Chase Brown

Chase Brown took his development from last season and returned to WR coach Drew Lieberman this offseason with a renewed focus on route running, trying to elevate on-script to match his off-script magic.

The Bengals responded accordingly. OTAs and training camp were filled with splitting Brown outside and testing matchups against safeties and linebackers. This grew far beyond the typical choice routes coming out of the backfield. This was true receiver usage.

“Splitting out as a receiver and having a real understanding of what our receivers go through and what Joe is going to see — he’s become really valuable in that way,” HC Zac Taylor said.

The story mentioned Bengals LB Logan Wilson said Brown is trying to separate himself in the passing and he's done a lot of work to get better at route running. Wilson went on to call him a, "true receiving threat wherever he is at on the field at all times.” The story said Brown's improvement in the passing game allowed the Bengals to expand their playbook for this season. The story added that extrapolating his numbers from the second half of last season over a full year would put him well over 1,000 yards rushing and 500 receiving, and only two backs have accomplished both in a season since 2020: Jahmyr Gibbs and Christian McCaffrey. Brown looks to be a RB to target in the late second or early third round of fantasy drafts if he's there.