In Week 3, the Buffalo Bills will face the Jacksonville Jaguars as part of a Monday Night Football doubleheader. Which Bills running backs should be in your fantasy football team’s starting lineup? Let’s break down Buffalo’s backfield.
Looking to make a trade in your fantasy league? Having trouble deciding who to start and who to sit? Setting DFS lineups? Check out PFN’s Start/Sit Analysis, Free Fantasy Football Trade Analyzer, Start/Sit Optimizer, and DFS Lineup Optimizer to help you make the right decision!
James Cook’s Fantasy Outlook
I’m old enough to remember when we thought Cook wasn’t a reliable fantasy option because he couldn’t score touchdowns.
Oh wait, that was a week ago. In Week 1, he cleared 100 scrimmage yards and still wasn’t a top-20 producer at the position. On Thursday night, he ran for a pair of touchdowns (matching his most in a season for his career) and took a fourth-down pass to the house as a part of the second-best game of his career (28.5 PPR points).
Wheels up! The touchdowns finally piled up, but this is more the highlighting moment of a positive trend than it is some crazy performance. Cook now has multiple red-zone touches in six straight games and in nine of his past 10 (nine multi-red-zone-touch games in first 25 career games).
I’m not reading too far into his one-yard touchdown against the Dolphins, nor am I projecting him for a score per week moving forward, but Cook is trending in a strong enough direction to be considered a non-liability on the TD front.
It’s simple: We are looking at a versatile option in an offense we trust. We can debate Cook’s exact spot in the ranks, especially against a defense that has talent, but you’re starting him without much thought and loving the value you got in the third round this summer.
Ray Davis’ Fantasy Outlook
The thought process in stashing Davis this summer was sound – we weren’t sold on Cook as a threat inside the 10-yard line, and with an offseason to gameplan, maybe Brady would look to scheme his QB away from contact.
Nope and nope.
Davis carried nine times on Thursday night, but six came in the fourth quarter with the outcome no longer in doubt. You drafted him with the hope that he could hold a goal-line role, and maybe, even with everyone healthy, bail you out with a score if you were pressed in a tough spot due to injuries/bye weeks.
I’d say that dream is a thing of the past. If you have the space for a pure handcuff in a strong offense, Davis should remain rostered, but the likelihood of having that luxury is going to lessen as the season progresses. Hold tight for now, but don’t get too attached.