After eight seasons, Gio Bernard packed his bags and left Cincinnati for greener pastures, AKA the defending Super Bowl champions. With the third-down back no longer in the picture, most experts, including us, believe Joe Mixon will take over the three-down role and become a workhorse back. While that prediction will likely come true, there is a deep fantasy sleeper sitting on the Bengals RB depth chart who could replace Gio’s third-down snaps: rookie Chris Evans.
The former Michigan man had an up-and-down collegiate career. He started out as a valuable and versatile weapon for Jim Harbaugh, rushing for 1,722 yards, adding 40 catches, and finding paydirt 16 times. Harbaugh then suspended him in 2019 due to academic issues, before he failed to find a role in Michigan’s excuse for a new offense during last year’s COVID-19 abbreviated season.
It didn’t take long for the Bengals’ sixth-round pick to showcase the skill-set that he showed off at the Senior Bowl. In fact, he turned heads right away at OTAs.
“Chris’ trait that is different than a lot of other running backs in the league is his ability to catch the ball, and he’s a very natural route runner out of the backfield,” Zac Taylor said. “He can split out. That’s one of the things that really jumped out to us at the Senior Bowl, just how dominant he was in those one-on-ones.
“How natural and easy it looked for him. Today you probably saw us moving him around a little bit to get a better feel for him in person. He did a nice job. He seems like he’s smart. He understands it. He can retain information. It makes sense to him and then he went out there and made some nice catches.”
Not only did he catch his head coach’s eye, but he also caught the eye of Brian Callahan, his offensive coordinator.
“I’m really going to be curious to see how Chris Evans responds in training camp,” Callahan said. “He’s got the most natural hands for a running back that I’ve ever been around. And not to say that’s the end-all, be-all, but he’s so natural at catching the ball and he can track the ball down the field. A lot of times, running backs struggle down the field. He doesn’t. So he could be a unique piece for us.
“And he can carry the ball, too. He’s a big kid. I’m really eager to watch him when it comes time to play because when you put pads on and play a game, it all changes. Will he rise up or will he shrink? I’m counting on him to rise, and that will be fun for us to have that type of player to complement Joe (Mixon) and Samaje (Perine).”
While this could be a prime example of a rookie getting gassed up during OTAs, his skill-set fits in perfectly with what the Bengals are missing due to the Bernard departure. If Evans can continue to ascend during camp and slide into Gio’s role, then he could provide 2021 fantasy PPR value and potential dynasty value as he gains more experience.
The Chris Evans hype train has yet to make a stop on The Wolf’s 2021 Fantasy Rankings and Big Board, but he’ll most certainly make an appearance during training camp. From a dynasty perspective, Evans is at RB61 (+34 vs ECR).
