Bengals RB Samaje Perine injured his right ankle early in the second quarter of Sunday's game vs. the Bears and did not return. RB Chase Brown dominated backfield work the rest of the way, handling eight carries and a whopping 13 targets to RB Tahj Brooks' one carry and 0 targets. We'll look for an update on Perine's status. Brown will be a big fantasy winner if he misses more time.

Bengals RB Chase Brown assumed his expected lead-back spot in Thursday night's preseason opener against the Eagles. According to Pro Football Focus, he played 12 of the team's 16 first-team snaps, matching WR Tee Higgins (and WR Andrei Iosivas) while trailing QB Joe Burrow and WR Ja'Marr Chase by just four snaps. But Samaje Perine picked up those other four snaps, running a pass route on each of them. That put him just two routes short of Brown's number (six). According to PFF, Perine took the field for Cincinnati's only third down with more than a yard to go, and his other three chances came in clear passing situations.

The Bengals on Wednesday announced that they've released RB Zack Moss. It's not a shocking ending given that Moss averaged a career-low 3.3 yards per rush last year, suffered a season-ending neck injury, and then took a pay cut in the offseason. But it could tell us something about the 2025 backfield.

The Cincinnati Bengals selected Texas Tech RB Tahj Brooks with the 193rd pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. The Texas native joined the Red Raiders as a three-star recruit. His production really picked up in 2023 – his fourth season – with 1,541 rushing yards and 10 TDs. He posted similar numbers last fall but set a new high in rush TDs (17). His shifty feet lead to very few hard hits, and Brooks can certainly deliver the occasional explosive. He recorded 26 runs of 15+ yards this past season. He showed adequate speed (4.52 forty time) and burst (1.56 ten-yard split) at the NFL Combine. He shined in the agility drills with a 93rd percentile shuttle; a 76th percentile 3-cone. Outside of missing one game in 2024 with an arm injury, Brooks has largely stayed healthy despite 576 carries over the past two seasons. While the downfield passing offense rarely targeted him as a receiver, Brooks brings some value on passing downs.