Is the fantasy football hype around Chase Brown warranted? Let's investigate
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.
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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.'
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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:
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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:
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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.
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What's simply frustrating is to pay money and know it's not going to the reason why it's being collected.' Caleb Shreve, a songwriter and producer who's worked with the likes of Jennifer Lopez and is also CEO at Killphonic Rights, a rights collection organization, said he hears music he has produced 'all the time in yoga spots and bars, and I've never seen them on publishing statements.' Many songwriters are convinced the current system favors the biggest artists at the expense of middle-tier and emerging songwriters. Because of the blanket licensing system, BMI and ASCAP don't track individual song use by those licensees and instead rely on proxy data, like what's popular on the radio or through streaming platforms, to divvy up those collected fees. Sometimes radio hits mimic what's played in an arena, restaurant or bar, but not always. 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It made its first foray into the US earlier this year, placing listening devices in about 180 establishments around the Denver area in a test collected data underscored that what's played in public places doesn't necessarily mirror what's on the popular playlists or radio and streaming platforms. Edwards likens the idea of using proxies to political polling — directionally helpful but not precise. Audoo found that 77,000 unique tracks were played around Denver over two months, split among 26,000 artists, according to data viewed by Bloomberg News. On average, only 6.6% of the top-40 songs played in the venues also appeared on Billboard's top radio-play chart. In markets where Audoo has partnered with venues, Edwards said business owners have been proud to support particular songwriters and the music business writ large. 'All of a sudden it went from a push-and-pull of, 'Why do I owe you money?' to, 'Ok, I can understand music is funding the people who create,'' Edwards said. Carman and Soni write for Bloomberg.
