Running Back · Buffalo Bills

James Cook

No. 4 · 5th season

The Bills haven't had a rushing champion since Gerald Ford was president

Forty-eight years is a long time to wait for anything. For Buffalo, it was the length of time between one running back winning the NFL rushing title and the next one doing it.

James Cook ended that wait last season. He led every ball carrier in the league in rushing yards, putting his name in a category that had been empty for the Bills since 1976 — the same year the team's current starting quarterback had not yet been born.

For Cook, it caps a rise that has been quiet and then suddenly loud. He was not handed a featured role; he built into one. Now he is, by the only measure that counts the whole season, the best rusher in football.

That number — 1976 — does more than mark a gap. It tells you what kind of moment this actually is. For a franchise and a fanbase that has spent decades looking for a ground game to believe in, Cook just gave them one.

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