Cincinnati Bengals Running Back Depth Chart — 2026

A handcuff is the backup who inherits the starter's workload if the starter gets hurt — so the Bengals handcuff is whoever sits directly behind Chase Brown on the depth chart above. Rostering him is how you protect a starting back you have already spent a pick on. More on what a handcuff is.

Chase Brown drew 88 targets — 5.18 a game — while taking 66.4% of Cincinnati's snaps and 65.0% of its pass snaps. Samaje Perine took 31.1% and drew 21 targets.

Brown has played 45 of 51 team games across 3 seasons, 6 missed.

The role he would vacate is one of the largest at the position: 232 carries at +0.34 yards over expected, 27th of 49 qualifying backs, plus 69 receptions for 437 yards.

Samaje Perine is the experienced alternative and has been durable — 80 of 84 team games across 5 seasons — but has not carried a lead load recently, and did not clear the hundred carries needed for a rushing rate to be worth ranking.

A modest but real share for Perine, and almost nothing beyond him.

Brown took 66.4% of the snaps, 9th among running backs. Perine took 31.1%, 44th — a rotational role rather than a token one.

Tahj Brooks drew 2 targets in 12 games and played 23 pass snaps, under the 100-snap reporting line.

No — Brown is one of the heaviest-targeted backs in football and does not leave the field.

He drew 88 targets, 5.18 a game, catching 69 for 437 yards at 0.92 receiving yards per pass snap, on 449 pass snaps — 10th among running backs.

Perine played 226 pass snaps, 32.7%, at 0.39 per snap with 21 targets — under the 25 needed for a receiving rate to mean anything.

There is a third-down presence here, and it belongs to Chase Brown.

Reporting from a previous season, kept because a role a player has already held is the best evidence available about the one he might hold next. It describes 2025, not now.

Tahj Brooks spent his 2025 rookie season with the Bengals primarily on special teams and as a reserve behind Chase Brown. (RotoWire, 2026-07-17)

Samaje Perine returned to the Bengals in the 2025 offseason for his second stint with the team and served as the back behind Chase Brown. (Bengals.com, 2026-06-25)

What the beat is reporting, last refreshed 2026-08-31. Nothing here is measured — it is reporting, attributed and dated.

The team's position primer says Samaje Perine did not show many signs of slowing down in year ten and figures to lead the running back group behind Chase Brown again (Bengals.com, 2026-06-25).

RotoWire's position-role chart lists Samaje Perine as the third-down back, saying he continues as the trusted third-down option in the passing game, with Tahj Brooks listed as an active reserve behind lead back Chase Brown (RotoWire, 2026-07-17).

Tahj Brooks is unlikely to pass Perine on the depth chart, but his role should grow at least a little as Perine, the third-down specialist, plays out a contract that expires after the season (A to Z Sports, 2026-06-28).

Only three running backs, Chase Brown, Samaje Perine and Tahj Brooks, project to make the Bengals' roster (A to Z Sports, 2026-06-23).

Tahj Brooks has an opportunity to carve out a special teams role as punt protector after the departure of Tycen Anderson, while continuing to compete for touches behind Chase Brown (Bengals.com, 2026-06-25).

Chase Brown enters the season in the final year of his rookie contract and was in extension discussions with the Bengals earlier in the offseason (CBS Sports, 2026-06-23).

Bengals rookies reported for camp on July 25, with veterans required to report by July 28 (Yahoo Sports, 2026-07-16).