With summer in full swing and the NFL training grounds less than two months away, we brought together our Cincy Jungle staff to rank in the top 25 Bengals of the 2020 season.
This ranking is simply who we believe to be the top 25 Bengals in the upcoming season. It includes veterans and rookies alike, though it’s obviously more favorable for players who have actually played snapshots in the NFL, so don’t expect players like Joe Burrow being one of the top five players from the start.
For a summary of the list, watch our broadcast here.
The next player on this list is one of the best at his position in the league, but he remains tragically underrated.
When a running back runs for more than 1,100 yards in consecutive seasons, he would normally be considered one of the best running backs in the league.
Unfortunately, due to the lack of talent around him, it hasn’t been announced outside of Cincinnati.
But it’s number 3 on our list, reflecting its status among the Bengals’ fan base.
Number 3: Joe Mixonrunning backwards
There are so many reasons to love Joe Mixon. He is one of the league’s most talented running backs, and his passion for soccer is contagious.
Despite some off-field issues he got into early in his football career, he was quickly a fan favorite in Cincinnati. Even when he was third again on the depth chart in early 2017, his outspoken love for the Bengals earned most of the fan base.
He didn’t take much action in his rookie year, but the organization had already shown signs of an implosion. That season, he only ran 178 times for 626 yards and four touchdowns.
2018 was the first year Mixon was used as a feature for an entire season. He gripped the offense in the last six weeks of the season and established himself as one of the team’s most talented players.
During that section (weeks 12-17), he averaged 3.08 Yards after contact / attempt and a whopping 56.2% of his yards came from runs of 15 yards or more, according to Pro Football Focus. In comparison, he averaged 2.49 YAC / A and only 35.6% of the yards came from runs of at least 15 yards from Weeks 1-11 of that season.
2019 had a similar vibe. Mixon had a bad start to the year due to offensive line issues that significantly affected his career style. During Cincinnati’s 0-8 start, Mixon was PFF’s highest ranked among runners with at least 100 carries. He averaged 2.32 YAC / A, and forced just .14 tackles / missed attempts.
But, once again, he and Line O changed things during the second half of the season. He looked like a completely different ball carrier; averaging 3.63 YAC / A and .21 MT / A for weeks 10-17. PFF placed him third highest among the starters during this stretch.
The Bengals won a total of eight games and finished last in the division in the past two seasons. But Mixon seemed one of the few immune to the Bengals’ ineptitude. In fact, he seemed to thrive on that.
He touched the ball almost 600 times in those two years and gained 2,888 total attack yards, finding the end zone 17 times. During a time when AJ Green couldn’t stay healthy and the starting quarterback role changed hands multiple times, Mixon was the Bengals’ constant.
The Bengals’ offense has been so bad passing the ball that the only chance they had was to feed Mixon over and over again. Very rarely teams are more successful in making their running back the focal point of their offense, but it gave Mixon a chance to prove himself.
Mixon is one of the most talented running backs in the NFL, and he has the ability to make plays when there is nothing there. Even when he’s not playing, he can be found on the sidelines cheering on his team.
It’s hard to find a Bengals fan bigger than Mixon.
