(by Ross Jacobs)
The Bengals played a couple of series with their starters. The Lions did not. And I have to say the Lions backups were going toe to toe with the Bengals starters. That speaks to their depth but also makes me a bit nervous for the Bengals. Hopefully it’s just a case of taking it somewhat easy in a first preseason game, getting back into the rhythm of things. The Bengals have always been very slow starters under Zac Taylor, so I’ll chalk it up to that for the moment.
The Lions, on the other hand, looked like they were chomping at the bit to pound someone into the ground. I think last year really pissed Dan Campbell off and he’s out for blood this year.
On that front, the new offense under Drew Petzing is exactly what you would expect, a very creative and effective ground game paired with a fairly vanilla and predictable passing game. Jahmyr Gibbs is going to get fed as many touches as he can handle this year. He might break fantasy the way CMC has done at times in the past. At the same time, I’m worried that Amon-Ra St Brown, Jameson Williams, and Sam LaPorta could be in for slightly lower numbers than they have put up in the past. Williams will be the one that gets hit hardest I think. Amon Ra should be mostly fine with good volume.
The Bengals are also debuting a newly structured offense. They are trying to follow league trends and get under center with more downhill runs and play action. Unlike the Lions though, the first look at it was not great. Everything looked discombobulated and ineffective. Joe Burrow didn’t look comfortable, and the line was awkward and struggling to protect.
I don’t know if they will continue on with it, perhaps it improves with more practice, or maybe they get frustrated at some point and scrap it, but my antennae are up that the offense might not be as juicy as I was hoping.
I have almost no notes on any of the Bengals. We know what they are as a starting unit and there are only two interesting young players on the team as far as I’m concerned for fantasy. I was really hoping to see TE Erick All but he didn’t play as part of the team’s plan to slowly ramp him up. To me that sounds like they have big plans for him and they don’t want to risk another injury, but it could be purely precautionary because his injury history is so devastating. We’ll see. I think he’s going to play a key role. Whether that role is productive for fantasy or not, I’m not sure yet.
In All’s (potential) place as starter was Drew Sample over Mike Gesicki. Sample is almost wholly a blocker at this point and Gesicki is only being brought in on pure passing downs. They telegraph the play when either of them is in, thus the reason I believe All is going to be the starter.
The other young Bengal that I wanted to see was Tahj Brooks. He was fine, showed a little power and some elusiveness but nothing special. His hands in the passing game didn’t look great as well, granted it was raining and the QBs weren’t helping with inaccurate passes either.
The Lions side had a lot more intrigue even if there is nothing imminent for fantasy.
Isaac TeSlaa was the guy the QBs were throwing almost every pass to early on. Trouble is, he wasn’t gaining much separation. He isn’t making a move or taking anything away from Amon-Ra or Jameson anytime soon.
After TeSlaa departed, the next receiver up was Dominic Lovett, and he looked pretty good despite the QB struggles. He’s a little jitterbug and has some juice to his game. Not a future starter but he’ll be an ok #3 or 4 receiver in another year or two.
Ditto RB Jacob Saylors who got the start at RB. Not good enough to start for anyone but he’s a pretty elusive little runner.
But the most interesting player in this entire game was a Bengals 3rd string defender I’ve never heard of, Swayze Bozeman, a LB from Southern Miss in 2024. Apparently he struggled with injuries in college and has bounced around 3 other teams in just two years in the pros. He’s 27 already so it’s not like he’s some exciting young prospect, but he’s a heck of an athlete and showed some good instincts here. 6’1”/224, ran a 4.5 40-time, 24 bench reps, a 10’11” broad jump, and a stupendous 6.67 3-cone.
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