How Chase Brown’s expanded role is quietly elevating Bengals offense

Ja’Marr Chase is tracking toward a triple crown, leading the NFL in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.

Joe Burrow is generating MVP chatter, despite the Bengals’ 5-8 record. Tee Higgins will earn a lucrative contract next offseason as one of the premier free agents on the market and playing some of the best football of his career.

They are the headliners. The faces of the Bengals’ potent offense.

Ask Burrow, however, what has elevated Cincinnati’s attack over the last five weeks as the team is averaging 33.4 points per game and you won’t hear the name of anyone in that group.

“I think Chase Brown has played a big role,” he said. “Whenever he gets the ball in his hand he makes somebody miss, creates an explosive play. He’s been unbelievable.”

People might not realize it, but since fully taking over the running back role for injured Zack Moss in November, Brown has ascended to become one of the most productive backs in football.

In fact, take the other-worldly production of Saquon Barkley out of the equation and Brown tops the list.

He’s second among all running backs in yards from scrimmage over that span, but if you open that up to all skill position players, the only other one he trails is his Griddy-ing teammate, Chase.

Brown has gone three consecutive games with 100-plus scrimmage yards and at least 10 yards per reception.

He’s forced 13 missed tackles catching passes in the last five games, five more than any other back.

Cincinnati has produced a streak of five straight games scoring at least 27 points, tied for the longest such streak in franchise history (Nov. 6-Dec. 4, 1988). Only the Bills have a longer streak in the NFL this season (7).

He’s become the ideal counterpunch to overloading attention on the Bengals’ top receivers, a thought that was on the top of Burrow’s mind after Monday’s game.

“Chase is really running as a top back,” Burrow said. “He’s doing unbelievable stuff in both the run game and the pass game. His role is going to continue to evolve. We’re going to continue to keep getting him the ball more in a lot of different ways.”

Those ways popped off the film Monday night. Brown caught six passes for 65 yards and a touchdown, but each reception offered a different path and placement for receiving the ball. He caught a slant as the outside receiver, designed swing passes into space with tight ends blocking in front, checkdowns perfectly mirroring Burrow in the scramble drill creating a 13-yard gain, a screen on second-and-long. The Bengals even pulled out a designed go ball in the high red zone against Cowboys corner DaRon Bland.

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On fourth-and-3 late in the game, they dialed up a one-on-one choice route for Brown out of the backfield against DeMarvion Overshown. Even though it didn’t work, they had the confidence to call it in a critical spot.

“He’s done a really good job with his hands in the pass game, so that allows the flexibility to put him out there and run the slant versus man coverage and expect him to win and catch it and get the conversion,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “I think that’s a big improvement from last year for him. He’s really taken that to heart. When you have a back you can put out there in some known man situations and expect him to run with his back (toward the quarterback) that’s a really dangerous weapon to have and he’s shown up there.”

Nothing showcased the danger more than his 19-yard touchdown reception. The burst he displayed breaking through the alley created by Andrei Iosivas and Drew Sample served as Exhibit A of what his presence opens up on the field.

There’s no thinking, just speed and playmaking.

“Once I get the ball in my hands, I just play football,” Brown said. “Let it come natural.”

He unnaturally — for the normal human — accelerated to 19.2 miles per hour on the play, per NextGen Stats, an impressive burst considering the small space. Clocking speed numbers are a common theme for Brown, who crossed 22 miles per hour on a long touchdown against the Colts last December, the second-highest for a ball carrier in the NFL in 2023.

It’s Chase scoring TDs in Cincy! Chase Brown, that is.

📺: #INDvsCIN on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/pWMED8S30C pic.twitter.com/2iiHGyBWOX

— NFL (@NFL) December 10, 2023

That number was constantly mentioned entering this season when discussing the possibilities of expanding his role when the team moved on from Joe Mixon. They parted ways with a captain and 2017 second-round pick because they saw how the offense could change around Brown’s explosiveness. When Brown spent the offseason working with receivers coach Drew Lieberman and saw his skills in the passing game improve dramatically, the table was set for his rise.

Only, he was still sharing time with Moss and while explosive in his opportunity, the platoon stunted his rhythm. Moss went on injured reserve with a neck injury entering the game against the Raiders and Brown was handed the workload.

He since has received all but four touches given to Bengals running backs. The success in space allowed for a shift in how offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher and Taylor schemed up touches for him. The combination of his consistent ability to make people miss in space, creating explosive plays from the simplest of checkdowns and letting Burrow’s elite processing create space for him, is exactly what the staff had in mind moving on from Mixon.

“This was always the intent with Chase, to build up to a workload where we can just try to get him the ball in various ways,” Taylor said. “Some of it is in the run game. A lot of the pass game is just runs to us — ways to get the ball in his hands. Joe does an excellent job if you just dial up play-actions and can quickly see the defense lift and get the ball to Chase. We had a big play in the flat (Monday) where he made one miss, because it’s Oklahoma drill at that point, and Chase is pretty good at that. I wouldn’t say we’re surprised by that, because this is a player we thought we were drafting. He’s done a great job being able to handle the workload that we put on his plate. Just pleased with the progress he’s making.”

In a time where Burrow and the Bengals have admitted they’re searching for “cornerstones” for the next season and beyond, Brown has quickly emerged as one of those. Ultimately, the Bengals would prefer he doesn’t take nearly every snap and receive nearly every touch over the course of a season, but for now, he’s proving he not only can handle it but can thrive.

While Burrow, Chase and Higgins command all the headlines, Brown calmly has worked underneath racking up all the advantages of the stars orbiting around him on the field.

One even landed him in the Salvation Army Kettle behind the end zone. He hopped in, extending his arms thinking he was celebrating a touchdown only to learn he had been ruled out originally.

Chase Brown walks the tightrope for SIX! 😱#CINvsDAL | ABC, ESPN pic.twitter.com/Kk17yzfhCO

— ESPN (@espn) December 10, 2024

The play was reversed, but not before he gasped in disbelief while standing in the kettle. He was holding his phone in the locker room after the game, laughing at a photo that caught the exact moment he found out. His jaw dropped in the same fashion when he was informed he might get fined for making the jump he always wanted to do since he was a young player coming up in the Canada and Florida football scene.

“I don’t make enough money for that s—,” Brown said.

Over the last five weeks, he’s put himself on pace to eventually change that.

(Photo: Matthew Pearce / Getty Images)