Ty

Johnson

Johnson will return to the Bills and likely serve as the top backup tailback for Buffalo behind stalwart James Cook while seeing playing time on third down. Johnson would offer some decent upside if he were to replace Cook but isn’t likely to see enough touches to help fantasy players in 2025.

Evans has bounced around the league as of late, most recently playing for the Bears. He appeared in five games, rushing three times for three yards. This isn’t Evans’ first stint with the Bills. It isn’t even his second. He spent training camp in Buffalo in 2023 and was with the team for the entire offseason last year before they placed him on injured reserve ahead of Week 1. He was cut later in the season. Evans’ return could mean the end of pass-catching specialist Ty Johnson. The two have similar skill sets and Johnson is an impending free agent.

He added one catch for no yards. Johnson will always have the ridiculous back-of-end-zone catch against the Broncos in the Wild Card Round to hold closely, but was a non-factor fantasy wise in the final two playoff games. Johnson hits free agency this offseason and would be a passable third-down back for another season in Buffalo should they wish to retain him. It likely depends on how the Bills feel about the work Ray Davis and James Cook have shown on passing downs this season. Johnson’s snap counts (30 of 73 in this game, 400 on the season) tells the tale that he’ll return.

Johnson remains entrenched as a change-of-pace player, taking snaps all game long. He picked up an eight-yard gain on the fourth play from scrimmage and later sealed the game via a 17-yard run with one minute and 32 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. The fact that Bills coaches entrusted Johnson with the latter opportunity speaks volumes about his current role on the team. Expect Johnson to make the most of his limited workload against the Chiefs in the AFC Championship.

Davis was limited in all three practices this week. He remains in the league’s concussion protocol but has a chance to clear it over the weekend. If he doesn’t, Ty Johnson, who is already operating as the team’s top back on passing downs, could see more work as the clear backup to James Cook. Davis is the only player with a game status for the Bills.

Johnson made the play of the day with a gravity-defying, 24-yard touchdown grab in the back of the end zone. Although he was lucky he was initially ruled in instead of out of bounds, it was still an amazing play. With Ray Davis suffering a third quarter concussion, Johnson could end up James Cook’s early-down backup for the Divisional Round instead of just his typical third-down role.

From Week 10 on, these are the Davis rushing lines: 3/6, 5/11, 11/63, no carries, 7/15, 5/12, 6/9. While Davis has maintained a consistent snap share, we haven’t exactly seen evidence of an impending blowup game in Week 18 if James Cook sits. Ty Johnson is the main Bills passing downs back and outsnapped Davis 21-16 despite Buffalo’s 40-0 lead. Davis will be an intriguing start against the Patriots regardless if Cook takes a breather, but he might be more of a committee lead than a full-on three-down back.

Johnson hogged 11-of-14 positional passing down snaps, accounting for 39.7 percent of his team-high 38 offensive snaps total. The Bills found themselves down 14-0 just one minute into the second quarter, which thrust the pass-catching specialist, Johnson, into a featured role. Unfortunately for fantasy managers, he aggravatingly finished the day without a catch. He is unlikely to receive another high-volume snap count when the Bills take on the lowly Jets next week.

The Bills looked like they knew they were getting into a shootout from the start, using Johnson in pass-first sets out of the backfield on the first drive. Johnson made two huge catches on that first drive, including a sliding third-down conversion that put the Bills’ on the Lions’ 11-yard-line. Johnson later hauled in a huge 31-yard completion from Josh Allen and was a mismatch against the Lions’ linebackers all afternoon. The 27-year-old is a dynamic threat out of the backfield, but he’s the clear third option in the running game, which means next week against the Patriots might not be the best gamescript for him.

The Bills were in catch-up mode early on in this game which meant more work for Johnson than we’re used to seeing. The 27-year-old answered the bell when called on, including a beautiful 41-yard touchdown reception on a misdirection screen in the second quarter. With the Bills figuring to be in another shootout next week against the Lions, it’s possible that Johnson could be a factor in the gameplan again; however, he remains hard to roster outside of the deepest formats.