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James Cook injury: status, history and who gets his targets if he is out

Buffalo Bills · Running back · status this week: on bye in week 7, no game this week

Checked Oct 21, 2026.

Over his 4 full seasons on record, James Cook played 66 of 67 regular-season games (99%), and 6 of 6 so far in 2026. Season by season.

Injury history

Over his 4 full seasons on record, James Cook played 66 of 67 regular-season games (99%), and 6 of 6 so far in 2026.

Regular season only. Games played counts games with at least one offensive snap; designations are from the official weekly injury report, which does not list players on injured reserve, so a long absence shows as missed games rather than as weeks listed out.

What the data says happens

Measured across every regular-season game from 2018 onward, each beneficiary compared against his own trailing four-game form and net of what the same players do in weeks the room’s number one actually plays.

When a team’s number-one running back does not play, what each position group gains:

The room total is predictable. Which player takes it is not. Every candidate predictor of who gains — pecking order, snap share, route depth, trailing targets — correlates at roughly r = 0.02. In any single week one player usually takes about 60% of what was vacated; it is simply not predictably the same one.

Cascade effects 2018–2026, paired within player, net of control · projections as-of-week with no lookahead · 2026 week 7