Bengals Fantasy Football Outlook for Week 7: Chase Brown, Tee Higgins and More

Week 7 of the NFL regular season opens with an AFC North clash between the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers.

As we do for all Thursday standalone games, let's break down each team's top fantasy football assets. We'll begin with the Bengals here.

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Joe Flacco Fantasy Outlook

Flacco had his best fantasy showing just a couple days after being traded from the Browns to the Bengals.

He was 29-of-45 passing for 219 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions against the Packers in week 6. Flacco didn't attempt a rush and was sacked just once.

I'd usually discuss a player's entire season, but Flacco's previous situation was not nearly as favorable as the one he's in now, so I think last week's stats are the only notable ones.

He has a pretty favorable matchup in week 7, as the Steelers have struggled a bit to slow opposing QBs. Some of that has been from running quarterbacks, which Flacco cannot do, so he's not the best starting option because of the matchup.

Flacco is projected for 12 fantasy points, which is one of the lowest marks for a starting QB this week. I have him ranked a bit higher, at No. 23 (out of 30 starters). That makes him a better deep-league starting option - I'd think you could find a better streaming option on a week where only two teams are on byes.

Running Back Fantasy Outlooks

Chase Brown is the team's lead back, but he's struggled all season. He's also losing snaps and touches to Samaje Perine now, so Brown's fantasy value continues to dwindle.

Brown has 74 rushing attempts on the season, gaining just 202 yards and scoring once. He's added 102 receiving yards on 20 catches and 24 targets. He only had 11 touches a week ago.

Perine has 14 of his 21 touches over the past two games. He's rushed 15 times for 68 yards and caught six of his eight targets for 24 yards.

Brown is still the Cincy back you want to start, but he's not a locked-in starter in all leagues, like he was to kick off the season. Perine hasn't done enough in his secondary role to be worth utilizing.

The matchup for the backs is below average, so that knocks them both down a couple more pegs. Brown is projected for 13 PPR points this week, which would be a season high. Perine is projected for just over four PPR points.

Brown still made my top-30 PPR backs list, but at No. 25. I'd be fine sitting him in standard leagues this week, but many will still start him out of necessity. Brown should be starting in all deeper formats yet.

Perine is just a deep-league asset, but not a very good option outside super deep leagues. Especially in a tougher matchup, I'd try to avoid him.

Wide Receiver Fantasy Outlooks

Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins continue to be the top 1-2 punch for the Bengals' wide receiver room. Andrei Iosivas is WR3, while no other wideouts play enough to mention.

Chase might not be delivering like he did a season ago, but he's still an elite fantasy option. He has 468 yards and four touchdowns across 42 receptions and 57 targets. Chase has 22 targets over the past two weeks, and scored over 20 fantasy points in each of those games.

Higgins has 220 yards and two scores on 18 catches and 35 targets. He has at least six targets in three straight games. Higgins only has three double-digit fantasy outings in six tries so far.

Iosivas has just 121 yards and no scores on eight catches and 17 targets this season. He had four targets last week and has 11 over the past two weeks. Most of his fantasy points came in a five-catch, 82-yard performance in week 5.

The matchup for the Bengals' wide receivers is a pretty average one. Cincy usually ends up passing in an effort to keep up, so all three wide receivers get a little boost. Don't expect the team to pass 45 times (like last week) in every game, but the pass catchers on the team all have improved fantasy outlooks because the team cannot run and is usually trailing.

Chase is projected for 19 PPR points in week 7, which is tied for the second-most points. Higgins is at 10 PPR points, while Iosivas is just under six PPR points.

Chase (fourth) and Higgins (30th) made my top-30 PPR wideout rankings for week 7. I see Cincy passing early and often to keep pace with Pittsburgh, so both guys are good standard league starting options. Chase is a must-start player, while Higgins is more of a flex-option, but if you choose to start him, throw him in a regular WR spot so you can use that flex spot later in the week.

Iosivas is a sneaky good deep-league option for this week. It'd have to be a pretty deep league to feel somewhat confident in him scoring a fair amount of fantasy points, but he's at least worth considering in a decent matchup.

Tight End Fantasy Outlooks

The Bengals' tight end room is battered right now. Both Mike Gesicki and Tanner Hudson are out for this game, so Noah Fant, Drew Sample and Cam Grandy are left on the active roster.

Sample leads the tight ends in snaps played (173) so far. He has just 24 yards and a touchdown on five catches and nine targets though. Sample had two targets last week.

Fant has played 108 snaps over five games. He has 18 targets, catching 16 for 107 yards and a touchdown. Fant had four targets last week.

Grandy has only played 16 snaps, catching his lone target for six yards. His target was back in week 3.

It's a shame the Bengals don't have a standout tight end, because Pittsburgh is one of the worst defenses when it comes to slowing TEs.

No Cincy TEs even made the top-28 projection list here at FantasySP. Nobody made my top-25 TE list for the week either.

Fant is the Cincy tight end I'd want to play in fantasy, but that's just in deeper leagues. He's under 2% rostered right now, so not many people are even looking to take advantage of the super favorable matchup. Sample and Grandy aren't rostered in any leagues synced here at FSP, so they are even lower-level fantasy assets.

I'd be OK starting Fant in some deeper leagues - he'd be a decent DFS option too because he'd be a low-priced asset. Expect the Bengals' wideouts to do the heavy lifting in the passing game tonight, then Brown and Perine helping out a decent amount.

Kicker Fantasy Outlook

Evan McPherson is the team's kicker. He's 6-of-8 on field goals so far, with both misses coming from over 50 yards. McPherson is perfect on his 11 extra point tries.

McPherson is projected for seven fantasy points, which is a middle-of-the-pack projection.

He's a decent asset for tonight. The game is set for 44.5 points, and I think Cincy will be able to move the ball enough to give him a couple scoring chances.

McPherson is a better deep-league option, and is just an OK standard league guy.

Defense/Special Teams Fantasy Outlook

Cincinnati's DST is projected for just five points, which is one of the lowest projections for the week.

The Bengals' defense has allowed 2,365 total yards through six weeks, while giving up 30.5 points a contest. They have seven takeaways, but just three over the past four games. Cincy has 11 sacks on the year.

The Steelers' offense has been pretty solid this season, and they don't turn the ball over much, so that works against the Bengals DST. I don't love the idea of starting them, and would avoid the DST if I could. I'd only play them in really deep fantasy setups.