Each year during this dead period I do a series of threads where we rank out position group against others in the NFL. We'll kick off this year with the RBs. We'll go 3 deep (Bellcow/ 3rd down/ substitute). Our top 3 are currently up for debate. But if asked to decide today I'd say:

Mixon= Bell cow
Evans= 3rd down
Perine=backup.

So where do you rank our RBs. As always here's the competition:

ARZ- Chase Edmonds-JamesConner- Johnathan Ward
ATL- Mike Davis-Cordarelle Patterson- Qadree Ollison
BAL- JK Dobbins-Gus Edwards- Justice Hill
BUF- Devin Singletary-Zack Moss- Matt Breida
CAR-Christian MaCafferty- Chubba Hubbard-Rodney Smith
CHI-David Montgomery-Tarik Cohen-Damian Williams
CLV- Nick Chubb-Karim Hunt-D'Earnest Johnson
DAL-Zeke Elliott-Tony Pollard-Rico Dowdie
DEN-Mevin Gordon III-Royce Freeman-Javonte Williams
DET- D'Andre Swift-Jamaal Williams- Jemar Jefferson
GBP-Aaron Jones-AJ Dillon-Kylin Hill
HOU-David Johnson-Phillip Lindsay- Mark Ingram III
IND- Johnathan Taylor-Marlon Mack-Nyhiem Hines
JAX- James Robinson-Travis Etienne-Carlos Hyde
KCC- Clyde EdwardsHelaire-Darrel Williams-Jerrick McKinnon
LVR- Josh Jacobs-Kenyon Drake-Jalen Richard
LAC-Austin Eckler-Justin Jackson-Joshua Kelly
LAR-Cam Akers-Darrel Henderson-Xavier Jones
MIA- Myles Gaskin-Malcom Brown-Savion Ahmed
MIN- Davin Cook-Alexander Mattison-Ahmer Abdullah
NEP- Damien Harris-Sony Micheal-James White
NOS- Alvin Kamara-Latavious Murrat-Dwayne Washington
NYG- Saquan Barkley-Devontae Booker-Ryquell Armstead
NYJ- Tevin Coleman-Ty Johnson-Michael Carter
PHI- Miles Sanders-Boston Scott-Kerryon Johnson
PIT-Najee Harris-Benny Snell-Anthony Macfarland
SFF-Raheem Mostert-Jeff Wilson-Trey Sermon
SEA- Chris Carson-Rashad Penny-Travis Homer
TBB- Leonard Fornet-Robert Jones-Gio Bernard
TEN- Derrick Herny -Derryton Evans-Jeremy McNichols
WAS-Antonio Gibson-JD McKissic-Peyton Barber

FA-Tood Gurley-Leveon Bell-Shady McCoy

I think we could be top 10. Really like Evans as a Gio replacement. Has great hands, is quick, great burst and is a willing
blocker which is probably the most underrated quality in a RB now a days. Perine shown he is a very good quality backup
RB late last year and we all know Mixon is as talented as they come. He just needs to finish and make those long runs end
in TD's, my only critique of him.

With the new OL pieces who knows how good we can be honestly...

I think the highest ranked teams at RB are the Stains and Ravens sadly though for us as they are in our Division.

Chubb and Hunt are crazy good, same with Dobbins, Edwards and Justice Hill on the Ratbirds.

I am still a big fan of Treyveon because I watched him in the SEC, but it seems Perine passed him on the depth charts.

I like the hype I hear about Evans, but I have to se it before i put any faith in him.

Big fan of Mixon.

Lack of depth should probably put us in the second tier, but I am casting a top 6 homer vote here.

(06-01-2021, 03:02 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I am still a big fan of Treyveon because I watched him in the SEC, but it seems Perine passed him on the depth charts.

I like the hype I hear about Evans, but I have to se it before i put any faith in him.

Big fan of Mixon.

Lack of depth should probably put us in the second tier, but I am casting a top 6 homer vote here.

Trayveon was great at Texas A&M. Been very surprised by his poor play so far in the NFL. 

Thought he was a major steal at the time.

This is hard because we have guys with name recognition, and potential, but for whatever reason, we suck in the run game. Til they do it on the field, I can't help but rank us among the worst.

I cant rank.until.I them.hit the field. Even DeDe Dorsey looked
Good in.just a helmet jersey shorts cleats.
Lest not forget the Bengals have a new RBs coach
This year. Its been a revolving door since Anderson
Retired

Mixon is a top 5 back when healthy. The rest of the position I'm not so sure in.

All things considered, and there's a lot to consider. I'd say we'll come in middle of the pack.

Mixon is tough to evaluate. He has dealt with some really hairy guard play - especially last year - but he has also flashed brilliance and had good stretches of production. I'd say that Mixon is above average as far as starting RBs go. Might he regress? Might he wow everyone with another stretch of very good play? At this point nothing would surprise me. I could see him being named an all pro this year just as easily as I could see him pulling a Jeremy Hill 2.0

(06-01-2021, 03:04 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Trayveon was great at Texas A&M. Been very surprised by his poor play so far in the NFL. 

Thought he was a major steal at the time.

Same.  But I bet the Big 12 fans who followed Perine in college thought he was a steal in the 4th round also.  

Williams does a lot of things well.  Good balance.  Sees the holes.  Can plant and bounce cut.  Has good hands.  Runs very strong for his size (5'8", 205) and was a good pass blocker in college.  Trayveon is the type of guy who could up really impressive numbers behind a good O-line.  But it is just hard to stick in the NFL when you are that small and don't have top end speed or a lot of "shake" in your game.

Mixon is all about staying healthy.

Love his talent, but like Lawson, His injury history really scares me.

If Mixon and our O-line stays healthy he could be among the league leaders in rushing and yards from scrimmage. Taylor came from a run heavy offense with the Rams. I would not be surprise to see us run the ball more this year.

The crazy thing is: We could be Top 12 and still the worst in the AFC North

(06-01-2021, 03:15 PM)jason Wrote: This is hard because we have guys with name recognition, and potential, but for whatever reason, we suck in the run game. Til they do it on the field, I can't help but rank us among the worst.

Same.

Behind the abysmal run blocking of the recent iterations of the Cincinnati offensive line anyone would look horrible. It’s hard to judge because of this.

A guy coming off an injury with a good history, a career back up at best, and a 6th round rookie lead to me voting 7-12 range, but more closer to 12.

(06-01-2021, 07:08 PM)bfine32 Wrote: The crazy thing is: We could be Top 12 and still the worst in the AFC North

True, this Division is rough and the Stoolpitt adding Najee Harris doesn't help us.

(06-01-2021, 07:15 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: Same.

Behind the abysmal run blocking of the recent iterations of the Cincinnati offensive line anyone would look horrible.  It’s hard to judge because of this.

Yes, run blocking has to improve big time for us to truly judge, there aren't many Barry Sanders around that can run well 
even with shitty blocking.

(06-01-2021, 10:43 PM)TecmoBengals Wrote: A guy coming off an injury with a good history, a career back up at best, and a 6th round rookie lead to me voting 7-12 range, but more closer to 12.

Perine sure looked good late last year. I wouldn't call him a back up at best, he shown something to me. 

Enough to be a a good RB to fill in in case Mixon goes down again. Dude can tote the rock for a lot of carries.

Think Evans was a steal that late and has done nothing but impress since getting here. Jim Harbaugh was weird how he didn't
use Evans last year after the great year he had before. Don't think he would of lasted past the 3rd if he was used right and 
certain things didn't happen at Michigan. Evans reminds me a lot of Gio with his burst and Evans might be even tougher.

Most teams play by comity, but I think we are planning to use Mixon as the main guy on all 3 downs and the other guys have limited or no experience at all so this is difficult to rank.

I voted 13-18 and that is probably generous.

I am excited to see how Evans is utilized. It feels like they want him involved in the passing game.

Somewhere in the 16-20 range, probably?

Mixon has had 1 great year, 1 okay year, 2 terrible years, and doesn't have homerun ability (Jacksonville last year was actually his first CAREER rushing TD of 20+ yards, it took over 3 years). He's also missed multiple games in 3 of his 4 years. The other two guys are a backup who should probably be a FB and an unknown quantity late round pick rookie.

I've got us somewhere in the middle of the pack. Problem is that there are some backs who are so good it doesn't matter who their backups are -- e.g., McCaffrey, Cook, Kamara, Zeke, Barkley, Henry, Jones. And most of these guys are 3-down backs, so that doesn't matter either. Then there are the teams with two legit starting RBs (CLE, ARI, BUF, IND, LVR, TBB) which ATM I'd prefer over our guys -- a top-10 starter coming off an injury, an unproven rookie, and a journeyman vet. Puts us around 14-ish in my mind, give or take.

(06-02-2021, 09:57 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Somewhere in the 16-20 range, probably?

Mixon has had 1 great year, 1 okay year, 2 terrible years, and doesn't have homerun ability (Jacksonville last year was actually his first CAREER rushing TD of 20+ yards, it took over 3 years). He's also missed multiple games in 3 of his 4 years. The other two guys are a backup who should probably be a FB and an unknown quantity late round pick rookie.

Agreed.  It's hard to judge because we're dealing with a number of variables with the line and Mixon's health.  Mixon getting the big contract and then playing 6 games and now going into his 5th year makes it easy to put him into the "show me" category for the time being.  Maybe he turns it around this year and maybe he doesn't and we sit and wonder what could have been if he had a line during his prime years. 

At least we aren't talking about Jeremy Hill and his low YPC and the solution being to give him a buttload of carries so he can "get a rhythm going." Great, so all we have to do is let him run for 50 yards on 25 carries and THEN he will get rolling. Hope Dalton can convert 100% of his 3rd and long tries!