Bills' James Cook: Likely to sit third on depth chart

Cook is expected to head into the Bills' Week 9 game against the Jets as the team's third running back after Buffalo acquired Nyheim Hines from Indianapolis on Tuesday, Michael Giardi of NFL Network reports.

Fresh off carrying five times for 35 yards while adding a 41-yard reception in Sunday's win over the Packers, Cook might have seemed poised to handle a larger role in the second half of the season behind top back Devin Singletary. Instead, the Bills' decision to trade for Hines looks like it'll render Cook as little more than an insurance option, given that Hines has been one of the NFL's top pass-catching backs since entering the NFL in 2018. Singletary is averaging a healthy 4.5 yards per carry on the season and hasn't done anything to change his standing as the Bills' preferred option on early downs, so it'll likely take an absence from him before Cook picks up more extensive work outside of a garbage-time scenario. It's possible Cook even finds himself on the inactive list this weekend, given that the fourth running back on the roster, Taiwan Jones, is a core special-teams contributor who dresses for every game.