Joe Brady explains why James Cook didn't get more third-down looks for Bills in 2024

The Buffalo Bills didn't use James Cook on third downs as much as they could have in 2024 and that's something the veteran running back hopes will change in 2025.

Cook played on 48% of Buffalo's snaps last season, but often ceded third-down work to Ty Johnson, who has proven to be effective in that role. Cook's touches were also siphoned off thanks to Ray Davis, who also flashed.

"Get more involved in the pass game, instead of the run game," Cook said. "Just being out there on third downs, that's my job. That's what I'm trying to do. And whatever I can do to help the team win games and contribute, I'm willing to do it."

On Tuesday, offensive coordinator Joe Brady touched on Cook's desire to play more on third downs and explained why that didn't happen as much as Cook wanted last season.

"It's a unique process because we have such a talented running back room with similar skill sets, but also guys that can both play in the run game and the pass game," Brady said. "And that's what has been so cool. We don't have a room that 'hey, this guy can only run these runs, this guy can only do protection, this guy can only run routes.' And so that allows us to be able to kind of do different things with them.

"A guy like James Cook not playing on third down last year doesn't have anything to do with his ability in the pass game or him not being able to handle the protections," Brady added. "Some of that is, well, we have these guys up, Ty did a great job on it, why take a couple more blows in protection when Ty can kind of handle it."

"He wants to be on third down, he wants to be running the ball inside the red zone, he wants to do whatever he's got to do and we've just been fortunate with the type of guys we have in that room that we can play them all on third down, we can play them all on first down," he concluded.

According to Pro Football Focus, Cook had a pass-blocking grade of 59.5 last season, which isn't great but was actually superior to those of both Davis (23.1) and Johnson (31.9).