• Bijan Robinson is already dominating offensive snaps: The eighth overall pick played over 70% of the snaps with the starters in his first preseason game.
• Kyle Pitts remains a boom-or-bust fantasy prospect: His usage in the first half of the Falcons’ first drive was a dream come true, and his usage in the second half of the drive was a nightmare.
• Bengals' backup running back spot remains unsettled: Chris Evans and Chase Brown have been given opportunities to surpass the injured Trayveon Williams for second on the depth chart, but they didn’t gain much momentum in the first half.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
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Cincinnati Bengals @ Atlanta Falcons
Bijan Robinson shines with the starters: Robinson didn’t start the game, but he gained 26 yards on one drive with the starters.
• Tyler Allgeier started the game and played the first two offensive snaps, but Robinson proceeded to play 12 of the following 15.
• The fact that Robinson hasn't started this preseason should not be concerning. Plenty of teams have opted to start veterans at the position — even in the regular season — just to have the younger player play more snaps and have more fantasy success.
• Robinson consistently played four snaps in a row, with Allgeier giving him a break for one or two snaps.
• Robinson ran the ball four times. He broke off a 12-yard run, and he also caught a 6-yard pass.
• It’s worth noting that Cordarrelle Patterson missed this game with a soft tissue injury and is expected to miss a few weeks.
• Both Robinson and Allgeier were taken out for the second drive.
• Robinson is capable of living up to his ADP if he’s playing more than 70% of offensive snaps, as he did in this game.
Kyle Pitts is a player to closely watch: Pitts’ low snap count with the Falcons’ first-team offense should raise some eyebrows.
• Pitts played six of the team’s first nine snaps, only leaving the field when the team lined up in 21 personnel. There are plenty of tight ends who dominate in fantasy football without playing often in 21 personnel.
• He played two snaps as an outside wide receiver, basically showing he’s capable of acting like a wide receiver or a tight end out of 13 personnel.
• He only played three snaps over the rest of the drive, with all of the snaps he missed coming out of 11 personnel.
• It’s possible this change was due to the long drive or Atlanta wanting to mix in different players in different situations with Desmond Ridder still on the field.
• Atlanta was doing something similar at wide receiver, with Scotty Miller and Josh Ali mixing in more over the second half of their 17-play drive.
• It’s also possible that both MyCole Pruitt and Jonnu Smith both play more passing snaps out of 11 personnel than Pitts’ fantasy mangers would like.
• Pitts was targeted once on the drive for a 9-yard catch.
• He should remain a top-seven fantasy tight end simply due to his talent compared to the rest of the tight ends in the league, but he is also the riskiest tight end among the top seven.
Neither Bengals running back emerges as the potential backup: Chris Evans started over Chase Brown for a second week, but neither player was able to pull away from the other.
• Evans played the first seven offensive snaps before Brown started mixing in. The two rotated throughout the first half.
• Both ran the ball four times, with Brown barely out-rushing Evans at 15 yards to 11.
• They each came away with one reception, with Evans' catch going for 10 yards compared to Brown's 0 yards.
• Trayveon Williams remains sidelined with a mild ankle sprain. These last two weeks should have been an opportunity for Evans or Brown to surpass Williams for the backup job, but it appears Williams should keep his job if he can return to action sooner rather than later.
Miscellaneous Notes
• Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is still dealing with a calf injury and didn’t make the trip to Atlanta.
• Cincinnati has typically rested their starters in the preseason under Zac Taylor, and that continued in this game. Running back Joe Mixon, wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd, and tight end Irv Smith Jr. did not play.
• Falcons wide receiver KhaDarel Hodge appeared to be third on the depth chart, as he was among the three wide receivers who got last week off. And this was more clear in this game, based on his playing time with the starters.
• Bengals sixth-round rookie wide receiver Andrei Iosivas appeared to have passed Stanley Morgan on the depth chart. Iosivas started the game with Trenton Irwin outside and Trent Taylor in the slot, with Morgan not seeing his first snap until late in the first quarter.
Table Notes
• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.
• Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
• Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.
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