Cincinnati Bengals News

Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Shemar Stewart (leg) was carted off the field at training camp practice on Wednesday due to a left-leg injury, according to Ben Baby of ESPN. Stewart was on crutches with a protective brace on his leg after practice and is awaiting an official prognosis. The 22-year-old suffered ankle and knee injuries in his first NFL season in 2025, which limited him to eight games (five starts) and 11 tackles (five solo) and one sack. The Bengals took him with the 17th overall pick out of Texas A&M, and so far he's been an injury bust. It remains to be seen how serious Stewart's leg injury is, but it didn't look good. A lengthy absence would be really bad news for the Bengals for a player who they were hoping would take a second-year leap in 2026 to help make up for the loss of All-Pro pass-rusher Trey Hendrickson.

Cincinnati Bengals running back Samaje Perine will turn 31 years old in September, but he has shown few signs of slowing down. In his return to the Bengals in 2025, he carried the ball 84 times, his most attempts since 2022, and while maintaining a 4.5-yard per carry average, he scored a career-high three rushing touchdowns. Fourth-year player Chase Brown has developed into a true bell cow back, averaging more than 19.6 opportunities per game across his last 30 outings, making Perine's insurance role behind him a potentially important one for fantasy. Rounding out the Bengals' backfield is 2025 sixth-round pick Tahj Brooks, and there's an expectation that should Brown miss time, the second-year player could help to lighten the load rather than turning full control over to Perine. Still, the 10th-year veteran remains an underrated handcuff option and one that would undoubtedly garner attention on the waiver wire in the unfortunate event of injury.

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase caught 125 passes for 1,412 yards and eight touchdowns last season, and the quieter scoring total did nothing to loosen his grip on the top dynasty spot. Chase still led the NFL with 185 targets. He has also cleared 1,200 receiving yards in four of five seasons, with Joe Burrow and Tee Higgins remaining alongside him in Cincinnati. RotoBaller ranks Chase first overall in dynasty, while he sits fifth overall and WR2 in its PPR redraft rankings. That is hardly a bargain, but it is not an overvaluation, either. Chase is 26, signed through 2029, and attached to one of football's best passers. Rebuilders do not need to move him simply because they are not ready to contend. Unless the return looks like a franchise-changing haul, there is little reason for any dynasty manager to sell.

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins remains one of the league's better touchdown bets, but his value is not identical across formats. He caught 59 passes for 846 yards and a career-high 11 scores on 98 targets last season, giving him 21 touchdowns over his last 27 games. That is the appeal. The catches are less secure. Ja'Marr Chase still owns the top spot in Cincinnati, and Higgins has missed 12 games over the past three seasons. RotoBaller ranks him WR13 for PPR redraft but WR27 in dynasty, a gap that makes sense. He can still return low-end WR1 numbers when Joe Burrow and the Bengals' passing game are healthy, which keeps him attractive near the third round. Dynasty contenders can buy at a fair WR2 price. Rebuilders should be more willing to sell after another touchdown-heavy season rather than count on his market value climbing much higher.

Across 13 games in 2025, Cincinnati Bengals tight end Mike Gesicki recorded 28 catches for 307 yards and two touchdowns on 42 targets. After a TE13 finish in 2024, Gesicki plummeted to TE41 last season. Entering 2026, Gesicki could play a larger role in the Bengals' offense after the offseason departure of former Cincinnati tight end Noah Fant. However, the 30-year-old's production outlook will likely remain tied to the health of Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, as Gesicki's best moments in Cincinnati have often come when Higgins is sidelined by injury. As long as Higgins and fellow superstar Bengals wideout Ja'Marr Chase are on the field, Gesicki is unlikely to see enough target volume to provide fantasy-relevant production. Still, the veteran tight end could remain a low-cost handcuff option for deep-league dynasty managers to roster for the upcoming season.

The Cincinnati Bengals will rely on running back Chase Brown as the lead back in 2026, as he enters his third season. The Bengals decided not to invest heavily in running backs once again this offseason. After a slow start in 2025, Brown managed to finish the season as the RB7 overall in PPR scoring. From Week 8 on, he managed to score 15-plus fantasy points in every game and was the RB4 in that stretch. With Joe Burrow fully healthy, the team hopes to get back to producing as one of the NFL's best offenses. However, Brown is still being drafted as a back-end RB1 in most fantasy drafts despite the Cincinnati offense trending back up. The 26-year-old has a chance to be the lead back in the best potential offense in the NFL, and it could boost him to land as a top-5 running back this season.

Cincinnati Bengals running back Tahj Brooks only saw 16 rushing attempts for 45 yards and caught one of his two targets for nine yards in 16 games in 2025 after the Bengals took him in the sixth round out of Texas Tech. Brooks mainly saw work on special teams as a rookie and in mop-up duty on offense. Chase Brown is the unquestioned leader of Cincinnati's backfield going into the 2026 season yet again behind an offensive line that is returning all five starters from last year. Veteran Samaje Perine figures to lead the group behind Brown again in 2026, which leaves Brooks competing for touches as the RB3 for the Bengals. Most likely, Brooks will serve in more of a special teams role for the second straight year as a punt protector. For now, fantasy managers in single-year formats can ignore Brooks entirely. In dynasty/keeper leagues, he's merely a deep-league stash for insurance if you also have Brown on your roster.

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Andrei Iosivas has spent his first three seasons buried on a depth chart behind Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. While he's shown the occasional pop for fantasy, most notably as a red zone option in 2024, the insurmountable talent at the top of the room has him entering the final year of his rookie deal as little more than a role player. While dynasty managers with the luxury to do so should continue to hold him in hopes of finding greener pastures through free agency in 2027, Iosivas is not a player who should factor into 2026 redraft plans. Currently RotoBaller's WR91, the former sixth-round pick should be readily available on waiver wires should an unfortunate injury force him into a more consequential role.

In an era where rushing quarterbacks rule the day, Cincinnati Bengals signal-caller Joe Burrow is one of the few true pocket passers still capable of delivering a QB1 finish. While he is not totally incapable of scrambling to move the chains, his 257 rushing yards in 2022 remain a career high, while his five rushing scores from that same season also look to be a bit of an outlier. Meanwhile, in his three healthy seasons, he's averaged 4,668 yards and 37 touchdowns through the air, twice finishing as a top-four fantasy quarterback. Obviously, those three healthy years only account for half of his career, with durability being his biggest knock since tearing his ACL as a rookie and missing at least seven games in two subsequent seasons. However, when things are going right in Cincinnati, as they appear to be heading into 2026, Burrow remains one of the elite fantasy difference-makers, and he enters his age-30 season as RotoBaller's QB5.

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase turned in another highly productive season in 2025, recording 125 catches for 1,412 yards and eight touchdowns on 185 targets across 16 games. The 26-year-old has now led the NFL in targets in back-to-back seasons, and he should be the focal point of the Cincinnati offense once again in 2026. While Chase's touchdown production fell from 17 in 2025 to eight in 2026, he showed an ability to remain a highly impactful fantasy wideout even in a season where Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow played just eight games. Chase finished 2026 as the WR3 in per-game PPR scoring, behind only Puka Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Chase may have the highest floor of any player in fantasy football, making him a logical choice as the number one overall player off the board in redraft leagues ahead of 2026.

Across 15 games in 2025, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins recorded 59 receptions for 846 yards and 11 touchdowns on 98 targets. As an elite ball-winner, Higgins has established himself as one of the best end zone targets in the NFL by recording 21 touchdown catches over his last 27 games played. However, his target upside is capped by the presence of superstar Bengals wideout Ja'Marr Chase. Higgins' profile also comes with health questions, as he's missed 12 games over the past three seasons due to a variety of injuries. Additionally, the Bengals' passing offense is highly dependent on the health of quarterback Joe Burrow, who has missed at least seven games in two out of the last three seasons. While Higgins is a threat to finish as a fantasy WR1 in any given week, he's not the most consistent producer for fantasy managers due to his situation in Cincinnati and his health concerns. In dynasty formats, managers may want to explore selling high.

Across 15 games in 2025, Cincinnati Bengals running back Samaje Perine recorded 469 scrimmage yards and three touchdowns on 101 touches. As he enters his age-31 season, Perine has established himself as a reliable third-down back who can also handle RB2 duties as a rusher. Entering 2026, Perine profiles as the clear backup in Cincinnati behind star Bengals running back Chase Brown. As long as Brown stays healthy, Perine's fantasy appeal is limited. Brown is entering his age-26 season and has largely avoided injury to this point in his career. Still, Brown has played in 33 games and amassed 584 touches over the past two seasons. If he goes down, Perine has a three-down skill set and could take over as the primary back in Cincinnati. At his current redraft ADP of RB75, Perine's handcuff appeal may be undervalued ahead of 2026.

Cincinnati Bengals tight end Mike Gesicki is coming off a down year in which a pectoral injury limited him to only 13 games and 28 receptions, the lowest totals since his rookie season. Returning for the final seven games following a five-week stint on the Reserve/Injured list, he was notably more effective to close the year, playing on a 17-game pace of 49 receptions for 597 yards, but in finding the end zone only twice, Gesicki was still just the TE14 in that span. Following an early-career stretch with the Dolphins in which he finished as a low-end TE1 in three straight seasons, he has not returned to the top 12 across his last four campaigns with Miami, New England, and Cincinnati, only once cracking the top 22, and his most productive stretches with the Bengals have come as an injury fill-in for either Ja'Marr Chase or Tee Higgins. With the offense operating at full health, Gesicki's involvement has been sporadic, with head coach and playcaller Zac Taylor leaning heavily into 11-personnel usage. Gesicki could again see fantasy managers race to the waiver wires should either Chase or Higgins miss time in the coming year, but at RotoBaller's TE28, he is unlikely to factor into 2026 drafts.

It took Cincinnati Bengals running back Chase Brown until Week 7 of the 2025 season to post a weekly fantasy finish inside the top 20, but from that point forward, he never looked back. Brown finished as the RB19 or better in each of his final 11 games, only twice finishing outside the top 15. The team's mid-season trade for veteran quarterback Joe Flacco helped to steady a faltering offense without three-time Pro Bowler Joe Burrow, and Brown was perhaps the biggest benefactor, finishing as the RB7 from that point forward. With Burrow at full health and Flacco back under contract to back him up, Brown's high floor remains very much intact, while a projected philosophical shift could help to raise his ceiling in 2026. Brown was one of the league's most explosive runners when the team went under center, but with the Bengals ranking 31st in the league in that category, he rarely had the opportunity to take advantage. Reports out of minicamp have suggested that the team could mix in more under-center runs, and even a modest increase, along with the offensive consistency allowed by the presumed health at quarterback, could have Brown flirting with a top-five finish. Heading into the year, he is RotoBaller's RB10, and drafters should again feel comfortable making Brown their RB1 in 2026.

Heading into his fourth professional season, dynasty managers pretty much know what to expect from Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Andrei Iosivas. With the Bengals' most notable addition to the receiver room coming in the form of fourth-round pick Colbie Young, Iosivas is all but locked into the WR3 role he's held for the past two seasons. While five missed games from Tee Higgins allowed Iosivas to find the end zone six times in 2024 (a number that dropped to only two in 2025), the rest of his stat line has remained incredibly consistent. Playing in all 17 games in both seasons, the 2023 sixth-round pick averaged 34.5 catches for 457 yards on a 9.6% target share, hardly straying from that baseline in either season. With Higgins and three-time All-Pro Ja'Marr Chase both on the field, Iosivas has been limited largely to clear-out routes with few opportunities of his own. While his size and versatility have allowed him to step in for either in the event of injury, in more cases than not, targets have been funneled primarily through whichever of the pair remains healthy, with Iosivas' own usage uptick still making him little more than a streaming flex option. Entering the final season of his rookie contract, the 26-year-old could still find greater opportunity on a more manageable depth chart in 2027, but at RotoBaller's dynasty WR141, any upside hype once surrounding Iosivas has all but faded away.

As the Cincinnati Bengals and offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher figure out how to become more explosive on offense in 2026, they are experimenting with using quarterback Joe Burrow more under center, according to Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic. The top-five teams in usage of under-center and under-center play action in 2025 all finished in the top quarter of the league in explosive-play rate. Burrow has produced just one explosive completion while using under-center play action in the last three seasons. The 29-year-old three-time Pro Bowler has been working on under-center play-action drops during the offseason program, and he's made it clear that he's on board with tinkering in this realm. Cincy posted 0.16 EPA per play on plays with Burrow, and receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins on the field the last two years, which was the best in the NFL by a wide margin. But the Bengals ranked 22nd in explosive-play rate in 2025, a fourth straight season in the bottom third of the league. Burrow played in a career-low eight games last year due to injury after passing for a league-high 4,918 yards and league-high 43 touchdowns in 2024. A bounce-back seems inevitable if he can stay on the field in 2026, especially if the Bengals offense can find more explosive plays. RotoBaller has Burrow ranked as the No. 5 fantasy QB.

ESPN's Ben Baby writes that Cincinnati Bengals rookie fourth-round wide receiver Colbie Young stood out during minicamp this spring. "I think he's going to fight and battle," offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said. "He's a young player, but there are things that I think he can do quickly and help us." The Bengals are looking to create more explosive plays on offense in 2026, and finding a consistent No. 3 receiver behind stars Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins could be a big part of that equation. Receiver Andrei Iosivas and tight end Mike Gesicki had productive spring workouts as well, but it appears that Young, a University of Georgia product, could be right in the thick of the WR3 competition this summer at training camp. Young has decent speed for his size (6-foot-5, 218 pounds), but he was never especially productive in college at Georgia and the University of Miami, finishing with 1,437 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns on 116 receptions over four seasons. Right now, Young should only be on the radar of fantasy managers in dynasty/keeper formats.

Since being selected first overall in the 2020 NFL Draft, only injuries have been able to slow Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. Over his past 25 starts, Burrow has averaged 2.4 touchdown passes per game, and in a fantasy space largely dominated by quarterback mobility, he is one of the few players who can routinely challenge for a QB1 finish on arm talent alone. While the notable improvements made to a Bengals defense that ranked among the worst in the league could put him in more favorable game scripts and ultimately lower his ceiling, Burrow comes into 2026 healthy and still surrounded by one of the NFL's premier pass-catching units. Burrow is RotoBaller's QB5, but if the Bengals offense can stay intact in a way that it has rarely been able to do in recent years, he is as safe a bet as any to lead the league in touchdown passes and could easily outperform ADP.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco began his 2025 campaign with the Cleveland Browns, and through four starts, he threw six interceptions to only two touchdowns, scored fewer than 5.3 fantasy points per game, and looked as if his time in the NFL was coming to an end. Following a rare in-division mid-season trade, he started six games for the Bengals in place of an injured Joe Burrow and immediately became a viable fantasy option while elevating the entire Cincinnati offense. He finished as the QB7 or better in three of those games, and in signing a one-year deal this offseason to return to the Bengals, he remains a must-roster backup in superflex dynasty leagues and raises the floor of receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, as well as running back Chase Brown. With Joe Burrow RotoBaller's QB5 for 2026, any appearance by Flacco still represents a worst-case scenario, but at 41 years old, the 19-year veteran is more than capable of preventing a complete bottoming out if called into action.

Cincinnati Bengals tight end Jack Endries was a seventh-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, and while the depth chart in front of him is not insurmountable, he still faces a long road to making an NFL roster. Endries was the 19th of 22 tight ends selected in April, and while the league is moving toward heavier personnel usage, Cincinnati was one of the least efficient teams in 2025 when operating with multiple tight ends on the field. Mike Gesicki's contract runs through 2027, and 2024 fourth-round pick Erick All Jr. is steadily gaining steam as he works his way back from the complicated ACL injury that caused him to miss all of the 2025 season. Drew Sample has played 95 games for the team over his seven-year career and would appear to be locked into his dedicated blocking role. Should the Bengals opt to keep four tight ends, Endries would still need to beat out Tanner Hudson, and even then, as the third or fourth tight end on an offense run through wide receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, there is no realistic path to fantasy relevance. At RotoBaller's dynasty TE44, Endries is not a player who needs to be rostered in most leagues.