No one can deny the greatness that the Buffalo Bills currently have and while it includes multiple reasons why, we all know that the main reason is because of Josh Allen. At the same time, even he needs a little bit of help to get the Bills a win at times. While the wide receiver position has been one of Buffalo's biggest areas of concern, Allen has been getting him from the guy in the backfield behind him.
Since his second year in the league (which was his first as the starter), James Cook has helped the Bills bring back a rushing attack the Bills haven't had in the Allen era.
Cook has rushed for three consecutive seasons of 1,000+ yards since 2023, and he has 28 touchdowns on the ground in the last two seasons. He led the league in rushing touchdowns in 2024 (16), and was the rushing champion last season with 1,621 yards.
Last season, there was only one game where Cook rushed for over 100 yards and the Bills still lost (Week 12 against the Houston Texans). He has shown fans that he is just as valuable to this Bills offense as Josh Allen, and Kevin Patra from NFL.com is giving Cook the recognition that he deserves.
James Cook is just as valuable to Bills offense as anyone
Patra listed each team’s “non-QB MVP”, seeing as how the MVP award typically goes to a quarterback (even though sometimes it shouldn’t), and Patra listed Cook for the Bills which is exactly what Bills fans already knew
"The attention this offseason has been on the Bills’ wide receivers, but Cook will remain a vital cog that paces the offense. Defenses can’t help but key on Josh Allen, and the addition of DJ Moore could force more attention. That should keep lanes open for Cook to corvette his way through. Joe Brady, unshackled from his predecessor at head coach, could lean more on the pass attack, but he shouldn’t get too far away from Cook. He could even utilize his top RB more in the passing attack in 2026." said Patra.
There have been some games the last two seasons in which if the Bills didn’t have Cook performing the way he did, who knows if they would have one. Heck, last season against the Jets (Week 2), Panthers, and Steelers, Cook was the MVP of the entire Bills team.
If you combine his stats from those three games, Cook had 492 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns, averaging 7.4 yards per carry.
It's a good thing that the Bills extended Cook when they did before last season because they most likely would have had to pay him more now considering the production he had last season. Without Cook, this offense doesn't roll as smooth as it has.
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