Who Should I Start? James Cook or Robbie Ouzts

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.

Sunday, May 4, 1:08 PM

The Seattle Seahawks are converting rookie fifth-round tight end Robbie Ouzts to a 274-pound fullback as part of their vision for a more physical running game under new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, according to ESPN's Brady Henderson. Ouzts will be competing with Brady Russell, who is also making the transition from tight end to fullback this offseason. He worked mostly as a blocker during his four-year college career at Alabama, so it should be a pretty natural transition for Ouzts in Seattle. Ouzts obviously won't be on the fantasy radar at all as a blocker if he's on the field regularly, but this news is good news for the Seahawks' ground attack and starting running back Kenneth Walker III and backup Zach Charbonnet. In 17 games last year, Seattle averaged just 95.7 rushing yards per game, which ranked as the fifth-fewest in the NFL.