Zack Moss exited last Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens multiple times due to an ankle injury. Will he be able to play tonight when the Bengals face the New York Giants? Here’s the latest injury update on Moss.
The Latest on Zack Moss’ Injury
Earlier this week, NFL Network reported that Moss isn’t battling a severe ankle issue.
After missing practice on Wednesday, Moss was upgraded to a limited participant on Thursday, and he fully practiced on Friday.
Fortunately, he’s good to go against the Giants tonight. In fact, he doesn’t even have an injury designation for the Sunday Night Football showdown.
The Bengals will have both of their talented running backs tonight. While Chase Brown is technically listed as questionable with a quad injury, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said the second-year running back will play against New York.
MORE: Zack Moss Fantasy Hub: Projection, Start/Sit Analysis, Trade Advice, More
Moss has out-snapped Brown 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.
We’ll continue to monitor the Bengals’ injury report. You can also visit and bookmark our NFL Injury Tracker and Fantasy News Tracker for the latest updates.
Fantasy Outlook for Zack Moss and Chase Brown
Let’s break down the fantasy outlook for both Bengals running backs.
Zack Moss
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).
The game script could work in Moss’s favor, elevating him from ordinary Flex to extraordinary RB2, as the Giants have allowed 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.
Chase Brown
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.