If there’s a running back who has garnered more fantasy football buzz this offseason than James Cook, I’d be hard-pressed to find him. The second-year back out of Georgia is the talk of the fantasy running back landscape lately thanks to a stellar preseason performance and continued training camp success.
Fantasy owners are drooling over the three-down upside Cook possesses and the potential opportunity in Buffalo’s elite offense. His rookie season didn’t pan out as desired, but Cook seems to have all the tools necessary for a big jump in production in 2023.
Last year was a bumpy season for Cook, who was going roughly at the end of the first round in rookie dynasty drafts and around RB40 in redraft leagues (ADP anywhere between 100-120 overall). We saw a promising young back drafted out of an RB factory school in Georgia, to a high-scoring Buffalo Bills offense with only Devin Singletary standing in the way of significant touches.
Singletary didn’t seem like much of a threat, but in the end, he nearly doubled Cook’s carries (177 to 89) and even beat him out in the receiving game where Cook presumably had an advantage as his draft class’ top pass-catching running back. Cook’s rookie year was one to forget after failing to break 100 yards in a game and only getting over 50% of the snaps in one game all season.
Heading into 2023, fantasy managers (and most likely Cook) are ready to take a mulligan on last year’s efforts. Singletary is off to Houston, but Buffalo did sign Damien Harris and Latavius Murray as replacements. The silver lining here is that neither of these signings really carry much upside as every down rushers. Both are glorified plodders at this stage of their careers, with Murray approaching AARP retirement age.
If Buffalo wants to get the most out of their offense they’d be feeding Cook and using him as a true three-down back with pass game involvement. Last season, Singletary ran the seventh-most routes at his position with 312 and Allen targeted him on 30% of his routes, the second-most in the league behind only Austin Ekeler. If Cook sees similar passing game volume, the sky is the limit.
As noted above, the Buffalo coaching staff has already mentioned Cook and “three-down back potential” in the same sentence, which is a major positive. If the Bills continue to give him that treatment, expect his ADP to continue to ascend until the season kicks off.
In the Bills’ Week 1 preseason game, Cook played every snap of the team’s first two drives with the first-team offense and saw four carries on those six plays — highlighted by an eight-yard touchdown run. If that type of usage is any indication of his future success, he’s a no-brainer to put up startable fantasy numbers at his current price tag.
“In practices, Cook continued to provide the team with plenty of reasons to be optimistic about both his outlook and role in their 2023 season,” wrote Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic. “Cook went coast-to-coast as their unquestioned top running back at camp, displaying excellent pass-catching skills and a good knack for finding running lanes between the tackles… With a cleared runway, Cook appears to be locked into a significant role barring injury.”
In reality, we have to expect both Harris and Murray, along with Allen to eat into his workload this season — especially on the goal line. However, Cook could make up for those lost touchdowns by being a weapon in the passing game. If the former Bulldog sees a similar target share that Singletary saw last season, we could be looking at an extremely valuable mid-round pick, or dare I even mention league-winning upside?
Right now The Wolf has Cook listed 67th overall and as the RB22 in his updated 2023 Fantasy Rankings.
