re like, ‘Oh man, there’s not a whole lot of guys, we will take them out right here.’ We must commerce or minimize somebody that we wouldn’t wish to lose. … So all these issues need to make sense for us to suit him in.”
The Payments have a whole lot of new contract extensions that might comply with an analogous cap hit path because the one Prepare dinner would doubtlessly signal, and so they’re already over the projected 2026 wage cap. It’s fairly the predicament to marry what the Payments may provide and what would get Prepare dinner to signal on the dotted line on a long-term deal. Beane alluding to all of this may very well be an indication of the place issues stand.
As Prepare dinner started his hold-in on Sunday, Beane had a beforehand scheduled radio interview on Monday morning that turned well timed on account of Prepare dinner’s new method.
“We tried to get one thing achieved with Jimbo, and sadly, you realize, it’s acquired — it takes two,” Beane mentioned on WGR-AM on Monday. “And either side need to agree on what that quantity is, and clearly, that hasn’t gotten there. However, I’m not sitting right here saying ‘You don’t pay operating backs.’ I feel you simply have to search out what the candy spot is.”
The “it takes two” and “discover what the candy spot is” strains are what stand out. What is evident is that the Payments and Prepare dinner’s representatives have a comparatively completely different evaluation of Prepare dinner’s long-term valuation, and Prepare dinner’s aspect felt strongly sufficient about their stance to have him start the hold-in.
Though the time period ‘deadlock’ could also be a bit sturdy, it’s definitely not out of the query to explain the present state of issues. The obvious legit distinction in valuations is the likeliest perpetrator for the scenario. Prepare dinner is certainly one of their prime offensive gamers coming off the most effective season of his younger profession. He simply watched the Payments pay a number of different younger gamers, and in addition watched a number of the operating again numbers get heightened this offseason with new offers.
For one thing to get achieved long run, one thing has to provide.

James Prepare dinner’s utilization within the Payments’ offense is probably going a sticking level in negotiations. (Michael Owens / Getty Photos)
The Kyren Williams deal and the way it impacts the dialog
The Rams gave a three-year extension with a median of $11 million per 12 months to operating again Kyren Williams this week. Prepare dinner is probably going nearer to the Williams tier than the Saquon Barkley ($20.4 million APY), Christian McCaffrey ($19 million) and Derrick Henry ($15 million) tier atop the operating again APY panorama. Prepare dinner and Williams are each confirmed commodities within the NFL, with Prepare dinner giving the Payments one thing on the operating again place they haven’t had since Beane and McDermott arrived in Buffalo. With Prepare dinner and Williams being part of the identical draft class, and being shut in a number of statistical senses, too, that may very well be a pure hyperlink to place these valuations on par.
Nonetheless, it’s an imperfect comparability. For one, Williams is sort of a 12 months youthful than Prepare dinner, which is one thing groups think about with contracts. Maybe the larger consideration is that Williams’ total workload within the Rams offense is way and away heavier than what the Payments have requested of Prepare dinner, and what they’re trending towards asking of Prepare dinner once more in his fourth season, ought to he get again on the sector for the Payments.
Over the past two seasons, Williams has taken 82 and 87 % of the Rams’ offensive snaps in his lively video games. He has been their true-to-form three-down again, is trending towards persevering with that means, and is now the seventh-highest-paid operating again yearly.
On the flip aspect, Prepare dinner’s snap charges in lively video games have been 55 and 48 % in 2023 and 2024, and for many of 2024, Prepare dinner often was changed on third downs in favor of committee again Ty Johnson. Based mostly on their observe utilization, and with each Johnson and Ray Davis signed for the 2026 season, there’s no indication that that is going to vary anytime quickly.
It’s to not say that Prepare dinner can’t be that participant. He has proven flashes of doing it when requested. The Payments consider he can do it if wanted, and Prepare dinner mentioned he desires to show he can do it on a constant foundation. However that hasn’t occurred but.
Prepare dinner’s function, at its core, is likely to be the place the valuations aren’t lining up between the 2 sides. The Payments haven’t used, and don’t undertaking to make use of Prepare dinner in a three-down function over the following two seasons based mostly on their roster setup, barring accidents. That might trigger them to have Prepare dinner’s worth land nearer to tenth, or exterior of the highest 10 of operating again APY within the NFL.
So now, the Payments and Prepare dinner’s illustration are seemingly in a staring contest. The road of communication stays open, however it is a completely different beast than what the Payments have handled beforehand in extension talks.
A hold-in gives strain on a crew trying to attain the Tremendous Bowl this season by eradicating certainly one of their most trusted belongings on offense in key preparations for the 12 months. And from Prepare dinner’s perspective, you’ll be able to perceive the place they’re coming from, wanting to maximise his worth coming off a profession 12 months and desirous to be compensated nearer to his price. It’s one thing most would need.
There may be additionally a matter of precedent from a crew perspective. Beane has at all times held to his values on gamers, and there have been occasions (Tremaine Edmunds, Harrison Phillips, and many others.) when their worth of the participant didn’t align with the participant’s final worth on the open market, and so they declined to match these provides and allow them to stroll.
If Beane is the one who blinks on a long-term deal solely due to the will to win this 12 months, that sends a message that if a participant places sufficient strain on the franchise, the Payments will finally fold. Particularly with all of the cap gymnastics the Payments are already having to do whereas paying Allen what they’re, it’s a considerably treacherous precedent to set.
It’s a difficult and delicate balancing act for either side, and the result’s all sides taking part in a little bit of hardball on the present second. And in the end, one aspect might have to provide in additional than they’d wish to make this a long-term pact.
How does this all finish?
Each side have stayed constant in that they need Prepare dinner to stick with the Payments previous 2025. The crew loves him as a participant and particular person, which is why they’ve been open to paying a operating again a profitable new deal for the primary time since Beane took over as GM.
The most probably final result is that Prepare dinner returns to observe sooner or later this summer season, although it’s robust to inform when that can occur and beneath what phrases. The 2 sides seem dug in because it stands, and nonetheless, with a month to go earlier than the common season begins, there’s time for this to pull on, relying on how far into the preseason Prepare dinner is snug with persevering with to carry in. There’s at all times the choice to return to observe with out a new deal if it’s reducing it too near the common season.
If the Payments and Prepare dinner can’t meet within the center on a long-term deal, there’s at all times the choice of doing what the Payments did with security Jordan Poyer in 2022. It was basically a bandage deal that reworked the one 12 months with enhanced bonus incentives to doubtlessly earn extra in a single season, quite than committing to a long-term deal. On the very least, that may very well be sufficient to get Prepare dinner again on the sector in 2025, after which they’ll attempt to determine issues out once more within the upcoming offseason.
There’s additionally the choice of signing a long-term deal nearer to the place the Payments’ APY worth is on him over the preliminary seasons, whereas backloading the contract to deliver the APY up nearer to the place Prepare dinner’s camp is snug to assist get the deal over the road. Most assured cash is often on the primary two seasons of recent contracts, anyway.
For these questioning a couple of potential commerce of Prepare dinner earlier than the season, there isn’t any indication that it’s anyplace within the dialog, at the very least not at this level. The 2 sides have been very agency in desirous to make it work in Buffalo. If a commerce or commerce request had been to occur, it could imply a whole breakdown in communication between the 2 sides and a continued hold-in from Prepare dinner that doubtlessly threatens to increase into the common season. Prepare dinner doesn’t need that, and the Payments don’t need that.
For now, the staring contest stays, and given each the short-term and long-term ramifications from either side, it stays a posh conundrum with out a straightforward reply.
(Prime photograph: Tina MacIntyre-Yee / USA As we speak through Imagn Photos)