The Cincinnati Bengals are thinking of the long game in their running back roomNow that the Cincinnati Bengals have finally offloaded the bloated salary of high-profile running back Joe Mixon, they have officially joined the rest of the league running the tandem running back model.  Mixon will arguably go down as one of the most accomplished running back in the history of Cincinnati football but in the end, his lack of explosivity completely dismantled his value to the franchise and the team decided to go on a lower risk trajectory moving in the backfield moving forward.

 

Cincinnati Bengals New Tandem Running Back Approach

Historically, the Bengals franchise has fought change even as the rest of the NFL went with the dual running back strategy.  Mixon was just the latest in a long line of talented breadwinners at the running back position that earned the majority of the carries out of the Cincinnati backfield.  It shouldn’t surprise you then that Cincinnati hasn’t had an elite running game any time in their recent history.

While the team’s ownership has a tendency to be painfully stubborn, not even they could avoid the absolute deterioration of running back contracts that has happened over the past five years.  While the position used to be the focal point of a team in the National Football League, it is arguably the least valued position on the entire field at this point.

Almost in tandem with the announcement that Mixon had been traded to the Houston Texans for a negligible seventh round pick was the news that Cincinnati had signed former Indianapolis Colts backup running back Zack Moss.  Moss has been a perfectly adequate running back over the course of his five-year career after being drafted in the third round out of Utah in 2020 by racking up 2,000 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns over that span. While Moss was adequate, the team certainly didn’t want to invest in just one running back this season and will be bringing back last year’s fifth round pick Chase Brown.  Brown was drafted out of Illinois and has been appreciated for his big play ability and his quick burst through the whole.  Even when riding second fiddle to Mixon, Brown was able to run for 179 rushing yards last season on 44 caries for a touchdown.  That averages out to a respectable 4.1 yards per carry behind Cincinnati’s below par offensive line.

One of the most widely unobserved details being thrown this offseason is the structure of Moss’ contract heading into next season.  While Moss was signed to a two-year deal worth $8 million, he has a tremendously small salary cap and guaranteed quantity available to him in his first year.  In 2024, Moss will account for less that $3 million against the Cincinnati salary cap with all of that money being guaranteed once he makes the roster next season.

In typical conservative Cincinnati fashion, they built an option to terminate after Moss’ first season with a modest penalty of $1.5 million.  If you read between the lines, that means that Moss is likely only going to be in Cincinnati for one season.  Another interesting point is that Moss and Brown are of similar builds and running styles.  Typically, in a tandem situation, you want one power back and one speed back to help change the pace and throw off the tempo of the defense.

Based on the details both in his contract and his style of play, Moss wasn’t really brought it to play so much as to train Brown how to be an effective NFL running back.  Moss has been renowned for being a complete back that helps in the receiving game, running game and pass blocking protections.  Cincinnati undoubtedly wants to have those traits rub off on its young back so that they don’t have similar issues that they had with Mixon.  Mixon was widely known for not being willing or able to help in pass protection.

It appears that Brown will be the future of the Cincinnati running attack but Moss will help share the load in his first season in Cincinnati.  I certainly wouldn’t expect Moss to stick around past 2024 however as he will be owed almost $5 million against the salary cap next season.