A steady presence for seven seasons, wide receiver Tyler Boyd is entering what’s likely to be his eighth and final year with the Cincinnati Bengals. Being a team’s third receiver makes it tough to stand out, but that role on one of the NFL’s most product passing offenses, can translate to solid numbers in a walk year, making Boyd, once again, someone who’ll be on fantasy football radars this season.
2023 Fantasy Football: Tyler Boyd Profile
Recap of 2022 season
In 2022, Boyd experienced his least productive season in five years. Targeted 82 times, he caught 58 passes for 762 yards and five touchdowns. Despite the dip, he still had a couple of weeks where he was among the top-scoring receivers in fantasy, posting a pair of games with 100+ yards and a touchdown.
Updated Bengals outlook
In case you haven’t noticed, the Bengals love to throw the ball—only five teams had more passing attempts last season than Cincinnati. They averaged 26.1 points per game. That approach, and those numbers, are unlikely to look much different in 2023. Ja’Marr Chase is the clear No. 1 here and likely will be one of the top-producing wide receivers in the NFL again. Tee Higgins is the No. 2, and for the second season in a row, both he and Chase each topped 1,000 receiving yards. Boyd was third on the team in the major receiving categories, and that’s probably not going to change this year either.
Best-case scenario
As long as Chase and Higgins are in the lineup, Boyd’s going to be third on the priority list among Bengals wide receivers. However, his numbers last season look more like an outlier than the norm. Plus, he gives the Bengals an excellent matchup against weaker nickel coverage. And if one of the other receivers were to miss any time, Boyd would instantly slide into the second spot on the depth chart there. He may not be able to get back to 1,000-yard seasons in the current offensive configuration, but his numbers could match or slightly exceed what we saw the year before last.
Worst-case scenario
The worst-case scenario here is that what we saw last season marks the start of a trend. His numbers could slide further from what they were in 2022, making him mostly irrelevant in fantasy football lineups.
Prediction
Boyd should once again be a matchup-dependent flex option in fantasy lineups.