Who Should I Start? James Cook or Emeka Egbuka

Tuesday, January 13, 7:00 PM

After finishing the regular season with an NFL-best 1,621 rushing yards, Buffalo Bills running back James Cook had an underwhelming outing in his first game of the postseason. The 26-year-old was held to just 46 rushing yards on 15 carries and five receiving yards on two catches by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Cook's regular-season track record should afford him the benefit of the doubt from fantasy managers. However, he will face another very difficult run defense in the Divisional round when Buffalo travels to Denver to take on the Broncos. The Broncos defense finished the regular season ranked third in the NFL in yards per carry allowed (3.9) and tied for fourth in rushing touchdowns allowed (11). Additionally, Buffalo's already depleted pass-catching corps lost another two wide receivers in Gabe Davis (knee) and Tyrell Shavers (knee), who both suffered season-ending knee injuries in the Wild Card round. As a result, Denver could be even more geared up to stop Cook and take away the run. Cook remains a high-end running back option, but fantasy managers may want to downgrade expectations heading into the Divisional round.

Friday, January 2, 9:55 AM

Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie wide receiver Emeka Egbuka has fallen off the fantasy radar so quickly as soon as All-Pro Mike Evans returned to the lineup, but also since the return of second-year wideout Jalen McMillan out of Washington. Egbuka has seen his snap share cut almost in half, and over the past three weeks, he has only seen 14 targets and hauled in eight of them for 140 yards. What is most concerning is that he has not been on the field as often, as he has only played 59.3 percent of the snaps over this three-game stretch, and is clearly behind Evans and Chris Godwin in the pecking order, and he and McMillan appear to be splitting snaps as the WR3. Egbuka was off to a blazing start to the season with five touchdowns and 445 yards through the first five games, but he has quickly fallen off the radar and disappointed in the second half of the season with only 485 yards since. At this point, he is still worth a roster spot in most formats, but he can't be trusted to start as anything better than a WR3, and his value is plummeting.