Who Should I Start? James Cook or Kaleb Johnson

Saturday, November 8, 11:51 AM

Buffalo Bills running back James Cook has been removed from the injury report and will play Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, presumably without any limitations. This is great news for Cook and his fantasy managers, as a matchup against the Dolphins provides an enormous opportunity for the 26-year-old to rack up fantasy points. Miami has been miserable against the run this year, surrendering the third-most rushing yards and fifth-most fantasy points to opposing running backs in 2025. Cook is the overall RB7 in PPR leagues so far with 867 rushing yards, 100 receiving yards, and seven touchdowns. In his last outing against Miami, he accrued 118 scrimmage yards and one touchdown. Fantasy managers should have full confidence deploying Cook as a mid-to-high RB1 this week.

Friday, November 7, 7:59 PM

Pittsburgh Steelers rookie running back Kaleb Johnson was going as a late-round flier with upside in fantasy drafts this fall, but he was quickly sent to the waiver wire. The 22-year-old third-rounder out of Iowa has been a distant third on Pittsburgh's RB depth chart behind Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell this year, and he didn't help himself with a costly special-teams blunder early in the season. So far through his first five NFL games, Johnson has handled only 15 rushing attempts for 40 yards (2.7 yards per carry) while catching one of his two targets for nine yards. He played five offensive snaps in last week's win over the Indianapolis Colts, which was actually an improvement after not playing at all the previous two games. It will take an injury to Warren or Gainwell for Johnson to get more involved, which means he's only stash-worthy in fantasy football in dynasty/keeper leagues.