Tag: Zack Moss Cincinnati Bengals

Fantasy football: Cincinnati Bengals running back breakdown

What does life after Joe Mixon look like in Cincy?

For most of the last seven seasons, the Cincinnati Bengals‘ rushing attack has gone through running back Joe Mixon, who averaged 1,331 combined yards and 9.7 touchdowns during his six full years on the job — 2020 was omitted since he played just six games. Cincy decided it was time to turn the page during the offseason, however, shipping Mixon off to the Houston Texans for a seventh-round pick.

That move came shortly after the Bengals agreed to a two-year, $8 million contract with free-agent RB Zack Moss, who was immediately penciled into the lead role in Cincinnati’s backfield. Beyond that, the club will be relying on low-usage RBs Chase Brown, Trayveon Williams, and Chris Evans, all of whom were on the roster in 2023.

While Mixon was the bell cow during his time in the Queen City, that doesn’t mean we should expect Moss to simply step into that role. With that in mind, let’s take an early look at how Cincinnati’s running back room will look in the upcoming season.

Fantasy Football Fallout: Bengals to replace Joe Mixon with Zack Moss

There’s a changing of the guard in Cincinnati’s backfield.

Longtime Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon will be released and replaced by free-agent RB Zack Moss, helping the team get younger and the books get lighter.

3/12 update: Mixon was traded to the Houston Texans instead of being released.

Mixon has become mostly a plodder the past few seasons, though the seven-year pro has developed a nose for the end zone as his career has chugged along. In the first four years, he found paydirt 25 total times but has posted 37 scores in the past three campaigns. The ascension of Joe Burrow hasn’t hurt his cause, preventing defenses from fully selling out in the red zone. An adept receiver and quality blocker, Mixon should pick up in Houston where he left off, despite entering his age-28 season.

[lawrence-related id=487538]

As for Moss, he split time early in his career with Buffalo before being sent to the Indianapolis Colts a couple of years back. He filled in admirably for Jonathan Taylor last year, generating 466 rushing yards, 576 total yards, and five offensive TDs between Week 2 and Week 6. He remained involved upon Taylor’s return until seeing his workload significantly decrease before fracturing his forearm late in the year.

Moss has enough talent to be a three-down option, though it’s likely Cincinnati works in Chase Brown to enough of a degree that this might even devolve into a full-on committee.

Fantasy football outlook

It’s simply too early to make a definitive fantasy claim as to Moss’ value, but he has a prime opportunity to finish in the neighborhood of RB10 to RB15 with a similar workload to what Mixon has offered in recent years. He’s not the same quality pass catcher, but Moss isn’t the worst receiver out of the backfield, either.

We’ll do a deep dive on this situation following the NFL draft. In the meantime, Moss’ dynasty worth is trending upward, and all gamers should be optimistic about his upcoming season.