The Cincinnati Bengals revamped their running back depth chart during the 2024 offseason, trading Joe Mixon to the Houston Texans while signing free agent Zack Moss to play alongside second-year RB Chase Brown.
However, injuries have affected how the Bengals’ backfield looks entering Week 10. Let’s take a look at the current state of Cincinnati’s RB depth chart as it prepares for a Thursday night matchup against the Baltimore Ravens.
Chase Brown
Moss suffered a neck injury in Week 8 and will miss the remainder of the 2024 campaign. Fortunately, he will avoid surgery and is on track to return in 2025, as ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported today.
Brown had already begun to overtake Moss in the Bengals’ RB pecking order even before the elder running back went down. While Brown didn’t top a 40% snap rate in any game from Weeks 1-5, he surpassed 55% playing time three times from Weeks 6-9.
With no one threatening him for touches in Week 9, Brown had a field day against a weak Las Vegas Raiders defense. He finished as fantasy football‘s RB4 after setting career highs in attempts (27) and rushing yards (120) while adding five catches for 37 yards and a touchdown.
Still, Bengals head coach Taylor suggested in his post-game press conference that Brown needed a tag-team partner.
Brown is clearly an explosive player. In 2023, he reached 22.05 miles per hour on a screen pass touchdown against the Indianapolis Colts, the second-fastest time for a ball carrier all season.
At 5’10, 211 pounds, Brown can handle a significant workload. In 2022, his final year at Illinois, he handled 328 rushing attempts and hauled in 27 passes. He posted five games with 30+ carries, including a 41-tote performance against Minnesota.
Still, the Bengals couldn’t ask Brown to manage that sort of burden at the NFL level for the rest of the season. Thus, Cincinnati executed just the third in-season trade in franchise history to get Brown some help.
Khalil Herbert
The Bengals acted quickly after learning Moss was out for the season. On Tuesday, Nov. 5, Cincinnati sent a 2025 seventh-round pick to the Chicago Bears in exchange for pending free agent running back Khalil Herbert.
Herbert, the 26-year-old who’s been the subject of trade rumors dating back to last year, can fill that role. He finished ninth in attempts per broken tackle (10.2) and 11th in yards after contact per attempt (2.1) in 2023, suggesting he can generate his own yardage.
The former sixth-round pick had fallen behind D’Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson on Chicago’s depth chart and has played fewer offensive snaps than Travis Homer this year.
Herbert will cost the Bengals roughly $500,000 over the remainder of the season before hitting the open market in 2025. Cincinnati had $9.2 million in salary cap space entering the trade deadline.
Trayveon Williams
The Bengals like what Trayveon Williams can do — on special teams, that is.
The 2019 sixth-round pick has kept his spot on Cincinnati’s roster by becoming a vital asset on teams. Williams played more than 55% of the club’s ST snaps in 2022 and 2023 and is trending in that same direction this season.
With that said, the Bengals clearly don’t trust Williams on offense. He had played zero snaps until Moss’ injury forced him into action for seven plays in Week 9. Here’s how Williams’ pass-blocking attempts went:
Bengals RB Trayveon Williams pass blocking vs. Raiders in Week 9 pic.twitter.com/OM4n6LZeja
— DRClips (@DRFootballClips) November 7, 2024
PFF assigned Williams an 8.8 grade for his pass-blocking efforts against the Raiders. It’s the lowest score for any running back with at least two pass-blocking snaps in 2024. No other back has a PB grade below 17.0.
With Herbert in the mix, Williams can revert to his special-teams-only role.
Kendall Milton
The Bengals signed 2024 undrafted free agent Kendall Milton from their practice squad to their active roster before Week 9.
Milton was the Georgia Bulldogs’ second-leading rusher behind Daijun Edwards in 2023, posting 6.5 yards per carry and 14 touchdowns on 121 attempts. After going undrafted, Milton initially signed with the Philadelphia Eagles but landed with Cincinnati’s taxi squad at final roster cutdowns.
Milton played five fourth-quarter offensive snaps on Sunday but didn’t touch the ball.