Plot twist: The Bengals are now trading Joe Mixon to the Texans, rather than releasing him. So Zack Moss signs in Cincy, Mixon is traded to Houston. From Joe Burrow to C.J. Stroud.

Related Players: Dameon Pierce

Dameon Pierce has been woefully inefficient with his touches during his first two seasons in Houston, which led to Devin Singletary snatching his job away from him last year. He is unlikely to get in the way of Mixon taking over the majority of the workload. This is a best-possible-scenario for Mixon after leaving the Bengals and brings him right back into fantasy relevance as a pass-catcher on a great offense.

It's the end of an era in Cincinnati, where Joe Mixon spent seven seasons, ran for 49 touchdowns, and was part of a Super Bowl team. Now, both sides move on, with Zack Moss joining the Bengals and Mixon headed to free agency.

Related Players: Chase Brown

The Bengals looked like they would prefer a committee approach towards the end of last season, and that's likely what is going to happen heading into 2024, with Moss operating as the main piece. He won't have the upside of Mixon because of that usage, but he should still be considered a top-25 option, with Brown a little bit behind that.

The Bengals have cleared RB Chase Brown to practice by designating him for return from IR.

They also signed QB Drew Plitt to the practice squad and placed OL Jaxson Kirkland on the Practice Squad Injured list.

Related players: Joe Mixon, Trayveon Williams, Chris Evans, Chase Brown

While normally this may not be all that important of a story in terms of fantasy, the Bengals sit at 5-5 and just lost franchise QB Joe Burrow for the remainder of the season. It's possible the Bengals see what they have in some of their younger players, and this could be especially be true at the RB position where the team has some youth behind Mixon - who is 27 but getting up there in age in terms of RBs. Brown may be worth a stash in deeper leagues.

Joe Mixon’s aggravated menacing case came back not guilty and the Bengals declared they are “pleased that this matter is now behind everyone.” The path now clears for his role as the starter on early downs with rookie Chase Brown behind him. The story of the third-down job has been dominated by the rise of Chris Evans. He’s shown well in pass protection and improved running the ball downhill over last year’s disappointing preseason to become the frontrunner with Trayveon Williams (ankle) sidelined.

Williams seemed to be the favorite to land the passing down job but his injury has allowed Evans to thrive. The story added that outside of one big run, neither Evans or Brown were able to pick up much ground running the ball in the preseason so far. It seems like Brown will backup Mixon for early down work.

Bengals running back Joe Mixon was found not guilty of aggravated menacing and will return to practice. There will very likely be no punishment from the NFL.

Related Players: Trayveon Williams, Chase Brown, Chris Evans

It seems the most likely scenario is that no suspension will be handed down from the NFL. The Cincinnati backfield will be Mixon's for a mostly-workhorse role, with former sixth-round pick Trayveon Williams the mostly likely No. 2.

The Bengals and RB Joe Mixon are finalizing a restructured contract that will keep him in Cincinnati for the 2023 season. Mixon was due $10.1 million this season with a $12.791M cap number. The new deal frees up cash and cap for Cincinnati, and Mixon stays as RB1.

Related Players: Trayveon Williams, Chase Brown, Chris Evans

Congratulations to those who stayed the course this offseason and selected Mixon when he dropped consistently into the sixth round in drafts. Mixon should be considered a high-upside RB2 for the 2023 season.

Joe Mixon's role was slightly reduced in his return from a two-game absence.

Related players: Samaje Perine

Mixon registered a season-low snap share (58%) outside of Week 11 when he suffered a concussion. McFarland went on to tweet, "it could be nothing, but there is a chance Perine earned a few extra opportunities." The Bengals could have just been easing Mixon back into form, but the more likely reason seems to be Perine was pretty good when he took over for Mixon as the lead back and the Bengals want to get him more involved.

Bengals RB Joe Mixon (concussion) and WR Tee Higgins (hamstring) are off the injury report and good to go Sunday against the Browns. TE Hayden Hurst (calf) is out.

Related Players: Samaje Perine

The RB1 Samaje Perine weeks are over for now, but Cincinnati is faced with a fantastic matchup against Cleveland this week. Both he and Mixon are fantasy viable in Week 14.

Bengals RB Joe Mixon (concussion) and WR Tee Higgins (hamstring) are off the injury report and good to go Sunday against the Browns. TE Hayden Hurst (calf) is out.

Related Players: Ja'Marr Chase, Tyler Boyd

Higgins can safely be fired up as a WR2 option while Ja'Marr Chase remains a fantasy WR1 regardless of the health of his teammates. Tyler Boyd can be plugged in as a Flex option, though his floor is closer to a fantasy WR4.

Joe Mixon went full today, which means he's out of concussion protocol.

Related players: Samaje Perine

Beat reporter Paul Dehner Jr. tweeted that while HC Zac Taylor said many great things about what Perine has done, especially when Mixon was out, he also added "Mixon is our starting running back, he had five touchdowns the last time he played.” Owners should be able to conclude that Mixon will have his normal workload for Week 14, but it's easy to imagine Perine getting a few more touches, perhaps especially in the passing game. Overall, it looks like Mixon is going to be the better fantasy play here.