It has been a rough start to the football season for the Cincinnati Bengals, including the loss of “Burrowhead.” But Tee Higgins returned to practice Thursday, and fantasy owners of Chase Brown were given hope from the Bengals offensive coordinator.
Dan Pitcher said Brown’s lack of usage won’t be commonplace moving forward, according to a post on X by ESPN’s Ben Baby.
“Bengals OC Dan Pitcher on the Zack Moss/Chase Brown RB splits: “Any discrepancy you're seeing to this point is unintentional and the product of a small sample size.” Moss had an 80% snap share vs. KC compared to Brown's 20%.”
Bengals RB Chase Brown waiting for chance
Dan Brown of Fantasy Pros said Brown currently doesn't have a place in fantasy lineups.
“Brown is a hold on rosters as a solid handcuff, but he's not playable in fantasy right now. He has only a 20.8% red zone snap rate, so we can't even hold out hope for a random touchdown. His usage has to increase for him to be viable for fantasy lineups.”
Through two games this season, Brown has only seven carries for 42 yards. His receiving numbers are worse with three catches for 12 yards. It’s far from what fantasy managers expected in 2024 from last year’s fifth-round pick.
It’s especially weird considering the comments from Bengals’ quarterback Joe Burrow in the preseason, according to wcpo.com.
“Chase looks great, he’s an explosive guy that can take it to the house at any time,” Burrow said.
But also in the preseason, Pitcher played the generic card about the backfield, according to bengals.com.
“It sounds like a broken record answer, but it's impossible to sit here and plot, ‘We're going to run this run X amount of times,’ ” Pitcher said. “We're going to run this run X amount of times. (And) we're going run this one X amount of times. So much of it is contextual. It's based on opponent (and) it's based on game situation — all of those things.
“What is true is that we do have plenty of variability within our run scheme. Within that view, our run game can take shape in a number of different areas. We certainly have two or three things that we know we have to be good at, and we will be good at and then we'll play off of it.”
But so far this season the Bengals have placed the saddle mostly on Moss’ back. He has 21 attempts along with the vast majority of snap share. He hasn’t done much with it, averaging only 3.7 yards per carry with one touchdown.
The Bengals are trying to reinvent the ground game after the departure of workhorse Joe Mixon.
“A lot of touches left the building when Joe Mixon left,” Pitcher said.
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