James Cook has been his usual workhorse self through the first two weeks of the 2025 NFL season.
The fourth-year running back has racked up 40 touches and 176 rushing yards on the year, both of which rank inside the top-10 in the league.
Cook has proven to be one of the biggest bell cows in football over the past two seasons, but the Bills get a chance to give their star ball-carrier a breather on a short week when they welcome the lowly Dolphins to Buffalo on Thursday night.
With a potential semi-rest day coming for Cook, I’m targeting Ray Davis, who established himself as the clear backup in Buffalo in the middle of his rookie campaign last season.
Speaking of last season, the Bills also played the Dolphins in a Thursday night game in the early going, and Davis had one of his most productive outings of the season.
In that contest, Cook had just 11 rushing attempts and one catch, playing in fewer than half of the Bills’ offensive snaps.
Davis picked up when Cook was off the field, going for 29 yards on the ground on nine handoffs.
Two weeks later, Cook had just nine rushing attempts against the Ravens in a Sunday game following a Monday night game the week before.
Davis wasn’t quite as successful with the ball that game, but he did get seven rushing attempts.
Let’s not forget about the blowout potential in this game, which could spell more opportunities for Davis.
The Dolphins have been atrocious this season, going 0-2 while being outscored by 31 total points against the Colts and Patriots, who are hardly in the same class as the Bills.
There shouldn’t be any doubt that Davis will be out there in that situation — he’s played in more than a quarter of the Bills’ offensive snaps in each of their past three double-digit regular season wins combined.
Davis has played at least 20 percent of Buffalo’s offensive snaps in seven of the team’s last eight games, going back to their bye week last season.
Betting on the NFL?
The only game where he missed that mark was Buffalo’s Week 1 comeback over the Baltimore Ravens, which was fueled by a pass-heavy attack.
That won’t be the case on Thursday.
Bet on Davis to get a few more looks than usual and nudge over his get-able rushing prop.
The play: Ray Davis Over 20.5 rushing yards (-130, Fanatics Sportsbook)
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Dylan Svoboda is a versatile writer and analyst across many sports. He’s particularly knowledgeable about the big three — MLB, the NFL and the NBA.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
