For full player rankings (redraft/dynasty), eight printable cheat sheets, season projections, player analytics, and much more, join Fantasy Consigliere today. And if you find these write-ups helpful, we would recommend purchasing our 2024 fantasy football draft guide on Amazon to get our full thoughts and rankings all in one place—if you are on the fence, check out the free sample before purchasing.
QB Joe Burrow:Burrow is coming off a season that ended a week before Thanksgiving due to a freak wrist injury, but he’ll be determined to have a big year in 2024—and it seems like Tee Higgins will remain in Cincinnati on the franchise tag. Either way, the depth is at least improved for the Bengals, and the offensive line added another couple of monsters in Trent Brown and first-rounder Amarius Mims with one of them set to bookend left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. Also, the team moving on from Joe Mixon should have them ready to again throw it at a high clip, so Burrow is a midrange QB1 that could easily finish as a top-five option.
QB Jake Browning:Browning was very effective in place of Burrow last season with a 17-game pace of 4,537 passing yards and a 27:17 touchdown-interception ratio, and he also won games—going 4-3 versus a challenging schedule. The weaponry for the Bengals would make him a definite QB2 option if Burrow were to miss time again.
RB Zack Moss:Joe Mixon was extremely productive as the lead back for Cincinnati over the past several years, and Moss is the clear favorite to take over a large chunk of the early-down work for what should be one of the NFL’s best offenses. We’ll see how much of a role Chase Brown has, but Moss can also contribute in the passing game, so he’s an ideal mid-round FLEX option a year after averaging 14.0 fantasy points per game when given double-digit touches for the Colts in 2023 (ten games).
RB Chase Brown:The production eventually cooled off with Joe Mixon ahead of him, but Brown showed flashes of his potential as a rookie late last year with nine carries for 61 yards in his first extended action to beat the Jaguars on a Monday night, and then followed it up with a 54-yard receiving touchdown the following week. Earning most of the receiving work is the best shot of Brown having consistent fantasy value as a potential “super” change-of-pace option for the remade backfield.
RBs Trayveon Williams and Chris Evans:There is also a scenario where the Bengals go with a full-blown committee with Williams or Evans getting a chunk of the snaps on passing downs—but it would be a surprise if it led to reliable fantasy value with Zack Moss and Chase Brown locked in as the primary duo. Last year, Williams for touches with 15 carries for 69 yards (4.6 YPC) on the season, and Evans has combined for just six touches over the past two seasons.
WR Ja’Marr Chase:Chase started slow in 2023 and expressed his frustration, but a five-game stretch after that—and before Joe Burrow went down—resulted in 20.6 fantasy points per game to show his superstar WR1 upside. Ideally, the chunk plays will jump back to 2021 levels (18.0 yards per reception) while seeing heavy targets with or without Tee Higgins in the lineup, and the Bengals could be more pass-happy than ever this season to boost his value. One thing to note is the brutal end-of-season stretch with matchups versus Joey Porter Jr., Trevon Diggs, L’Jarius Sneed, Denzel Ward, and Patrick Surtain II in December.
WR Tee Higgins:Missed games and early exits due to injury only compounded a lower floor than you’d like for a player of Higgins’ caliber last year, but he’s now seeking a new contract and is set to play on the franchise tag in his age-25 season, which should provide some added motivation to produce. While the ceiling with Joe Burrow back is very high in any given week, Higgins had games with 0.0, 2.4, 2.9, 3.0, and 3.1 fantasy points among his 12 appearances in 2023, so the contract uncertainty and inconsistency makes him more of an upside FLEX than WR2.
WR Jermaine Burton:A big-play weapon for both Georgia and Alabama in his college career, Burton had serious character concerns that put his draft stock in flux—but the Bengals took him in the third round to replace Tyler Boyd between Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. If he can hold off Charlie Jones and Andrei Iosivas for the No. 3 role (or Higgins is traded), Burton has plenty of ability with a prototype build, impressive athleticism, and strong ball skills.
WR Charlie Jones:The selection of Burton complicates things, but Jones is someone we thought was a natural replacement in the slot for Tyler Boyd when Cincinnati took him in the fourth round last year. As a rookie, Jones made his biggest impact as a punt returner with an 81-yard score in his second career game, and he has underrated big-play ability as a receiver if he’s able to earn a role.
WR Andrei Iosvias:Iosivas will also be pushing for snaps this year, and he impressed in scoring territory as a rookie with touchdowns from two, three, three, and seven yards out—finding the end zone on four of his 15 receptions. At six-foot-three, Iosivas is an excellent athlete that would see his stock increase if Tee Higgins gets traded or has an extended holdout.
WR Trenton Irwin:Irwin held off Jones and Iosivas for snaps last season, and he’s proven to have the trust of Joe Burrow when called upon. Catching passes from both Burrow and Jake Browning last season, Irwin was very efficient with 25 receptions (on 32 targets) for 316 yards and a touchdown, so staying ahead of the younger options on the depth chart is possible.
TE Mike Gesicki:Gesicki has struggled to produce with a combined 61 receptions for 606 yards and seven touchdowns over the past two seasons, but he had back-to-back campaigns with 700+ yards before that—and now lands with a high-powered Cincinnati passing attack. While there might be a battle with Tanner Hudson after the incumbent showed very well in 2023, Gesicki’s upside gives him the edge, and Joe Burrow talked up his catch radius and explosiveness this offseason to boost his outlook as an upside TE2.
TE Tanner Hudson:Hudson will be looking to build on a breakthrough season in which he caught 39 passes for 352 yards and one touchdown, but Cincinnati signed Mike Gesicki to be the starter—and they also drafted a couple of rookies that could push for playing time. That leaves the soon-to-be 30-year-old with a low floor after he bounce around for a few years before 2023, so the position will be one to watch this summer.
TEs Erick All Jr. and Tanner McLachlan:All is coming off a season-ending knee injury in his lone year at Iowa and had missed a ton of games in four years with Michigan before that—but Cincinnati drafted him early in the fourth round based on the upside, and then followed it up by taking McLachlan in Round 6 as somewhat of an insurance policy. Consider both dynasty stashes and names to watch for 2025.
Best IDP value: CB Cam Taylor-Britt
Missing seven games as a rookie and five games last year has Taylor Britt extremely undervalued as a top cornerback—but he’s a star-caliber player that continues to gain confidence in coverage, is able to take the ball away (four interceptions last season), and will show no hesitation as a tackler. In a versatile secondary, Taylor-Britt is a staple on the outside and should be a household name soon enough.
Stat to know (via draft guide)
Over the past seven years, Joe Mixon had a 17-game average of 325 touches, 1,499 total yards, and 11 total touchdowns for the Bengals.
