Cincinnati Bengals’ Playmaker Named NFL’s Best Value For 2024

The Cincinnati Bengals traded running back Joe Mixon to the Houston Texans this offseason, but they replaced him with a younger, cheaper player who may even be ascending at this stage.

That player is Zack Moss.

The Bengals landed Moss on a two-year, $8 million deal in free agency, which Bleacher Report’s Brent Sobleski thinks is one of the NFL’s biggest bargains.

Moss is coming off of a 2023 campaign in which he played 14 games with the Indianapolis Colts and rushed for 794 yards and five touchdowns while averaging 4.3 yards per carry. He also logged 27 catches for 192 yards and a couple of scores.

The 26-year-old, who played his collegiate football at the University of Utah, was originally selected by the Buffalo Bills in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

He had a quiet rookie season with the Bills, registering 481 yards and four touchdowns on the ground, logging 4.3 yards per attempt. The following year, Moss actually regressed a bit, finishing with 345 yards and four scores while recording a meager 3.6 yards per tote.

After a very slow start with Buffalo in 2022, the Bills traded Moss to the Colts in November of that year. He went on to post 365 yards and a touchdown while averaging a robust 4.8 yards per carry in Indianapolis, totaling 456 rushing yards on the season.

Moss then had a golden opportunity to begin 2023, as Colts featured running back Jonathan Taylor began the season on the PUP list. During that time, Moss flashed considerable ability, rattling off a pair of monster performances in Weeks 3 and 5. His best game of the campaign came in the latter contest, when he racked up 165 yards and a couple of touchdowns as a rusher.

While the 26-year-old still has a lot to prove, he definitely displayed last season that he has the ability to be a No. 1 back in a team’s offense. Now it looks like Cincinnati will be providing him with that opportunity.

The Bengals went 9-8 this past season due much in part to major injuries, the biggest of all being quarterback Joe Burrow, who went down with a season-ending wrist injury in Week 11.

We’ll see if Moss can help get Cincy back to the playoffs in 2024.