James Cook
26-Year-Old
2025 Rush/Rec Stats
ATT
107
YDS
537
TD
5
YDS
89
TD
0
Rest-of-Season Projections
2025 Fantasy Outlook
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
RANKS
Signed a four-year, $46 million contract with the Bills in August of 2025.
Career-best performance in win
Cook rushed 19 times for 216 yards and two touchdowns in the Bills' 40-9 win over the Panthers on Sunday.
ANALYSIS
Cook's yardage total was unsurprisingly a career-best figure, one the fourth-year back accomplished with seven runs of 10-plus yards, including a 64-yard touchdown run just past the midway point of the second quarter. The talented back added a 21-yard scoring run with just under five minutes remaining in the third quarter, and he was able to take an early seat thanks to Buffalo's expansive lead. Cook has now eclipsed the 100-yard mark in four of the last six games following a 44-yard season opener against the Ravens, and he'll remain an elite option in all formats for a Week 9 home showdown against the Chiefs next Sunday afternoon.
Cook's yardage total was unsurprisingly a career-best figure, one the fourth-year back accomplished with seven runs of 10-plus yards, including a 64-yard touchdown run just past the midway point of the second quarter. The talented back added a 21-yard scoring run with just under five minutes remaining in the third quarter, and he was able to take an early seat thanks to Buffalo's expansive lead. Cook has now eclipsed the 100-yard mark in four of the last six games following a 44-yard season opener against the Ravens, and he'll remain an elite option in all formats for a Week 9 home showdown against the Chiefs next Sunday afternoon.
NFL Stats
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Fantasy/Red Zone Stats
See red zone opportunities inside the 20, 10 and 5-yard lines along with the percentage of time they converted the opportunity into a touchdown.
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Advanced NFL Stats
How do James Cook's 2025 advanced stats compare to other running backs?
This section compares his advanced stats with players at the same position. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. The longer the bar, the better it is for the player.
Broken Tackle %
18.7%Positive Run %
87.9%% Yds After Contact
61.5%Avg Yds After Contact
3.1Rushing TD %
4.7%Touches Per Game
19.8% Snaps w/Touch
48.8%Air Yards Per Game
-2.0Air Yards Per Snap
-0.05% Team Air Yards
-0.9%% Team Targets
8.0%Avg Depth of Target
-0.9 YdsCatch Rate
85.7%Drop Rate
7.1%Avg Yds After Catch
8.5% Targeted On Route
12.7%Avg Yds Per Route Run
0.81Loading Advanced NFL Stats...
2025 NFL Game Log
2025
2024
2023
2022
2025 NFL Game Log
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Snap Distribution / Depth Chart
Snap Counts
Snap %
Bills 2025 RB Snap DistributionLoading Weekly Snap Counts...
Receiving Alignment Breakdown
See where James Cook lined up on the field and how he performed at each spot.
Detailed
Grouped
Side
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This Week's Opposing Pass Defense
How does the Panthers pass defense compare to other NFL teams this season?
The bars represents the team's percentile rank (based on QB Rating Against). The longer the bar, the better their pass defense is. The team and position group ratings only include players that are currently on the roster and not on injured reserve. The list of players in the table only includes defenders with at least 3 attempts against them.
@ Panthers
Sunday, Oct 26th at 1:00PM
Overall QB Rating Against
77.1
Cornerbacks
68.7
Safeties
74.2
Linebackers
99.7
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2025 James Cook Split Stats
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Measurables Review
View College Player Page
How do James Cook's measurables compare to other running backs?
This section compares his draft workout metrics with players at the same position. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that metric and it would be considered average.
Height
5' 11"Weight
190 lbs40-Yard Dash
4.42 secVertical Jump
33.0 inBroad Jump
124 inHand Length
9.38 inArm Length
30.75 in
Past Fantasy Outlooks
2024
2023
2022
Power and short-yardage running will probably never be part of Cook's skill set, and with that limitation comes a likely cap on his fantasy production. If he can overrule that limitation, it would have to be via pass-catching production, which was a clear strength last season for the 2022 second-round pick. Whereas Cook's rushing work from 2023 can be imitated easily enough, it's not so easy for an offense to find a running back that can turn 54 targets into 44 catches for 445 yards and four touchdowns. While that type of efficiency is difficult to maintain even for a skilled pass-catching back, Cook can make up for any efficiency losses with a larger target count this upcoming season. It might be necessary in order for him to repeat last year's fantasy production, as QB Josh Allen's dominance of goal-line carries means Cook isn't guaranteed to improve much on last year's total of two rushing touchdowns (on 237 attempts). The addition of rookie fourth-round pick Ray Davis could introduce a short-yardage nuisance and some competition for early down snaps, but as long as Cook maintains his monopoly on Buffalo's RB targets the formula from 2023 should mostly remain in place for 2024.
More Fantasy News
Solid rushing night in loss
Cook rushed 17 times for 87 yards and didn't draw a target in the Bills' 24-14 loss to the Falcons on Monday night.
ANALYSIS
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Held in check by New England
Cook rushed the ball 15 times for 49 yards in Sunday's 23-20 loss to the Patriots. He did not catch his only target.
ANALYSIS
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Eclipses century mark in win
Cook rushed 22 times for 117 yards and a touchdown while bringing in three of four targets for 18 yards in the Bills' 31-19 win over the Saints on Sunday.
ANALYSIS
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Eclipses 100 total yards in win
Cook rushed 19 times for 108 yards and a touchdown and brought in all three targets for 10 yards in the Bills' 31-21 win over the Dolphins on Thursday night.
ANALYSIS
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Two TDs in Week 2 win
Cook rushed 21 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns while catching his only target for three yards in Sunday's 30-10 win over the Jets.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
More snaps moving forward?
Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic believes that the Bills' offense should rely more on Cook and keep him on the field for at least 70 percent of snaps.
ANALYSIS
Cook inked a four-year, $48 million contract extension with the Bills in mid-August, and the fourth-year running back is off to a strong start to the season. He has eclipsed 100 rushing yards in each of his last two games and has scored at least one touchdown in each of the first three games of the season. Buscaglia notes that the skill gap between Cook and backups Tyler Johnson and Ray Davis has widened significantly, and the game-changing talent Cook possesses outweighs the fatigue concerns of playing him as a consistent three-down back throughout the regular season.
Cook inked a four-year, $48 million contract extension with the Bills in mid-August, and the fourth-year running back is off to a strong start to the season. He has eclipsed 100 rushing yards in each of his last two games and has scored at least one touchdown in each of the first three games of the season. Buscaglia notes that the skill gap between Cook and backups Tyler Johnson and Ray Davis has widened significantly, and the game-changing talent Cook possesses outweighs the fatigue concerns of playing him as a consistent three-down back throughout the regular season.