With a healthy Joe Burrow and no back competition, Chase Brown is poised for a career year with the Cincinnati Bengals.
The bulk of the conversation surrounding the Cincinnati Bengals this offseason has been centered almost entirely on defense, and rightfully so. The Dexter Lawrence trade, the Boye Mafe signing, the Bryan Cook homecoming, the Cashius Howell selection, it has been an unprecedented defensive overhaul for a franchise that finished 6-11 last season and desperately needed to change the complexion of the roster.
But lost in all the defensive noise is the fact that running back Chase Brown is quietly setting up for the most significant individual campaign of his career.
NBC Sports’ Matthew Berry put it plainly in his latest 2026 projection:
“The Bengals had seven picks in the draft and used exactly none of them on a running back. They also signed no running backs in free agency. Which means Chase Brown’s only real competition for touches in Cincinnati is the 30-going-on-31-year-old Samaje Perine, who had a target share in 2025 of just 4%. The Bengals are obviously more than comfortable with Brown leading the way. Over the past two seasons, Brown ranks ninth among RBs with 584 touches. And, since Week 9 of 2024, Brown is RB6 in PPG (17.9), while averaging 95 scrimmage yards per game. I have Brown slotted as a high-end RB2 heading into the 2026 season.”
The numbers Berry is building that projection on are hard to argue against. Brown has been a workhorse for two straight seasons, combining for 461 rushing attempts, 2,009 rushing yards, and 13 touchdowns, while catching 123 of 153 targets for 797 receiving yards and nine more scores in 33 regular-season games.
In 2025 specifically, he posted 1,456 yards from scrimmage and 11 total touchdowns on 301 touches, despite Joe Burrow missing nine games. And in the five weeks Burrow was under center from Weeks 13-17, Brown hauled in 25 of 26 targets and scored three receiving touchdowns.
Chase Brown Is Entering His Most Important Season Yet
Three main factors converge to make 2026 Brown’s ceiling season. First, Burrow is expected to enter the year fully healthy. Second, there is zero meaningful backfield competition: the Bengals made it abundantly clear with seven draft picks and no running back selected that this is Brown’s unit to run (no pun intended).
Brown is also entering the final year of his contract and contract years have a way of producing career-best performances.
Brown ran for 1,019 yards on 232 attempts in 2025 under conditions that were far from ideal. In 2026, with a healthy Burrow, a defense that can allow Cincinnati’s offense more time on the field, and no one behind him on the depth chart worth worrying about, the argument for a career defining season is stronger than Berry’s already bullish projection suggests.