Despite the drama around the wide receiver position, the Cincinnati Bengals appear to be in a good spot when they kick off the regular season against the New England Patriots on Sunday.

It doesn’t take long to see that the Bengals are routinely one of the week’s most-picked teams, boast the best odds and are a favorite in keeper leagues.

But that drama just makes the big headlines, as it should. At least as of this writing, the team and Ja’Marr Chase haven’t agreed on an extension, so while the team still hopes that he’ll suit up, he’s said he would be limited even if he does. Another hamstring injury for Tee Higgins has left him “doubtful” on the final injury report, meaning he won’t play.

Even so, Joe Burrow reigns above all when it comes to projections, given the importance of the position.

Coming off the first normal summer of his pro career, bigger and with zero hint of wrist woes that ended 2023 early, Burrow’s working an evolved offense that will go under center more, can use a versatile Zack Moss-Chase Brown combo in the backfield and big targets like Andrei Iosivas and Mike Gesicki through the air.

Questions remain about the defense, primarily because replacing DJ Reader in the middle of the trenches is a near-impossible task. But the communication woes in the secondary that ruined last season appear to be fixed thanks to the return of Vonn Bell and the successful transition to cornerback for Dax Hill.

Despite all this, a huge chunk of the optimism this week for the Bengals stems from the opposition.

Those Patriots just tailspinned out of the Bill Belichick era with a 4-13 mark last year and first-time head coach Jerod Mayor faces one of the league’s most daunting rebuilding overhauls.

Rookie quarterback Drake Maye is a reason for optimism in Foxboro, but the Patriots will start veteran Jacoby Brissett. While reliable, the 31-year-old journeyman is on his fourth team since 2021 and hasn’t thrown more than 12 scores in a season since 2019 and the cast of weapons around him is very much in its developmental stages.

Which is to say the Bengals couldn’t have asked for a better opponent if they need to miss Higgins for a week or have Chase limited. That’s not to say there isn’t an upset risk, but the chances of the usual Week 1 oddities that happen to teams are lessened dramatically for the Bengals by the fact Burrow had a normal summer.

Prediction: Bengals 27, Patriots 17

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