While the Bengals’ passing game showed some signs of life with Joe Flacco ($9,400 for Showdown) starting this past Sunday vs. the Packers, Chase Brown’s ($8,000) disappointing season continued as he only finished with 8.9 FPTS. However, this was a brutal road matchup with Green Bay allowing the fourth-fewest yards per rush this season (3.4). Despite the ugly matchup, Brown did have his best performance as a rusher efficiency-wise, averaging 4.6 YPC and breaking off a rush of 13 yards, both of which are season-highs for the back.
While Brown certainly has been a letdown relative to where he was being drafted in fantasy football drafts this past summer — he finished with a No. 20 ADP via FantasyPros — he still has cracked double-digit FPTS in three of his six starts and his usage has been solid as Cincinnati’s lead back.
While logging 63.1% of the snaps this season, Brown is leading the Bengals with 12.3 carries per game, which is 79% of the running back carries for Cincinnati. The back has seen 10 red-zone carries in six games. As a receiver, he ranks third on the team in targets with 24 and he has seen a target on 22% of his routes, also running a route on 48% of his team’s dropbacks.
Brown is due for some positive regression. While this Thursday’s matchup vs. the Steelers isn’t ideal — Pittsburgh is the fifth-highest graded defense per PFF this season — the back still has a strong chance to score 10+ FPTS thanks to his immense role. While not an overly exciting option, Brown can still be started in most formats as an RB3/FLEX play for Week 7.
