What to Make of the Performance by the Cincinnati Bengals’ Running Back

There are a lot of questions surrounding how the Bengals will treat their running backs. Chase Brown is returning after a unique rookie year. Brown showed flashes of brilliance as the understudy for Joe Mixon.

He had two really big plays last year that many have clung to as to why he is ready for a big role. As a whole though, his year was not special. Brown had 200 yards from scrimmage. 85 of those yards and his only TD came from those two plays.

He has demonstrated a clear ability to make big plays, but it's unclear if it is enough to prove himself to be a clear RB1.

The talk out of training camp is that Zach Moss’ signing will not take Brown out of the equation. Brown has done a lot of work with the first team offense during camp and it is reported that he has impressed the right people.

Brown played yesterday while Moss did not.

It was a little surprising to see Brown take the initial kick off. Usually a team's starting running back would not have taken that on.

With Moss out, Brown worked as the lead running back in the first drive with the other offensive starters.

Joe Burrow tried to get Brown going in the passing game early. On 2nd and 1, Brown caught a ball out of the backfield but he was only able to get back to the line of scrimmage. He then had a nice tough run and secured the first down.

Brown showed off the explosiveness that has been talked about throughout the preseason as he burst up the hole for a nice six yard gain.

Chase Brown also showed poise and patience on the next play and got a five yard gain.

He was ambushed behind the line of scrimmage on his next two runs and was not able to get any positive yardage. He also committed a false start penalty towards the end of the drive.

It was important to see Brown play a whole drive and show that he is capable of doing that. The second year running back will clearly have a heightened role on this team, but it seems like even the Bengals are not sure what that exact role will be.