James Cook vs Amon-Ra St. Brown

“Check out all of Fitz’s top fantasy football draft picks to target >> James Cook (BUF) James Cook led the NFL in rushing yards in 2025 (1,621).”

“James Cook (RB – BUF) has already shown flashes of every skill needed to be the overall RB1: a big receiving season, an 18-touchdown season, and a 1,600-yard rushing season, just never all in the same year.”

“Repeat Seasons It should be more of the same for James Cook and Chase Brown , who saw little change in their offenses this offseason.”

“31 10 21 James Cook 13 5 8 Josh Jacobs 7 15 -8 Saquon Barkley 2 13 -11 Bucky Irving 10 33 -23 In past years, so many top RBs have gotten hurt that the Zero (or hero) RB draft strategies have become popular.”

“I recently gushed about James Cook and Ray Davis as players to target at Underdog at their ADPs .”

“James Cook was picked as the best value on the board at 11th overall, priced almost entirely off last year’s production rather than his upside. The case for a top-three running back season rests on four pillars, and Cook checks every one.”

“James Cook was a no-brainer pick, and it came down to Derrick Henry and Ashton Jeanty for the RB2 slot.”

“The Bills put their money where their mouth is by giving James Cook a ton of money, then followed that up with a bunch of touches (349, to be exact), and brought the rushing title back to Buffalo. James Cook led the NFL in 2025 with 11 games of 80+ rushing yards.”

“Well, so much for all of the regression talk about James Cook last year. Cook crushed all of the haters, improving his stock as the RB6 in fantasy points per game. He led the NFL in rushing yards (1,621) while finishing third in rushing attempts and sixth in rushing touchdowns (tied).”

“James Cook is expected to be more involved in the passing game under new offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael, whose running backs have been heavily involved in the passing attack throughout his coaching history. Cook had a career-high 309 rush attempts in the regular season en route to the NFL rushing title last season, and shifting some of his carries into targets could be a wise move given his excellent receiving skills demonstrated at the NFL level.”

“Unlike Saquon Barkley, who also plays with a quarterback used heavily near the end zone, the Bills do mix in Cook near the end zone, instead of strictly relying on Josh Allen moving the pile. Cook had 14 rushing attempts inside the 5-yard line in 2025 (tied for 8th in the NFL) with 6 touchdowns on those runs.”

“Cook got a new contract last offseason, which was well-earned on the field. He had the best season of his early career, setting career highs in rushing attempts (309), rushing yards (1,621), touches (342), and yards from scrimmage (1,912) to go along with 14 touchdowns.”

“St. Brown is arguably in the most stable offensive environment in the NFL. He plays 12 games indoors, and Detroit rarely takes the foot off the gas offensively.”

“St. Brown caught 117 receptions for 1,401 yards, and 11 TD’s. The wide receiver for the Lions has played at least 16 games or more in five seasons. Not only are we getting a player that can average 20 or more each week, the reliability is there as well.”

“Amon-Ra St. Brown Wide receivers to clear 3.00 yards per route run against both man and zone since 2016:”

“Brown (WR – DET) To kick things off, I took Amon-Ra St. Brown”

“The Detroit Lions are an interesting case, because everyone is pretty much where they should be: Jahmyr Gibbs is a top-two pick, Amon-Ra St. Brown is a fringe first-rounder, Jameson Williams is a WR2, and Sam LaPorta is a backend TE1 (and Jared Goff goes too late).”

“Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown was voted as the fifth-best receiver in the NFL in a poll by execs and coaches around the league: “Savvy, knack for getting open, plays faster than his timed speed,” an NFL coordinator said.”

“Amon-Ra St. Brown is consistently viewed as a tier above Puka Nacua, Ja'Marr Chase and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. In half-PPR formats, St. Brown has finished as the WR3 for three consecutive seasons.”

“Amon-Ra St. Brown continued his remarkable consistency in 2025, finishing as a top-3 fantasy WR for the third straight season. The Lions star once again dominated high-value usage, leading the NFL in red-zone targets. Even with Detroit transitioning to a new offensive coordinator in 2026, St. Brown's elite target share and reliable weekly production give him one of the safest floor/ceiling combos at the position.”

“Despite losing their offensive genius in Ben Johnson, Amon-Ra St. Brown still finished with 115+ receptions, 1,200+ receiving yards and 10+ touchdowns for the third straight year. Only Ja'Marr Chase (185) had more targets than St. Brown (172) in 2025.”

“St. Brown has been a paragon of consistency.”

“There might not be a safer wide receiver to draft in fantasy football than St. Brown. The superstar has four straight top-seven finishes, including three consecutive WR3 finishes, and averaged 19.1 PPR fantasy points per game last year, scoring 14.8 or more in over 70% of the outings.”

“Perhaps the ceiling gets capped slightly if Jameson Williams trends upwards and Sam LaPorta is healthier, but the Lions were bad last season, and the most important thing is that they might have a competent play-caller once again in Drew Petzing. The team has said they want to lean into what Jared Goff does best by using play-action passes heavily. That would be a bonus for St. Brown, who has consistently led the team in first-read target share on such plays.”