The Cincinnati Bengals have assembled a committee at running back, as anticipated, by adding free agent Zack Moss to the group that already includes Chase Brown.
Moss is a seasoned back who appears to be the starter. He was acquired via free agency from the Colts upon the team’s unexpected trade of Joe Mixon to the Texans.
However, Brown, a 2023 fifth-round pick, is also very much in the plans, particularly when coaches stand in front of microphones and discuss the room.
Offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher stated, It’s absolutely going to be collaborative, as reported by Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com.
Now that you’re looking throughout the league at that position, I believe it’s ideal to share the effort with multiple people.
Counting from two to four persons. Everyone sort of plays the part. It all boils down to what I’ve been saying the entire offseason, and we’ll work it out. How long will it take this week?
The 26-year-old Brown saw a career-high 183 carries a year ago, averaging 4.3 yards with five touchdowns; therefore, the increase in workload demonstrated what he could accomplish given an even greater opportunity.
Then there was Brown, who saw 4.1 yards per carry on 44 carries as a rookie and could have played a larger role in the previous campaign if he hadn’t suffered an unfortunate injury.
Speaking of a committee approach does not exclude the Bengals from selecting a running back in the draft at the appropriate pick. However, it appears that the Moss-Brown combination is the current strategy.
How can a bottom-feeding squad acquire quality players? Make them come. How are you able to accomplish that? You put them in draft form.
The Patriots are a team that doesn’t win. You are a bottom-feeder if you have the third overall pick but no quarterback, left tackle, or good receivers.
This week has been a referendum on the difficulty of building a free-agency team that is unimposing.
The 15th-best wide receiver in the league at his position, Calvin Ridley, showed no mercy to the New England Patriots. He turned down $92 million with $50 million guaranteed to play for a first-year coach on a team without a proven quarterback for four years in Tennessee.
Had he not gone to the Titans, he might have stayed in Jacksonville, where things are more stable and living expenses are far lower.
From the outside looking in, the Patriots have been watching the paint dry while possible hole-fillers like left tackle Josh Williams and wideout Marquise Brown signed deals with Arizona and Kansas City, respectively.
Now is the time for New England to advertise the third overall pick with a large “FOR SALE” sign and begin the process of finding a buyer.
And when the Vikings traded for a second first-round pick on Friday, the most obvious buyer moved to the front of the line.
The Patriots can trade down and take the Vikings’ 11th and 23rd picks in addition to first- and third-round picks in 2025, as predicted by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk on Friday, in a draft that is heavily weighted toward elite wideouts and tackles.
The Patriots then select a wide receiver and lineman (or vice versa) with picks 11 and23.
With two first-round selections the next year, both of which are probably in the top half of the first round, you have the flexibility to move up and select the top quarterback if you’d like.
Then you would have a quarterback on rookie contracts, a top-tier wide receiver, and a left tackle developing together.
You trade a third-round pick to Chicago in the interim for Justin Fields. You have a young, skilled, mobile, strong-armed quarterback who is driven to prove to the NFL that he is prepared to carry out the Baker Mayfield strategy that we saw in Tampa Bay if he defeats Jacoby Brissett, which he should.
The Patriots have two options: they can choose to play it out with Fields and cross the free-agent bridge when they get there, or they may choose to exercise Fields’ fifth-year option in early May for roughly $25 million in 2025.
