Welcome all to the 2023 Fantasy Football Cincinnati Bengals Preview. Keep your eyes peeled as we continue the team previews for your 2023 seasons!
Who would've thought this? The Bengals are a perennial playoff team that has Super Bowl blood in them. I'm sure some people out there thought they would make the playoffs (sporadically), but Super Bowl? I think not. Well, folks, here we are. The Bengals fell short of another Super Bowl berth, losing to the eventual champions (Kansas City Chiefs). In its fans and fantasy community players' eyes, this season was a success.
As we enter 2023, the Bengals roster looks the same (for the most part). They did add a new TE (Irv Smith Jr), a few young players in the draft (Chase Brown, Charlie Jones), and much (much) need help on the O-Line (Orlando Brown Jr). This bodes well for the Bengals and their fantasy production.
Well, let's jump into this thing and start the 2023 Fantasy Football Cincinnati Bengals Preview.
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2023 Fantasy Football Cincinnati Bengals Preview
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Quarterbacks
The coolest man on the planet. Joe Burrow is looking to make the leap into the upper echelon of fantasy QBs. Can he do it?
In 2022, Burrow was fantastic. He was second in pass touchdowns (36), third in total touchdowns (41), fifth in yards (4527), and fifth in pass attempts (610). Burrow put up 11 finishes as a QB1, including three finishes as the number one QB overall.
Coming into 2023, Joe Burrow is getting all the hype. He is currently being drafted as QB4, which is expected. Burrow did finish as QB4 in 2022 and was 4th in fantasy points per game as well. This was done with most of his weapons missing random games. With them all healthy (Weeks 1-7), Joe "Cool" Burrow was QB3.
He should be a great fantasy QB in 2023, look to snag him up in your drafts. Another great idea is to stack him with one of the gruesome twosome (Chase and Higgins).
Running Backs
I guess you can say this backfield has some question marks. Joe Mixon is dealing with an incident and the threats of being cut by the Bengals. Will this happen? I think not. The RB room behind him is dreadful.
Chase Brown is a rookie, Trayveon Williams has done nothing in the NFL, and you can say the same about Chris Evans. Leave all of those guys (not named Mixon) on the wire. Joe Mixon is currently being drafted as RB17. To me, this is a steal.
In 2022, the other Joe (Mixon), ran for 814 yards with seven touchdowns. He finally was a force in the passing game, and garnered career highs in targets (75), receptions (60), and yards (441). Let's also mention that Mixon was seventh in fantasy points per game (16.0), and opportunity share (73.7%), and was 6th in RZ touches (46).
There are some downsides with Mixon, though. His true YPC (3.7) is abysmal, ranking him 61st in NFL according to player profiler. Other key metrics from the player profiler.com that worry me include: 54th in Juke Rate (10.3%), 35th in breakaway runs (6; 0.4/game), and 49th in evaded tackles.
Despite all of that, I still believe Mixon is a steal at RB17. There is no competition and he is still getting enough of a workload to justify him as a mid-high-end RB2. Hell, you can even say he can slip into the RB1 conversation (borderline).
Stick with me as we continue the 2023 Fantasy Football Cincinnati Bengals Preview.
Wide Receivers
Yes! We are at the holy grail of the Bengals. Let's make this quick, shall we?
Ja'marr Chase is that guy, you should be drafting him as such. Can he take the crown from Justin Jefferson? His health will depend on this, but it isn't out of the realm of possibilities.
In 2022, Chase finished the season with 87 catches for 1046 yards and 9 touchdowns in 12 games. Put a full season on that and he put up 116-1395-12, which would have put him as WR4. This is fitting because he was also fourth in fantasy points/game (20.2). Chase had one game under 9 targets (8), ZERO games under 10 fantasy points, and four games with 28+ fantasy points.
A fully healthy season from Chase can be deadly. I would still take Justin Jefferson over him. However, don't hesitate to take him over any other WR.
Next up, Tee Higgins. Higgins is a personal favorite of mine, so what I'm about to say is painful. Tee Higgins at WR14 is too pricey for me and I've got my reasoning.
With Chase on the field, Higgins was a WR23 (1-7) and WR36(13-18). That's not living up to that WR14 ADP. Unfortunately, it gets worse.
Tee Higgins was 26th in fantasy points/game (13.1), which isn't even WR2 numbers. His 18.6% target share (41st) is rough, the 10.7 ADOT (50th) isn't pretty, and his 12 RZ targets (36th) aren't helping his case. All in all, Higgins is being drafted at his ceiling and I'm out on that. Give me Devonta Smith, Keenan Allen, or even D.K. Metcalf over him.
I've got some quick thoughts on Tyler Boyd. He is going as WR53, which is an insane value pick. In five straight seasons, Boyd has been a WR3 or better and this includes two seasons with Chase and Higgins. In 2022 alone, Boyd mustered up two WR1 finishes and 8 WR2 finishes. Boyd is a terrific pick in the late rounds, he will provide great depth.
Tight Ends
Well, folks, not much can be said about this position. Irv Smith is the new man in town and he has been disappointing (to say the least).
In 2022, Smith played in seven games and was able to muster up being the TE20 during that time. Other than that, we don't have much on that guy.
There is good news though for you Irv Smith fans. Previous Bengals' TE, Hayden Hurst, was able to squeak out a 14.6% target share. From Weeks 1-13, Hurst was TE11 (healthy). Keep this in mind when drafting the TE spot.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, this Bengals team is a goldmine for fantasy football. Joe Burrow is cold as ice, Mixon is a steal, and Chase has the potential to take the crown. Use that in your drafts.
Well, folks, that does it for the 2023 Fantasy Football Cincinnati Bengals Preview. Check out our other great Fantasy Football content from the F6P Team!
