Cincinnati Bengals running back Chase Brown’s role has gradually increased as of late, and he has scored three touchdowns over the last two weeks.
However, he recently popped up on the Bengals’ injury report. What happened to Brown, and will he play in Week 6 when the Bengals face the New York Giants?
The Latest on Chase Brown’s Injury
Brown was added to the injury report on Thursday with a quad injury after not being listed on Wednesday’s report. He was limited again in practice on Friday.
While Brown is technically listed as questionable, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said the second-year running back will play in Week 6.
Brown has been out-snapped by Zack Moss in every game this season, but it’s been closer to a 63-37 split in snaps the last two weeks after Moss enjoyed a roughly 75-25 split the first three weeks.
While it initially seemed like Moss was banged up due to an ankle injury and Brown might have an increased role, Moss isn’t carrying an injury designation into Sunday Night Football against the Giants.
Fantasy Outlook for Chase Brown and Zack Moss
This season, Brown has 230 rushing yards to Moss’ 211, and he has 39 receiving yards to Moss’ 19 (despite having 16 fewer carries and three fewer targets). And even though Moss has three times as many red-zone touches, they have both scored three touchdowns.
As Jacob Gibbs of CBS Sports recently pointed out, Brown’s 51.2% rush success rate currently ranks second among running backs with at least 40 rushes. Meanwhile, Moss’ 32% rush success rate ranks 25th out of 34 qualified running backs.
Among running backs with 40+ rushes, only David Montgomery has a higher rush success rate than Brown.
Chase Brown has been much more than a boom-bust RB in Year 2. He is averaging 5.6 yards per rush with a long of just 20. pic.twitter.com/B6TxQxxFk2
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) October 7, 2024
Brown has 32 touches and three scores over the past two weeks in an effort to earn more work (Weeks 1-3: 19 touches). Like Moss, he’s shown viable levels of versatility with multiple catches in four of five games, but the Bengals refuse to put two backs on the field at once.
MORE: Chase Brown Fantasy Hub: Projections, Start/Sit Analysis, Trade Advice
That means Brown was on the field for just 32.3% of snaps last week and in a pass-centric attack, that’s not enough playing time to earn a starting grade. You should keep him rostered because he has made his presence known but don’t jump the gun and insert him into lineups just yet.
Moss has at least three catches in three straight games and has a 12+ yard rush in all five weeks. The role in the passing game is likely to stick if for no other reason than this team seems resigned to their fate as a need-to-score-in-bunches-to-keep-up team (third in pass rate over expectation).
There is the potential for the game script to work in the favor of Moss, and that is what could elevate him from ordinary Flex to extraordinary RB2 as the Giants allow the most yards per carry after contact to running backs this season
Brown is nipping at his heels, but Moss was on the field for 67.7% of snaps last weekend and that role should be enough to justify starting him in all formats in this spot.