After wholly underwhelming in Buffalo, N.Y., Zack Moss revitalized his career with the Indianapolis Colts. He now gets a chance to replace Joe Mixon as the Cincinnati Bengals‘ lead back. Should fantasy football managers make drafting Moss a priority?
Zack Moss’ 2024 Fantasy Outlook
What a career turnaround it’s been for Moss. After playing his way out of a job with the Bills, Moss latched on with the Colts as mere roster depth. Injuries to Jonathan Taylor and other Colts RBs resulted in Moss getting another chance.
To his credit, Moss did not look like the same player. The Moss we saw in Buffalo was not an NFL-caliber running back. The Moss we saw in Indianapolis is obviously not the best running back in the league, but he was certainly good enough to be a lead back last season.
Zack Moss practically dragged the defender with him into the end zone
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Moss averaged a very respectable 4.7 yards per touch and proved capable of handling significant volume when necessary. In six games as the Colts’ lead back with Taylor out, Moss averaged 14.0 fantasy points per game. And that doesn’t include his 33.5-point effort in Taylor’s first game back in Week 5 when Moss was still the primary back.
What’s great about Moss’ profile is that he can get it done in the passing game if needed. He only saw an 8.2% target share last year, but that’s actually impressive when you consider he only had six games where he played more than 50% of the snaps.
Right now, the only two relevant running backs on the Bengals roster are Moss and 2023 fifth-rounder Chase Brown. The latter made a bit of a splash in limited action late last season but was never really a threat to Mixon’s workload.
Given what we’ve seen from Mixon over the past couple of years, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Moss can do the same thing. To be clear, I’m not suggesting Moss is as talented as Mixon. However, Mixon wasn’t exactly the pinnacle of efficiency. Yet, he averaged 15.7 fantasy points per game last season, finishing as the overall RB11.
Mixon averaged 4.0 yards per carry, saw a 10.8% target share, and was outside the top 30-35 in most efficiency metrics. He was pretty much just a guy who ate volume. Efficiency-wise, Moss doesn’t look much different.
Should You Draft Moss in 2024 Best Ball Leagues?
My first-ever article for PFN back in 2021 was inspired by my desire to make sure no one wasted a mid-round pick on Moss that season. Yet, here we are three years later, and not only am I OK with drafting Moss, but I am actively targeting him.
It’s still very early. There may very well be a presumption the Bengals are drafting a running back on Day 2. If that happens, it will undoubtedly have a negative impact on Moss’ fantasy value, but I’m neither convinced that will happen nor certain the back they’d draft would be any good. Moss is very likely going to enter the season as the lead back.
KEEP READING: Best Ball Fantasy RB Rankings 2024
Moss gets to play on an offense that features Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins. Mixon scored 12 touchdowns in this offense last season.
If Moss doesn’t do anything more than he did last season but adds five touchdowns, he would average around 14 fantasy points per game. Every fantasy manager in the world would sign on for 13, or even 12, fantasy points per game from a guy being drafted as a low RB3. Moss sure looks like one of the best bargains in Best Ball drafts right now.
