NFL holdouts, contract negotiation tracker: Now that Kyren Williams has a deal, how close are other stars to getting their own?

Yahoo

9 hours ago

NFL training camp season is officially upon us, which means holdout/hold-in season is too as players seek new contracts.
While Rams running back Kyren Williams was never a hold-in, his contract situation was one of the buzziest this year. On Tuesday he agreed to a reported three-year, $33 million deal with Los Angeles, including $23 million in guaranteed money.
[Subscribe to Yahoo Fantasy Plus and unlock Instant Mock Drafts today]
Williams was more diplomatic than some of his peers seeking new contracts have been, which isn't to say there's a right or wrong way to go about it. All situations are different. But now that Williams' deal is done, how close are the other star players seeking new contracts to sealing theirs?
Let's take some temperatures, from closest to furthest.
Buffalo Bills RB James Cook
This is a bit of a dart throw. After participating in camp each day from the start, Cook has now sat out Bills practice two days in a row due to "business." Sounds like the situation is getting more tense, not less, right? Well, now that Kyren Williams' deal is done, it can provide some semblance of a template for the $15 million a year Cook is seeking. It won't be straightforward — negotiations rarely are — but Cook's agent works for LAA Sports, which just resolved Shemar Stewart's flap with the Bengals, which was a more difficult situation than this. (We think.) Given how valuable Cook is to the Bills' offense, we're going to assume this gets done by end of next week.
Cincinnati Bengals pass rusher Trey Hendrickson
Hendrickson still hasn't practiced since reporting to camp on July 30, and the Bengals's offer is reportedly well past $30 million, per Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer. The issue remains the guarantees structure, but the Bengals already softened a clause in Shemar Stewart's contract to get a deal done, and we're guessing they'll do more softening with Hendrickson's wishes by the end of preseason since he's the reigning sack king and their best defender by a mile.
San Francisco 49ers WR Jauan Jennings
Jennings has yet to practice since reportedly aggravating a calf injury on July 27. Is that time missed injury-related, or business-related? "You can ask him that," 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday. Jennings is reportedly seeking a new deal after a breakout 2024 season, and is set to make $7.5 million this season on the final year of a two-year extension. We're guessing the, shall we say, extra time away from the field will help expedite a deal here before the season kicks off.
Dallas Cowboys pass rusher Micah Parsons
Micah Parsons requested a trade late last week. Jerry Jones said Cowboys fans shouldn't lose sleep over it. It's wildly difficult to envision a scenario in which Dallas trades Parsons, who looked very engaged not just with players but also with team leadership — minus the Joneses — on Monday, per Yahoo Sports' Jori Epstein. This has all the earmarks of a deal that gets done the week the season kicks off — especially, as Yahoo Sports' Nate Tice pointed out on the latest episode of "Football 301", considering it would steal some headline thunder from the rival Eagles hosting the opener as Super Bowl champions.
Washington Commanders WR Terry McLaurin
McLaurin has been standing on his trade request since July 31, and while there isn't a ton of animus here, the moving parts indicate a new contract could take a while to get done, if it does at all. NFL Network reported teams haven't exactly been burning the Commanders' phone lines inquiring about McLaurin, and there appears to be a significant gulf between what McLaurin and his team thinks he's worth (north of $30M per year) and what Washington does (maybe closer to the $23 million per year Courtland Sutton just got). McLaurin is officially designated on the PUP list with an ankle injury. Who knows how soon he'll move off it.
Green Bay Packers OL Elgton Jenkins
Jenkins is moving from guard to center, and wanted a reworked deal that reflected it. It sounds like he won't get it before this season, and that Jenkins has made peace with that. There are two years left on his current contract extension, which reportedly includes non-guaranteed base salaries of $11.7 million this season and $18.5 million in 2026. All signs point to zero movement here until after the season.