Who Should I Start? Ray Davis or Brashard Smith

Thursday, March 19, 8:35 PM

Buffalo Bills running back Ray Davis is one of the most appealing handcuffs in fantasy football. Not only does he play for a highly productive offense, but he runs behind one of the game's highest-scoring running backs. However, managers who invested in Davis' upside as a handcuff have been forced to exercise extreme patience. We haven't yet seen him step into the lead-back role for an extended period of time, as James Cook has missed just one game throughout his four-year NFL career. It's not like Davis has standalone value when Cook is healthy, so he and his managers continue to just wait for an opportunity. The 26-year-old ended up finishing 2025 with just 275 rushing yards, 86 receiving yards, and a pair of touchdowns, ranking as the RB61 in PPR leagues. Now, he's halfway through his rookie contract but remains in a familiar position. He's buried in the backup role as long as Cook is healthy. The best course of action for fantasy managers is to buy Davis for cheap if you also have Cook on your roster. He offers more value to you as a handcuff than to other managers as a mere bench piece, so you can justify trading a late-round pick for him. If you don't have Cook, though, it doesn't make much sense just to trade for Davis in hopes that he maybe has an unforeseen breakout game here and there.