James Cook is the 2025 NFL rushing leader

The Buffalo Bills haven’t had an NFL rushing leader since O.J. Simpson in 1976, but James Cook squeaked it out. Cook took the 2025 rushing yardage lead over the Indianapolis Colts’ Jonathan Taylor in Week 16 and did not relinquish it the rest of the way.

Cook entered Week 18 with 1606 yards followed by Taylor at 1559 and Derrick Henry back at 1469.

Advertisement

Taylor gained just 26 yards to finish the season at 1585 yards.

Cook added 15 yards before being pulled from the game to finish his year at 1621 yards. It turned out to be just enough.

Cook was 152 yards ahead of Henry prior to the Ravens’ kickoff. Henry was rolling in the first half against the Pittsburgh Steelers, logging more than 100 yards. But in the second half, he cooled off. He finished with 126 yards to end the season at 1595, just 26 yards behind Cook.

Buffalo kept Cook in the contest for the final game of the 2024 season in order for him to pass O.J. Simpson for the most rushing touchdowns in a single season in team history, but they took him out of this game after just two runs.

Advertisement

There is no financial incentive for Cook to win the rushing title. While Josh Allen earned a $1 million bonus for being MVP in 2024, Cook’s bonuses are tied to playing time and team performance.

His offensive lineman were ready to stay in the game to pave the way for history.

“That’s one of the main things for our offense right now,” Bills right guard O’Cyrus Torrence told The Athletic this week. “As an offensive lineman, to block for an MVP quarterback and a rushing champion in back-to-back seasons? That’s nice. That’s what we’re playing for in this last game.”

Right tackle Spencer Brown agreed:

Advertisement

“Outside of the Super Bowl, the one thing you could tell your kids as an offensive lineman: ‘Back in ’25, we blocked for the rushing champ.’”

Cook has the most rushing yards by a Bills running back since 1975 when Simpson rushed for 1817 yards. Simpson’s team record was 2003 yards in 1973. Cook is going to finish with the third-best rushing season in team history in terms of total yards and likely fourth in yards per game behind Simpson in 1973, 1975, and 1976 when they played 14 games. Cookie Gilchrist led the AFL in rushing twice.

For those of you asking, Thurman Thomas never led the league in rushing yards. He led the league in scrimmage yards for four consecutive seasons from 1989 to 1992 and that number includes both rushing and receiving yards. Thomas finished just seven yards behind Barry Sanders in 1990.