The Buffalo Bills are coming off a narrow win on Sunday Night Football over the New York Giants in Week 6. For most of the season, it’s been second-year back James Cook leading the way, rushing for 363 yards on 75 carries. But while Cook has looked strong at times, his fantasy football upside has been greatly limited by the presence of Damien Harris and Latavius Murray. That continued in Week 6 and could be a theme for the rest of the season. We’re going to break down the situation and what to expect moving forward.
Fantasy football advice: Bills RBs James Cook-Latavius Murray
In Week 6 vs. the Giants, the Bills used Cook and Murray in a true split (each with 30 snaps). Cook is still the lead back but has lost out on over 200 offensive snaps to Harris, Murray and Reggie Gilliam. It’s likely an effort by Sean McDermott to keep Cook healthy for the end of the season and playoffs. Harris is out after exiting with that scary injury on SNF. If another back goes down, the Bills depth takes a big hit. So unfortunately, it’s in the team’s best interest to keep Cook fresh despite him being 24 years old.
The bigger issue when it comes to Cook and fantasy football is all the outside factors limiting his TD upside. So far this season, Murray has 12 red-zone touches to Cook’s nine. Harris also has six on the season, while QB Josh Allen has eight carries in the red zone and three TDs. The Bills will almost always look to Allen and Murray before Cook in red-zone situations. So unless Cook rips off a long TD, it’s going to be tough for him to get in the end zone, let alone those ceiling games.
Still, through all of this and a few rough outings, Cook is a top-20 RB in half PPR formats. There’s the possibility McDermott gets Cook more carries as the season goes on and into the cold months. Either way, there’s no real reason to panic when it comes to Cook. He’s an RB1/2 most weeks the rest of the way. It’s really how much will Murray cut in and is he going to turn into a viable start as a FLEX in deeper leagues?
The answer to that is maybe. Murray is likely available on the waiver wire and has TD upside. He’s coming off a season-high 12 carries and could see more work as the season goes on. Murray will be TD-dependent most weeks but is worth adding as a handcuff to Cook and possibly a FLEX play in 12-14 team leagues.
