Is Tahj Brooks, Samaje Perine, or Zack Moss the RB2 for the Bengals? Fantasy Football Depth Charts

May 17, 2025

Is Tahj Brooks, Samaje Perine, or Zack Moss the RB2 for the Bengals? Fantasy football depth chart analysis for the Bengals, breaking down Tahj Brooks, Samaje Perine, or Zack Moss.

The Cincinnati Bengals signed running back Zack Moss ahead of the 2024 NFL season. Then, after last year, they signed RB Samaje Perine and later drafted tailback Tahj Brooks in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Thus, they currently have four running backs on their roster.

After last season, it's apparent that RB Chase Brown is the lead back on this team. That seems unlikely to change. His performance was solid last season, and though PFF ranked him below average as a pure runner, his pass-catching ability and explosiveness make up for it.

Still, the question remains—who will be the RB2? While Moss had a few decent games last season, a neck injury put him out of commission, and it's unclear how he will recover. Perine has a history with the team, and Brooks is a talented young player. Let's dive into who it should be!

• 2025 fantasy football rankings
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Tahj Brooks Fantasy Football Outlook

Brooks hasn't played a down in the NFL, but that doesn't mean we know absolutely nothing about how he will perform at the next level. Of course, the prevailing (incorrect) wisdom before the season is that rookies drafted in the later rounds will do nothing and have zero chance of competing with veterans for established roles.

Fun fact. Tahj Brooks never failed to reach over 100 yards a game rushing this past season. He only had one game where he didn’t score a TD also. pic.twitter.com/EpZpE7RJ6G

— ZIM (@zimwhodey) April 26, 2025

Brooks was an uber-productive workhorse back at Texas Tech in his final season. The "rookies never do anything" narrative doesn't really apply when your competition is guys like Perine and Moss, so let's just set that aside for now. Brooks was a stud in college.

Are we overlooking Tahj Brooks in the 2025 Draft? 🤔

- 5'10", 230 lbs
- Elusive runner
- Two seasons with 1,500+ yards
- 96 forced missed tackles in 2023
- 100+ rush yards in 19/24 games the last two years
pic.twitter.com/gXRdETxrOw

— SleeperCFB (@SleeperCFB) March 16, 2025

Let's just put on our thinking caps for a second. Brown looked a lot better than Moss last season. But the Bengals still tried to give Moss a pretty solid share of the carries. Why? Well, some teams view backfields as committees, as long as they have the personnel to execute them.

A big reason for this is trying to avoid injuries. It's not necessarily true that giving a back over 300 touches in a season grinds their bones to dust. The problem is that every play carries an injury risk, and putting all your eggs in one basket without a real backup plan can lead to problems.

Tough for Chase Brown, to get that injury, with how he’s risen as a star for the Bengals at RB.

Tough to see. #DENvsCIN pic.twitter.com/edsnG44gBi

— The Whole Delivery (@TWDTV1) December 29, 2024

Brown likely isn't losing his role, but Brooks has plenty of contingent upside. I wasn't lying when I said Brown graded below average as a rusher -- his rush grade was 29th out of 47 qualifying backs. He's an explosive athlete, but doesn't have the best skill set between the tackles.

Brown is likely to be in on the majority of passing downs. There's no doubt that he's the better pass-catching back. But Brooks could spell him occasionally and take a portion of his carries. This won't ruin Brown's value, but if Brooks impresses over the course of the season, his role will likely grow. Both can succeed.

#Bengals HC Zac Taylor on whether he’s worried about wear and tear on Chase Brown, with Zack Moss sidelined:

“I think it’s important that you have another guy that can take some of the work off of him — whether that’s a couple carries, whether that’s some other snaps in some… pic.twitter.com/Bjbs2BHBir

— The Coachspeak Index (@CoachspeakIndex) November 4, 2024

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said multiple times last season that it's important to have a running back who takes some of the workload off the lead guy. That's what happened with Moss. We'll talk about Moss in a later section, but a key factor is that Brooks is likely already the better back.

Samaje Perine Fantasy Football Outlook

It's not easy to envision Perine's immediate role right now. For many seasons, he's been little more than a great pass-protecting running back, occasionally handling receptions. But he lacks the explosiveness to be given many carries. He's really not a terrible insurance policy, though.

In case of injuries to other backs, the offense could shift their game plan to be more pass-heavy and utilize Perine's ability to protect the quarterback and act as a safety valve if necessary. But with Brown being the obvious best pass-catcher among this group, Perine won't get much work there in normal cases.

Samaje Perine will be with the Bengals again pic.twitter.com/lssfDTtE39

— Chaston Scott (@CinCity808) June 1, 2024

There aren't many scenarios in which the Bengals likely think that it would be better for the offense to have Perine on the field when Brown is healthy. Brown's absurd speed and acceleration make him a player the team wants to get the ball to as much as possible, and in situations where he excels.

Zack Moss Fantasy Football Outlook

I don't think there's much of an outlook for Moss right now. It seems that Brooks was drafted as his replacement. We still don't know if Moss will return due to the neck injury he suffered last season, which could potentially be career-ending. But Moss wasn't very impressive last season, even before he got hurt.

It was obvious from the start that Brown should have handled a majority of the workload. The Bengals became a better offense when he was getting the majority of the work. Moss has an uphill battle to return for the start of next season, and he could have lingering effects that could hurt his abilities.

Zack Moss over the last month:

26 carries
54 yards
2.08 YPC
4.5 PPG

Zamir White on the season:

54 carries
164 yards
3.0 YPC
3.1 PPG

Lesson for 2025: Do NOT draft bad RBs no matter how enticing the opportunity looks

— Chris O'Brien (@17gamepace) October 28, 2024

Moss had a few breakaway runs with the Indianapolis Colts a few years ago, but those were more of a product of the run-blocking and system he played with. He was not good, and still isn't good, and won't be good, so drafting him based purely on the opportunity you think he might have, as the above post says, is not a good idea.

I don't plan on drafting Moss anywhere. There's really no point. There's no reason not to take a chance on the rookie in a deep class who might be underrated. I think, purely based on college tape and production, that Brooks is already a better back than Moss is anyway.

Who Should I Draft For Fantasy Football?

The answer to these questions is always the rookie, and even more so with Brooks, who's an impressive back. Both Perine and Moss have been in the league for years now. Despite the stretches of decent production, we know Moss doesn't have the ability to become a starting back in the league and has periods of poor production.

Perine, meanwhile, has mostly played a role as a pass protector and occasional receiver on passing downs. It's cool that he's good at protecting the quarterback, and it's part of what's led to his longevity in the league, but we don't care about that for fantasy football.

Tahj Brooks is a hilariously strong runner, so many yards after contact and an uncanny ability to create something out of nothing.

Been an absolute pleasure to see him carry the rock all year for #TexasTech. pic.twitter.com/5EjK1HiUUi

— Justin Apodaca (@JustinApod) November 19, 2023

Evaluating rookie running backs this season can be tricky. Because it was such a deep class, many fantasy managers severely underestimate the potential of later-round selections. This is especially true among running backs, because the league devalues the position as a whole.

RBs are taken later in the draft than their counterparts at wide receiver and many other positions. But don't let that fool you into thinking that Brooks won't quickly vault up the depth chart to the RB2 position in 2025.

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