James Cook finishes the 2025 season with 1,621 rushing yards, becoming the first Bills player since O.J. Simpson to win the NFL rushing title. A historic season for Buffalo’s star running back.
James Cook is the NFL’s leading rusher. The fourth year running back clinched the honor during the final week of the 2025 regular season
Entering play on Sunday, Cook was in front of Indianapolis’ Jonathan Taylor by 47 yards and Baltimore’s Derrick Henry by 137.
Against the New York Jets, Cook played two snaps. For his trouble, he finished the game with 15 yards on two carries. That put him to 1,621 on the season.
Taylor finished the Colts’ last game of the season with just 26 yards, failing to pass Cook before he even took the field against the Jets. Henry, on the other hand, played after Cook on Sunday night. To pass Cook, he needed 153 yards, but finished with 126 yards on 20 carries, leaving Cook atop the league rushing leaderboard by just 26 yards when the weekend concluded.
Cook now becomes the first Bill since O.J. Simpson in 1976 to win the NFL’s rushing title. When Simpson did it, he finished the season with 1,503 yards. Cook’s 1,621 yards is the third-highest single season total in franchise history. The only player with a better season was the aforementioned Simpson, who holds the top two spots.
This season, Cook has once again proven himself as not only the Bills’ best offensive weapon but also as one of the best running backs in the NFL. Buffalo was 8-1 in games where Cook ran for over 100 yards. In games where he didn’t, the team was 4-4. One of those games, however, was in Week 18 when he played just two snaps.
A former second round pick out of Georgia, Cook signed a four year, $48 million extension to remain with the Bills in the offseason. Since joining the team in 2022, Cook has rushed for over 1,000 yards in each of the last three seasons. He’s also scored 32 rushing and nine receiving touchdowns.
Of course, the rushing title is a nice feather in the cap for Cook and the Bills, but the real goal now becomes getting the franchise’s first Super Bowl. Buffalo heads to Jacksonville for a Wild Card game against the Jaguars on Sunday, January 11 at 1pm ET.