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If you were underweight on Chase Brown in 2024 fantasy football, you weren’t alone, and you probably felt it by midseason. But with 2025 drafts heating up, a surprising consensus has emerged across the fantasy community: Brown is not only a locked-in RB1, but his profile in the Bengals offense looks rock-solid for another top-tier season.
Let’s dig into Matt Harmon and Scott Pianowski’s conversation from the Yahoo Fantasy Forecast for a nuanced breakdown of Brown’s outlook.
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Brown finished last season as the RB12 overall, emerging as one of the rare true hits for zero-RB drafters. When Zack Moss missed time, Brown “was the only game in town,” as Harmon put it, regularly dominating not just the early-down work but also the hurry-up and high-scoring packages — a holy grail scenario for fantasy running backs.
Pianowski put it bluntly: “Chase Brown was a screaming right answer … He never came off the field. He was good in all packages … [and] a running back who never comes off the field in that situation is fantasy gold.”
Perhaps the most important note for Brown’s fantasy managers is how little has changed in Cincinnati. Burrow, Chase, Higgins — everyone’s back, and the system remains in place. The only real additions in the RB room? Taj Brooks (a Day 3 rookie) and some veteran insurance in Samaje Perine. Neither is expected to cut deeply into Brown’s role; the Bengals’ lack of a splashy running back addition speaks volumes about their trust in Brown.
Even the oft-circulated Zack Moss “threat” doesn’t move the needle. Pianowski is firm: “Zach Moss? Last year, what, 3.3 yards a carry? Give me a break … He really should be like an RB3 on a decent team and he might ultimately be that on this team.”
What are the positives and negatives for Brown in 2025?
Brown fits the traits fantasy managers crave:
Three-down role: He handled 90%+ snaps in multiple games last year — a pace that, even if dialed back, still lands him in RB1 territory.
Concentrated offense: As Harmon notes, the Bengals have “a very highly concentrated nature of this offense.” You don’t have to squint to see the targets for Brown (alongside Chase and Higgins) being safely locked in.
Game-script-proof: Even in negative scripts — likely with Cincinnati’s defense still projected to struggle — Brown will continue to see playing time and pass-catching work.
The Yahoo Fantasy Forecast episode highlights that the industry consensus is to rank Brown right around RB12-13, and that’s roughly where his best ball ADP is landing — yet Pianowski went as far as to call him flat-out mispriced: “People who are getting Brown in the third round right now, enjoy it while it lasts. He’ll be a locked-in second-round pick, I think, when the major part of draft season kicks in.”
There’s a broader fantasy team-building angle here, too. If you love building out dominant receiver rooms and going “Hero RB,” Brown is a prime candidate. Pianowski says it best: “Is Chase Brown good enough for a Hero RB build? And my answer is, absolutely. If I left the draft where the only signature back I had was Brown and I had that wide receiver … I was winning the flex. I was winning the wide receiver room. That’s a roster I’d go to war with.”
Of course, every player has risks. With Brown, it comes down to:
Pedigree concerns: As a former Day 3 pick, some “what if?” always lingers until a player receives massive team investment.
Volume adjustment: The coaching staff has hinted they don’t want every game 90%+ snap shares, but even a dip to 70-75% would be plenty.
Bengals defense improvement: If the defense outperforms expectations, there could be fewer shootouts — but the unit is projected to remain bottom-10.
Summing up the takeaways from Harmon and Pianowski, Chase Brown is one of the best RB picks you can make at the 2/3 turn. Opportunity, team trust and fantasy-friendly game environment — all the ingredients are there. Don’t overthink it, don’t get sidetracked by backup chatter, and be comfortable making him the hoss of your RB room. When the Bengals’ carnival kicks into high gear, you’ll be glad Brown is riding shotgun.
