Who Should I Start? Kenneth Walker III or James Cook

Monday, January 26, 1:11 PM

Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III blew up for a season-high 116 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns on 19 carries in the Divisional Round win over the San Francisco 49ers last weekend. While Walker didn't have that big of a game in the NFC Championship win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, he did score his fourth rushing touchdown in the last two weeks. The 25-year-old continued to be a catalyst for Seattle's high-scoring offense and finished with 19 carries for the second straight week for 62 yards and the score. He also caught all four of his targets for 49 yards. Walker was the clear workhorse for Seattle -- with no other RB seeing more than three carries -- after Zach Charbonnet's (knee) season-ending tore ACL last week. He'll be the clear workhorse again in the Super Bowl in two weeks against the Patriots.

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.