James Cook

The Bills unleashed a new-look rushing attack in 2024, with offensive coordinator Joe Brady tapping into a dominant ground game that was largely dormant in prior years. The player reaping the greatest benefits was Cook, who went from a two-touchdown runner in 2023 to 16 touchdowns last year, even while taking 30 fewer carries. After just five carries inside the 5-yard line in his first 326 NFL rush attempts, Cook got 15 chances inside the 5 among his 207 carries last year. These developments are encouraging for Cook, yet his TD rate is plainly marked for regression in 2025. He mentioned wanting to take on more of the workload during contract negotiations this spring, but the Bills may want to protect their investment -- a four-year, $48 million extension signed in August -- and also seem to trust backups Ty Johnson and Ray Davis. Good as Cook is, he's still a smaller RB (5-foot-11, 190) who is not built for power functions, while Davis is dense (5-9, 220) and powerful. On the other hand, Cook doesn't necessarily need huge workloads to put up strong fantasy numbers when his per-touch efficiency ranks near the top of the league while playing in an elite offense. Read Past Outlooks