Cincinnati Bengals Fantasy Football News | Shark Bites

Bengals WR Tee Higgins (shoulder) is out for Thursday night's game vs. the Jaguars. We still don't have a timetable for Higgins' return. Ja'Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd will again operate as Cincinnati's clear top 2 WRs in tomorrow's plus matchup.

Bengals WR Tee Higgins (shoulder) remained sidelined for Tuesday's practice. Fantasy owners shouldn't plan on him playing against the Jaguars on Thursday night, but we'll get another update on his status tomorrow.

Bengals WR Tee Higgins (shoulder) is inactive for today’s game vs. the Steelers. Auden Tate figures step in as Cincinnati’s #3 WR but would be a desperation fantasy play. Higgins’ absence frees up a bunch of targets for WRs Ja’Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd.

ESPN's Adam Schefter confirms that Bengals WR Tee Higgins (shoulder) is not expected to play vs. the Steelers today. Higgins is listed as doubtful, so no surprise there. Auden Tate is the favorite to move into Cincinnati's 3-WR sets but isn't a viable fantasy play. WRs Ja'Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd should pick up extra targets with Higgins out.

Bengals WR Tee Higgins (shoulder) is listed as doubtful for this weekend’s game vs. the Steelers. HC Zac Taylor said Friday that he wants to wait to see how Higgins feels on Sunday before ruling him out -- but he’s obviously a long shot. Higgins’ absence would elevate WR Auden Tate to the #3 WR spot and free up a bunch of targets for WRs Ja’Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd.

Bengals WR Tee Higgins (shoulder) missed his 2nd straight practice on Thursday. HC Zac Taylor labeled him "day to day" earlier in the week, suggesting it's not a serious injury. But Higgins at least seems to be in danger of missing Sunday's game vs. the Steelers. Check back tomorrow for another update.

Bills RB Zack Moss is active for today’s game against the Dolphins. HC Sean McDermott said this week that Moss was scratched for the opener after dealing with injuries during August -- but that he had a good week of practice leading up to this one. We’ll see how big a role Moss plays, but he shouldn’t be in Week 2 fantasy lineups. His return lowers RB Devin Singletary’s fantasy floor and ceiling, though.

Bills HC Sean McDermott said Friday that RB Zack Moss was inactive for the opener because he struggled with injuries in training camp. Moss missed a little less than a week with a hamstring issue but was otherwise fine as far as we know. McDermott added that Moss "looked good" in practice this week. It sounds like there's a chance he's active for Sunday's game against the Dolphins. But we still wouldn't be using him in fantasy lineups.

Bills RB Zack Moss is a surprise inactive for today's game against the Dolphins. We'll see whether he was injured in pregame warmups or is a healthy scratch. Either way, it'll be Devin Singletary and Matt Breida in Buffalo's backfield today. Singletary now looks like a solid Week 1 fantasy play.

Update: NFL Network's Ian Rapoport says Moss is not injured.

Bengals beat writer Paul Dehner Jr. tweeted Sunday that RB Chris Evans will have a “small role on third downs.” He adds that Evans’ role could grow as the year goes on. (Of course.) The Michigan rookie caught a long TD from backup QB Brandon Allen in Sunday's preseason game and has drawn camp praise for his pass catching work. A high-end athlete, Evans is a name to monitor in deep formats.

Bengals WR Ja'Marr Chase has had a "fantastic week" of practice, The Athletic's Paul Dehner writes. It's certainly noteworthy after an early-August report that he was struggling in camp and then a 3-drop 2nd preseason game. We're not worried about Chase's on-field performance. It's the target competition and volume projection that's keeping him suppressed in the WR rankings.

Bengals DE Joseph Ossai will have surgery this week for a meniscus injury that the team fears will end his season, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. The 3rd-round pick appeared headed for a spot in Cincinnati's DE rotation. He had a sack of Tom Brady among 5 total pressures in the preseason opener.

Bengals rookie WR Ja’Marr Chase endured a rough outing Friday night in the team’s 2nd preseason contest. The 1st-round pick dropped all 3 of his targets vs. Washington. Drops weren’t a problem for Chase in college. Pro Football Focus charted him with just 5 among 118 targets in 2019, his final campaign at LSU. And we’re not generally too concerned with a WR’s drops in the NFL. But Chase’s lackluster performance stands as another signal we should be cautious about trusting the rookie for big fantasy football production right away. We’ll see whether the latest display knocks his ADP down, though.

After a rough start to training camp, Bengals QB Joe Burrow has "been stacking one quality practice on top of another over the past 10 days," Sports Illustrated's James Rapien writes. Burrow went 11 of 15 with 3 TDs in team drills on Monday, per Rapien, and also scrambled for a pair of 1st downs. That last note is especially encouraging for a guy returning from a serious knee injury. Burrow isn't going to play this preseason, so these practice reports are all we'll get before Week 1. He's probably not a guy you'll want to trust in that opener vs. the Vikings -- but Burrow could certainly be an every-week QB1 by October.

Bills RB Zack Moss (hamstring) returned to practice on Monday. He ended up missing a few practices -- and the preseason opener -- with the bum hamstring. Hopefully Moss plays in the 2nd exhibition so we can see what Buffalo's backfield usage looks like.

Per Bills HC Sean McDermott, RB Zack Moss won’t practice on Wednesday due to a hamstring injury suffered in Tuesday’s practice. The team will approach Moss’ injury “one day at a time.” The missed time will give more first-time reps to Devin Singletary and Matt Breida. We’ll let you know when Moss returns to the practice field.

The Dolphins have activated TE Mike Gesicki from the reserve/COVID-19 list. He ended up missing over a week of practice. The Fins are traveling north for a joint practice with the Bears on Wednesday, and Gesicki is expected to participate, per beat writer Armando Salguero. The 25-year-old remains a low-end TE1.

The Athletic's Paul Dehner lists WR Ja'Marr Chase as 1 of the fallers of the first couple of weeks of Bengals training camp. "His skill set is that unique. You see flashes of that early, but you also see somebody tentatively getting used to a new offense, new league and not playing football since January 2020," Dehner writes. "He has endured a string of drops, on short and long passes, with another coming Sunday. He has not shown as much separation as you’d hope, and the contested balls haven’t gone his way much, either." It's not a major surprise that Chase is off to a slow start after opting out of the 2020 season -- but it is at least part of the reason that we have him as overvalued at his 4th- or 5th-round price tag.

Bills RB Zack Moss has "consistently been the best running back at training camp," according to The Athletic's Matthew Fairburn. "From what we’ve seen, Moss should have a path to a bigger role this season. But [OC] Brian Daboll is intent on dividing carries and riding the hot hand, so it’s too soon to push the panic button on [Devin] Singletary." This will be a committee backfield in 1 of the league's pass-heaviest offense, so there's not a ton of fantasy production to be mined here. But Moss continues to look like a better bet than Singletary.

The Bengals offense has struggled early in training camp, according to The Athletic. QB Joe Burrow, in particular, has struggled with turnovers and accuracy. "It’s just not good right now," insiders Jay Morrison and Paul Dehner write. "Throws that felt like layups last year are dropping harmlessly away from receivers or easily broken up by multiple defenders." It's early August. And Burrow, of course, is returning from last year's multi-ligament injury. So we're not hitting the panic button yet. But this has certainly become a situation to monitor over the next month.