The 2025 NFL season is off to the races and arrives with a highly anticipated matchup for the first Sunday Night Football game. The Buffalo Bills will host the Baltimore Ravens in a rematch of last year’s AFC Divisional matchup in the playoffs. Baltimore fell short 27-25 with Mark Andrews’ unfortunate drop still fresh in the minds of Ravens fans. These are the two biggest AFC threats to challenge the Kansas City Chiefs, who have established themselves as the gold standard in the conference.
Baltimore enters as narrow 1.5-point favorites and -120 on the moneyline on DraftKings Sportsbook. The Bills hold +100 odds of getting the outright victory with the game total set at 50.5.
But there are plenty of ways to get involved in the action on DraftKings Sportsbook outside of backing a side or total. This article will look at the top James Cook prop bets ahead of the first Sunday Night Football matchup.
Best James Cook Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
James Cook Under 13.5 Rush Attempts (-119)
James Cook is coming off an excellent 2024 season in which he was tied for the most rushing touchdowns in the NFL (16) and cracked 1,000 rushing yards for the second consecutive year. This all happened while he logged just 47.6% of the offensive snaps. Despite the production, Cook tallied under 13.5 rush attempts in nine of the 16 games he played. This included the regular season matchup with the Ravens, in which he had just nine carries last year.
Ray Davis and Ty Johnson remain on the Bills roster, and each will be in the mix for carries. The pair of running backs combined for 655 rushing yards on 154 carries last year. In addition, Baltimore is far more effective at stopping the run than the pass. Last season, the Ravens allowed the fewest rushing yards, the fewest rushing yards per attempt, and ranked seventh in rushing touchdowns allowed. In contrast, they ranked 31st in passing yards allowed, 13th in net yards per pass attempt and 19th in passing touchdowns allowed.
Expect Buffalo to lean more on a pass-first attack, limiting Cook’s carries. The 13.5 line is quietly a high bar based on what his typical sample size is.
James Cook Over 12.5 Receiving Yards (-115)
One area where Cook does have a chance to impact the matchup is through the passing game. The Georgia product tallied 32 receptions for 258 yards and a pair of receiving touchdowns last year, or 16.1 receiving yards per game. This also comes after a 2023 season in which Cook tallied 44 receptions for 445 yards and four receiving touchdowns, or 26.2 receiving yards per game. He tallied over 12.5 receiving yards in nine of the 16 games last year and in 12 of the 17 games in 2023.
This is a low prop total that could take just one reception to clear. Cook holds -175 odds on DraftKings Sportsbook of recording over 1.5 receptions, and I like the chances there. Baltimore is not shy to bring the blitz, and using Cook in the screen game is a counter Buffalo will keep in its back pocket.
If you want to get bold, there is some value in the alternate lines. Cook had 25+ receiving yards in five games last year, which would pay out +203 odds on DraftKings Sportsbook. But for the sake of this article, we will stick to the standard receiving yard prop and back him to record at least 13 yards through the air tonight.
