Ray

Davis

Davis had, this is not a joke, -2 total yards rushing on two carries combined in the four weeks before this, so this effort came out of nowhere. Davis got his chance in the first quarter when James Cook was forced off the field due to an issue with his helmet. Davis proceeded to break off two rushes for 30 yards, which clearly prompted the Bills to give him more work on a day when they were gashing the Steelers on the ground. We would not anticipate this leading to an expanded role for the second-year back.

He’s officially only a limited participant, but his return puts him on track to play in Week 10 against the Dolphins, whose run defense is among the league’s worst. Backup RBs Ray Davis and Ty Johnson are still worth stashing on benches, just in case Cook’s injury flares up, but at this time, neither one appears to be a locked-in FLEX-worthy starter this week.

Davis has 18 carries in two games against the Bills and Panthers in which Buffalo has generated huge leads and four carries in his other five games combined. He shouldn’t be in consideration for a standalone FLEX start, but can be held as a hedge against a James Cook injury in deeper leagues.

Sounds like a 24-hour bug. Davis won’t hold a standalone-worthy role in Week 9 against the Chiefs, but has some fantasy upside in the event that James Cook misses time.

Davis still has a good chance to suit up in Week 9 against the Chiefs if he can get in a limited practice on Thursday and Friday. Davis is purely a contingency fantasy option behind James Cook for now. In Week 8, Davis had nine rushes for 16 yards in garbage time against the Panthers.

He did not receive a carry behind James Cook but managed to score from 16 yards out on the team’s first possession of the second half, playing limited snaps the rest of the game. Davis would likely need an injury to Cook to return any meaningful fantasy upside .

With Ray Davis off to a poor start, Johnson was the Bills’ No. 2 running back this evening, out-touching Davis 4-0. Pro Football Focus charted Johnson with a 15-4 snaps advantage. Noteworthy for the Bills in “real life,” but still inconsequential in fantasy. Neither back is going to carve out standalone fantasy value behind James Cook, while a committee would form were Cook to go down with injury. This could also just be a one-week aberration. For now, Cook’s insurance backs can be ignored in re-draft leagues.

The Bills ran the ball 43 times on Sunday, so Davis saw almost a quarter of those, but he clearly ran behind James Cook. It’s also clear that he lacks the playmaking of Cook, so the Bills would likely use a committee of Davis and Ty Johnson if Cook were to go down with an injury. That and his lack of a pure red zone role make Davis a backup that you don’t need to hold in shallower formats.

Davis was bottled up against the Bears, but he promisingly started and played 11-of-11 first-team snaps through three drives. Davis remains a high-end bench stash entering his second NFL season.

Per ESPN’s Alaina Getzenberg, Cook repeated “‘business’ over and over” when asked why he missed practice and whether or not he would return to the practice field on Monday. It’s possible we have a hold-in brewing between Cook and the Bills as he continues to seek an extension before the start of the season, although Monday’s participation should give us a better sense of what’s going on here. Cook was seen walking the sidelines with a Bills athletic trainer during parts of Sunday’s practice, but with no report of an injury, it’s hard to imagine this being anything other than a contract-related absence. As long as Cook is out, we can expect Ray Davis and Ty Johnson to see more work. Stay tuned for an update on Cook’s practice status come Monday.