Who's in on Joe Mixon? On the one hand, he burned a lot of teams that selected him a year ago, appearing in only 6 games. On the other hand, those six games were pretty awesome -- he'll outperform his draft position if he's healthy this year.
Initial reports from the Bengals and those covering the team have given conflicting messages. Offensive coordinator Brian Callahan talked about Mixon not leaving the field, and it's a view echoed by a writer from The Athletic, who thinks Mixon will pick up a lot of receiving work that otherwise might have gone to Giovani Bernard, now in Tampa Bay.
But the Bengals can also mix in Samaje Perine, and have rookie Chris Evans around to take some change-of-pace work. Zac Taylor says Mixon doesn't need to play full-time, and maybe he won't. Although the 24-year-old has done pretty well when healthy in the past.
Mixon averaged over 1,150 rushing yards and 39 receptions in the 2018-2019 seasons, with 8-9 touchdowns each year. Last year he started out on an even better pace prior to getting injured. In his six games he averaged 94 total yards and 3.5 receptions per game, with 4 touchdowns. Put him up against running backs who played at least half the season, and those were top-10 numbers in PPR leagues.
| RUNNING BACKS PER GAME, 2020 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | No | Rec | Run | Total | TD | PPR |
| Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 15 | 5.5 | 50.4 | 62.1 | 112.5 | 1.40 | 25.2 |
| Dalvin Cook, Min. | 14 | 3.1 | 25.8 | 111.2 | 137.0 | 1.29 | 24.6 |
| Derrick Henry, Ten. | 16 | 1.2 | 7.1 | 126.7 | 133.8 | 1.08 | 21.1 |
| Aaron Jones, G.B. | 14 | 3.4 | 25.4 | 78.9 | 104.2 | .79 | 18.5 |
| James Robinson, Jac. | 14 | 3.5 | 24.6 | 76.4 | 101.0 | .74 | 18.0 |
| David Montgomery, Chi. | 15 | 3.6 | 29.2 | 71.3 | 100.5 | .69 | 17.8 |
| Nick Chubb, Cle. | 12 | 1.3 | 12.5 | 88.9 | 101.4 | 1.00 | 17.5 |
| Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 14 | 2.1 | 16.6 | 81.9 | 98.5 | .86 | 17.1 |
| Joe Mixon, Cin. | 6 | 3.5 | 23.0 | 71.3 | 94.3 | .67 | 16.9 |
| Myles Gaskin, Mia. | 10 | 4.1 | 38.8 | 58.4 | 97.2 | .50 | 16.8 |
| D'Andre Swift, Det. | 10 | 3.7 | 26.3 | 50.1 | 76.4 | .90 | 16.7 |
| Austin Ekeler, LAC | 10 | 5.4 | 40.3 | 53.0 | 93.3 | .30 | 16.5 |
| Josh Jacobs, L.V. | 15 | 2.2 | 15.9 | 71.0 | 86.9 | .80 | 15.7 |
| Chris Carson, Sea. | 12 | 3.1 | 23.9 | 56.8 | 80.7 | .75 | 15.7 |
| Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 15 | 3.5 | 22.5 | 65.3 | 87.8 | .56 | 15.6 |
| Mike Davis, Car. | 12 | 3.8 | 22.1 | 53.2 | 75.3 | .67 | 15.4 |
| David Johnson, Hou. | 12 | 2.8 | 26.2 | 57.6 | 83.8 | .67 | 15.1 |
| Antonio Gibson, Was. | 14 | 2.6 | 17.6 | 56.8 | 74.4 | .79 | 14.7 |
| Miles Sanders, Phil. | 12 | 2.3 | 16.4 | 72.3 | 88.7 | .56 | 14.5 |
| Melvin Gordon, Den. | 15 | 2.1 | 10.5 | 65.7 | 76.3 | .67 | 13.8 |
| Kareem Hunt, Cle. | 12 | 2.3 | 19.4 | 48.9 | 68.3 | .75 | 13.7 |
| Ronald Jones, T.B. | 14 | 2.0 | 11.8 | 69.9 | 81.6 | .57 | 13.6 |
| Clyde Edwards-Helaire, K.C. | 13 | 2.8 | 22.8 | 61.8 | 84.6 | .38 | 13.5 |
| Kenyan Drake, Ariz. | 15 | 1.7 | 9.1 | 63.7 | 72.8 | .67 | 12.9 |
| Raheem Mostert, S.F. | 8 | 2.0 | 19.5 | 65.1 | 84.6 | .38 | 12.7 |
| James Conner, Pitt. | 13 | 2.7 | 16.5 | 55.5 | 72.0 | .46 | 12.7 |
| Giovani Bernard, Cin. | 10 | 3.1 | 24.0 | 37.2 | 61.2 | .50 | 12.2 |
| J.D. McKissic, Was. | 16 | 5.0 | 36.8 | 22.8 | 59.6 | .19 | 12.1 |
| Nyheim Hines, Ind. | 16 | 3.9 | 30.1 | 23.8 | 53.9 | .46 | 12.1 |
| J.K. Dobbins, Balt. | 15 | 1.2 | 8.0 | 53.7 | 61.7 | .64 | 11.2 |
| Wayne Gallman, NYG | 10 | 1.4 | 9.4 | 57.9 | 67.3 | .50 | 11.1 |
| Leonard Fournette, T.B. | 12 | 3.0 | 19.4 | 30.6 | 50.0 | .50 | 11.0 |
| Todd Gurley, Atl. | 15 | 1.7 | 10.9 | 45.2 | 56.1 | .60 | 10.9 |
| Rex Burkhead, N.E. | 10 | 2.5 | 19.2 | 27.4 | 46.6 | .60 | 10.8 |
| Darrell Henderson, LAR | 11 | 1.2 | 10.4 | 48.5 | 58.9 | .45 | 9.8 |
| Adrian Peterson, Det. | 12 | .9 | 7.7 | 40.6 | 48.3 | .58 | 9.2 |
| Damien Harris, N.E. | 10 | .5 | 5.2 | 69.1 | 74.3 | .20 | 9.1 |
| Devin Singletary, Buff. | 16 | 2.4 | 16.8 | 42.9 | 59.8 | .13 | 9.1 |
| Latavius Murray, N.O. | 15 | 1.5 | 11.7 | 43.7 | 55.5 | .33 | 9.1 |
| James White, N.E. | 14 | 3.5 | 26.8 | 8.6 | 35.4 | .21 | 8.3 |
| Gus Edwards, Balt. | 16 | .6 | 8.1 | 45.2 | 53.3 | .38 | 8.1 |
Mixon will be available in the second round of drafts, due to the injury discount. But unreasonable to say that he's any more likely to get hurt than any of the other top running backs. I expect I'll have him on a team or two this season.
--Andy Richardson