DRBR: Buffalo Bills

While James Cook saw the uptick in volume that we wanted to from 2022 to 2023, it was the efficiency last year that unfortunately ended up killing him. He saw some dramatic drops in both his yards after contact and tackles avoided per attempt categories, especially in his tackles avoided score. Back in 2022, he scored 74, but this past season he was only able to score 57.

Really, last season it was the inconsistencies that caused us headaches with James Cook. While that increase in volume was great overall, the little drops in efficiency are what ended up causing those inconsistencies. Even his yards per carry weren't all that bad; it dropped from 5.7 in 2022 to 4.7 in 2023, which is still very respectable. He also was not able to find the end zone as much as we would like.

So, what is the DRB telling us that we should do with James Cook in 2024? Well, there's a couple of different things that could end up happening.

Number one, keeping the volume realistically the same—about 230 carries last season. If we can stick right around that mark, even see maybe 220 to 240 somewhere in that range, that still is very okay. What we need is more rushing touchdowns. Yes, Josh Allen is going to end up sniping a lot of those from James Cook, but just give us a few more, okay? Just a few, and that will help his score out greatly.

Number two, we do need to see his dynamic categories go back up. Now, do they need to reach where they were back a couple of seasons ago? Absolutely not. But we need to split the difference here. Going from 74 down to 57 is definitely a huge drop, and maybe some of that was attributed to the offense last season. Maybe some of it is the fact that just James Cook as the primary running back is kind of like Tony Pollard in Dallas. If he's utilized one way, he's not going to be as good; if he's utilized another way, the volume won't be there, but the efficiency will be a whole lot better.

I was pretty hyped up on James Cook last season, but seeing the numbers in the DRB this year are bringing me back to Earth just a little bit. I would like James Cook as a mid RB2. That RB1 upside that we really hoped for last season just may not end up being there. The volume should be good once again, but those dynamic scores from last year just make me a little weary.