Team news: Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals ruled out Hayden Hurst for Saturday’s game at New England due to his calf injury.

Related Players: Mitchell Wilcox

Things were trending well through the week, but clearly, the team doesn't want to risk anything to one of their offensive weapons, particularly after last night's Jets loss locked them into the playoffs. Mitchell Wilcox can operate as a high-end TE2 for TE desperate teams.

The Bengals are going through their final walkthrough before heading to New England tonight. Looks like everyone is here except Sam Hubbard. Jay Tufele is back after missing due to illness yesterday. Hayden Hurst is wearing a jersey so that’s another encouraging sign.

Related Players: Mitchell Wilcox

If Hurst is good to go, he should be considered a fringe TE1/2. Whoever gets the nod this week is going to have a positive matchup in New England against a defense that ranks top-10 in schedule-adjusted fantasy points allowed to every offensive position except tight end, where they rank 24th.

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 WR Tyler Boyd could miss a week or two after dislocating a finger on his right hand in Sunday's win over the Browns, but it shouldn't be an extended absence, per source. Healing, and pain tolerance will dictate when he returns.

Related Players: Trenton Irwin, Trent Taylor

The two Trents seemed to be the biggest beneficiaries of Tyler Boyd's early exit but Tee Higgins also logged a single snap, so it's hard to tell exactly who was filling in for who. Either way, Boyd can be safely dropped if he's still on your fantasy roster.

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.

Per Hobson, Zac (Taylor) says Joe Mixon has chance to clear concussion protocol and says Hayden Hurst (calf) is doubtful this week.

Related Players: Mitchell Wilcox, Devin Asiasi

Just what the tight end position in fantasy needs is one less viable option, but here we are. Hurst has been having a marginal fantasy season on a whole, but was the TE13 on the season heading into Week 13. Mitchell Wilcox was the only other tight to earn a target last week, but Devin Asiasi was selected by the Patriots in the third round of the 2020 draft as an athletic passing game weapon. He would be the choice for deep, TE Premium leagues.