RB 2026

State of the Position: Chase Brown has solidified his role in the offense as the lead back and a dangerous receiver out of the backfield. He will maintain that role in 2026 with an eye on an extension. Those extensions are coming later for backs. Five 1000-yard backs will hit free agency this year. James Cook just signed a 4-year 48-million-dollar deal this offseason that might be the blueprint. Bengals will have eyes on Javonte Williams-Travis Etienne-Rico Dowdle-Kenneth Walker and Breece Hall this summer. Brown has no reason to sign any extension until they get their deals.

Samaje Perine was an excellent second back with 382 rushing yards, 87 yards through the air and seven special teams’ tackles. He’s back in that rotation. Tahj Brooks had seven special teams tackles as well but was used sparingly out of the backfield, just 16 carries and one catch on the year.

Gary Brightwell was added to a futures deal and is a special teamer both returning and covering kicks in his past. He didn’t get any snaps this year. Kendall Milton did get a few and looked good in the preseason but he hasn’t been added to a futures deal yet this offseason.

The Need: The team historically has liked to draft a back early to replace the back they have now. That isn’t the feeling I get with Brown but it’s a possibility. At the very least Perine is 31 and near the end of his career and getting another back in the pipeline makes sense.

They could just roll it back with Brown-Perine-Brooks and some sort of undrafted free agent. It’s more likely they draft someone late to compete with Brooks. The least likely is that they sign an outside free agent. I am a believer that you should sign one outside free agent at every position every year to bring new ideas and energy to the room. Even if they don’t make it out of camp. With that said I would be targeting a veteran who is still looking for a roster spot when the music stops week 2-3 of free agency.

The Candidates

Amir Abdullah will be 33 next season and has only played sparingly for the Colts this year with 14 carries and 16 catches. He does have five special teams tackles and an elite elusive rating of 116.7 from PFF. He played 135 Special Teams snaps and 86 from scrimmage.

Jeremy McNichols probably has a home somewhere as a rotational back but he seems like an afterthought at times. He’s got a similarly high elusive rating of 109.1 and rushed for 221 yards this year while catching 25 balls for 196 yards. He will be 30 this year.

Julius Chestnut is just 25 with lots more potential meat on the bone. He had just 11 carries this year and has just 42 in his 4-year career. What stands out is that he had 17 special teams tackles this year. Chestnut put up big numbers at Sacred Heart, a FCS school. He is still young and might be able to develop on offense while he makes a big impact on special teams. Chestnut is a 225-pound bruiser as well.

Malik Davis should potentially be out of reach. He probably has a home back in Dallas after a decent year supporting Javonte Williams. He rushed for 250+ yards from scrimmage while making seven special teams tackles.

Jerome Ford fell out of favor behind two rookies in Cleveland. He had just 24 carries this year but did have 26 catches. He has ties to the area having gone to the University of Cincinnati. He was pretty successful in 2023 rushing for over 800 yards and catching 44 balls. He’s just 27.

Antonio Gibson is my favorite of the group. He’s coming off a torn ACL suffered in October but seems like he would be a good fit with Burrow and our system. Gibson is just 28 and under contract for 2026, but the Patriots can save 3.5M with his release and they have two other backs above him in their rotation. Gibson has four seasons where he caught thirty-six balls or more, and has averaged over four yards a carry in five of his six seasons.

AJ Dillon could be an ideal big back (6-0 247) for short yardage complimenting Brown. He’s 28 and buried behind Barkley, Shipley and Tank Bigsby in Philadelphia. That meant just 12 carries and three catches in his year back from injury. Dillon rushed for more than 600 yards in 2023, 2022 and 2021 and caught more than twenty balls each of those years. The big negative is that he’s played minimal special teams.

Zamir White is just 26 but, like Dillon, found himself deep on a bench this season. White caught just four passes and had just 12 carries while dealing with injuries. In 2023 he rushed for over 450 yards and caught 15 passes.

Dameon Pierce was someone who we tried to add to the practice squad, but he ended up choosing Kansas City. He fell far out of favor in Houston after a rookie year where he rushed for 939 yards and caught thirty balls. This season he’s had just 14 carries. He will turn just 26 in February.

Of the list Gibson, Dillon and Chestnut would be the three that I would focus on the most. Adding any of them could make it so that running back wouldn’t be a necessity in the draft. Chestnut is particularly interesting.

Thanks for doing this again this year Weston. I'm admittedly uninformed about potentially available free agent players outside of my Bengals focus, so these lists and comments are greatly appreciated and add immensely to the "one stop shopping" this website offers to fans.

Think they need a younger version of Perine that he can hopefully mentor, & for Brown to get more looks as a receiver. Doubt they need to use a draft pick on a Perine-type but I would've said the same thing about the H-back position and Drew Sample. Maybe a little too hung up on certain niche roles in general?

Big Chase Brown fan here. No reason they can’t get 3-4 more years of good production from the kid.

27 minutes ago, spicoli said:

Big Chase Brown fan here. No reason they can’t get 3-4 more years of good production from the kid.

Yep..he's a true duel threat .

blocking improved too.

Like to keep him for awhile

They should extend Brown but don't need to worry about it until July.

They shouldn't sign a vet RB, it's a young man's position and they can draft a guy on day 3 if they want to add.

14 hours ago, esjbh2 said:

Thanks for doing this again this year Weston. I'm admittedly uninformed about potentially available free agent players outside of my Bengals focus, so these lists and comments are greatly appreciated and add immensely to the "one stop shopping" this website offers to fans.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QanQKWPysa1OOByip3Mnr8gPaOoP6v9wUL6JKK1Q6e0/edit?usp=sharing

Here is my list. Just through TEs so far.

I'm fine with what we have, Perine has a year left on his contract, does what he does still at a high level. I'd like to see if Brooks can do what Perine does eventually, so we know if we have to draft more than one RB in a year, but for now I dont see a need to add a RB. Chase Brown, I would start talks with to keep long-term.

53 minutes ago, Jamie_B said:

I'm fine with what we have, Perine has a year left on his contract, does what he does still at a high level. I'd like to see if Brooks can do what Perine does eventually, so we know if we have to draft more than one RB in a year, but for now I dont see a need to add a RB. Chase Brown, I would start talks with to keep long-term.

I think most likely scenario is a late round rb. The two big questions at this position is do they extend Brown and what do we do if Brown is injured

25 minutes ago, MichaelWeston said:

I think most likely scenario is a late round rb. The two big questions at this position is do they extend Brown and what do we do if Brown is injured

I think there are a bunch of young guys we can start talks with, Brown, Turner, Hill, maybe even Murphy. If the front office wants to get the fans' goodwill back, getting the young guys done before their contracts are in their final year would help.

As to RB, if Brown goes down I think you could platoon Perine and Brooks. Maybe add a practice squad guy, maybe get a college free agent if you want to keep 4 RBs, but for me there are alot of other pressing needs that we should focus our draft picks on.

If we fix our defense in free agency, I could accept using pick 10 on Jeremyah Love. But I don't think the Bengals will manage to have all the defensive needs covered before the draft and expect a defender at 10.

3 hours ago, sparky151 said:

If we fix our defense in free agency, I could accept using pick 10 on Jeremyah Love. But I don't think the Bengals will manage to have all the defensive needs covered before the draft and expect a defender at 10.

Lord, no, anything but that. No way they're going have the defense "fixed" before midseason, if they can even manage such a thing. Let's not forget they fired their DC this time last year, with the same plan to "fix" the defense, and it somehow got worse. On top of which, fixing it would require first admitting that it's broken. They seem to think they're on that 1 seed bye this week or some shit.

All that aside, ain't no way I'd burn a top 10 pick on a RB. In this offense? Running draw plays on 3rd & long out of the shotgun? No thanks.

16 hours ago, sparky151 said:

If we fix our defense in free agency, I could accept using pick 10 on Jeremyah Love. But I don't think the Bengals will manage to have all the defensive needs covered before the draft and expect a defender at 10.

That would be the saddest pick, OK, second saddest behind QB. Pick one of the OL before a RB.

8 hours ago, I_C_Deadpeople said:

That would be the saddest pick, OK, second saddest behind QB. Pick one of the OL before a RB.

Our QB's been hurt a bunch so they can't ignore the position, but if they can't sign Flacco there aren't a lot of other FA's likely to give the MVP-type performances this team needs to win consistently. If they have the opportunity to draft someone like that it's time to trade down for more defense.

Thing is.. How many more trips to IR do we think Joe has in him? Realistically. Hard to assume it will never happen again, so what then?

I don't have those questions about RB but after round 4 it doesn't matter, take whoever so long as they get something out of them.

That would be the saddest pick, OK, second saddest behind QB. Pick one of the OL before a RB.

Love is one of the top 3 or 4 best players in this draft. Taking him wouldn't be a bad pick at all, it would be similar to when the Ravens added Derrick Henry and were harder to stop in 2024. The main drawback is the opportunity cost of not improving the defense.

5 hours ago, sparky151 said:

Love is one of the top 3 or 4 best players in this draft. Taking him wouldn't be a bad pick at all, it would be similar to when the Ravens added Derrick Henry and were harder to stop in 2024. The main drawback is the opportunity cost of not improving the defense.

Need a Ray Rice (minus being a punk) more than a Derrick Henry but at the end of the day.. it's a fucking RB. In the Top 10? For this team. Absolute disaster of a pick. They need a backup QB more another RB. Just pointless for the crossroads they're starting at now.

also, not for nothing but 5 years from now there's a very good chance he won't even be the best 3rd or 4th RB in this draft. not because he sucks but because it's the draft. maybe half the people that go in the top 10 will have been worth it in hindsight. that's just how it works. but the hype train got no brakes...

On 1/9/2026 at 6:05 PM, MichaelWeston said:

RB 2026

State of the Position: Chase Brown has solidified his role in the offense as the lead back and a dangerous receiver out of the backfield. He will maintain that role in 2026 with an eye on an extension. Those extensions are coming later for backs. Five 1000-yard backs will hit free agency this year. James Cook just signed a 4-year 48-million-dollar deal this offseason that might be the blueprint. Bengals will have eyes on Javonte Williams-Travis Etienne-Rico Dowdle-Kenneth Walker and Breece Hall this summer. Brown has no reason to sign any extension until they get their deals.

Samaje Perine was an excellent second back with 382 rushing yards, 87 yards through the air and seven special teams’ tackles. He’s back in that rotation. Tahj Brooks had seven special teams tackles as well but was used sparingly out of the backfield, just 16 carries and one catch on the year.

Gary Brightwell was added to a futures deal and is a special teamer both returning and covering kicks in his past. He didn’t get any snaps this year. Kendall Milton did get a few and looked good in the preseason but he hasn’t been added to a futures deal yet this offseason.

The Need: The team historically has liked to draft a back early to replace the back they have now. That isn’t the feeling I get with Brown but it’s a possibility. At the very least Perine is 31 and near the end of his career and getting another back in the pipeline makes sense.

They could just roll it back with Brown-Perine-Brooks and some sort of undrafted free agent. It’s more likely they draft someone late to compete with Brooks. The least likely is that they sign an outside free agent. I am a believer that you should sign one outside free agent at every position every year to bring new ideas and energy to the room. Even if they don’t make it out of camp. With that said I would be targeting a veteran who is still looking for a roster spot when the music stops week 2-3 of free agency.

The Candidates

Amir Abdullah will be 33 next season and has only played sparingly for the Colts this year with 14 carries and 16 catches. He does have five special teams tackles and an elite elusive rating of 116.7 from PFF. He played 135 Special Teams snaps and 86 from scrimmage.

Jeremy McNichols probably has a home somewhere as a rotational back but he seems like an afterthought at times. He’s got a similarly high elusive rating of 109.1 and rushed for 221 yards this year while catching 25 balls for 196 yards. He will be 30 this year.

Julius Chestnut is just 25 with lots more potential meat on the bone. He had just 11 carries this year and has just 42 in his 4-year career. What stands out is that he had 17 special teams tackles this year. Chestnut put up big numbers at Sacred Heart, a FCS school. He is still young and might be able to develop on offense while he makes a big impact on special teams. Chestnut is a 225-pound bruiser as well.

Malik Davis should potentially be out of reach. He probably has a home back in Dallas after a decent year supporting Javonte Williams. He rushed for 250+ yards from scrimmage while making seven special teams tackles.

Jerome Ford fell out of favor behind two rookies in Cleveland. He had just 24 carries this year but did have 26 catches. He has ties to the area having gone to the University of Cincinnati. He was pretty successful in 2023 rushing for over 800 yards and catching 44 balls. He’s just 27.

Antonio Gibson is my favorite of the group. He’s coming off a torn ACL suffered in October but seems like he would be a good fit with Burrow and our system. Gibson is just 28 and under contract for 2026, but the Patriots can save 3.5M with his release and they have two other backs above him in their rotation. Gibson has four seasons where he caught thirty-six balls or more, and has averaged over four yards a carry in five of his six seasons.

AJ Dillon could be an ideal big back (6-0 247) for short yardage complimenting Brown. He’s 28 and buried behind Barkley, Shipley and Tank Bigsby in Philadelphia. That meant just 12 carries and three catches in his year back from injury. Dillon rushed for more than 600 yards in 2023, 2022 and 2021 and caught more than twenty balls each of those years. The big negative is that he’s played minimal special teams.

Zamir White is just 26 but, like Dillon, found himself deep on a bench this season. White caught just four passes and had just 12 carries while dealing with injuries. In 2023 he rushed for over 450 yards and caught 15 passes.

Dameon Pierce was someone who we tried to add to the practice squad, but he ended up choosing Kansas City. He fell far out of favor in Houston after a rookie year where he rushed for 939 yards and caught thirty balls. This season he’s had just 14 carries. He will turn just 26 in February.

Of the list Gibson, Dillon and Chestnut would be the three that I would focus on the most. Adding any of them could make it so that running back wouldn’t be a necessity in the draft. Chestnut is particularly interesting.

Excellent sir..

A J.Dillon caught my eye.

Grab 2 or 3 UDFA RBs and roll with them after Brown, Perine and Brooks. As far as a high pick at RB..., I'd rather pick a WR high to replace Yoshi and be a primary guy if/when Chase or Higgins get hurt again.