Broncos vs. Bengals Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 4

The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 4 matchup between the Broncos and Bengals on Monday Night Football.

Find a breakdown of every Week 4 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

Trust = spike production for that player

Quarterback

Bo Nix (TRUST): Nix has gotten off to a slow start, opening the year as QB29, QB12, and QB16.

He has thrown for only 5.6 yards per pass attempt (26th).

Nix has struggled to get the ball down the field.

He is averaging 6.6 air yards per pass attempt (25th).

When he has thrown the ball vertically, he has had issues connecting.

On throws of 10 or more yards downfield, Nix has completed 33.3% (8 of 24) of his passes.

That is ahead of only Michael Penix (32.4%) and Cam Ward (32.1%).

Nix left three big-time throws on the table last week, overthrowing Marvin Mims twice on potential touchdowns and Courtland Sutton on another would-be big gain.

We saw Nix get out of the blocks slowly as a rookie and get things together.

As a substantial home favorite against a soft defense, this should be a “get right” spot.

The Bengals have allowed multiple passing touchdowns in the past two weeks to Trevor Lawrence and Carson Wentz.

Adding Joe Flacco to the list of unimpressive passers they have faced, Cincinnati sits 20th in passing points allowed per attempt to quarterbacks.

Jake Browning: Making his first start since 2023, Browning completed 70.4% of his passes (19 of 27), but he only managed 140 yards and 5.2 yards per pass attempt, throwing 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions.

He was 26th in yards per attempt last week as the Bengals did not do anything downfield.

Browning averaged only 4.8 air yards per attempt (29th last week), throwing 33.3% of his passes at or behind the line of scrimmage (29th).

Just 18.4% of his passes went 10 or more yards downfield (28th).

Things do not get any easier for Browning this week as a significant road underdog against a good pass rush.

A week after being pressured on 56.7% of his dropbacks (second highest in Week 3), he draws a Denver defense that leads the NFL in pressure rate through three weeks (50%).

Under pressure the past two weeks, Browning is 10 of 23 (43.5%) with 4 interceptions.

Browning is a back-end QB2.

Running Back

J.K. Dobbins: Dobbins played a season-high 67.3% of the snaps in Week 3, turning 12 touches into 84 yards and a touchdown.

His score was credited as a run on a nice ad-lib by Nix, checking down backwards.

Dobbins made a nice one-handed pick up and then gathered himself, made a man miss, and then went up the sideline for a 19-yard score.

The snap share here is a bit skewed since Denver ran a season-low 48 plays, but Dobbins has now handled 64.3%, 62.5%, and 70.6% of the backfield touches through three games, doing nothing to harm his immediate outlook as the lead back.

At least for one week, we did not see Tyler Badie cut into this backfield.

Badie only played two snaps.

That allowed Dobbins to pick up an extra share of passing snaps (again, in a low-snap total).

After running a route on 32.6% and 31.3% of the dropbacks over the first two games, Dobbins was on the field for 53.1% of the passes in Week 3.

That can go a long way in anchoring Dobbins as an RB2 in a good matchup as a home favorite if it remains static.

After allowing only 40 yards rushing to the Cleveland backfield in Week 1, the Bengals have since allowed 176 yards and 2 touchdowns to the Jacksonville backs in Week 2 and then 185 yards and 2 touchdowns to the Minnesota backfield last week.

Chase Brown: Things continued to trend downhill for Brown in Week 3.

He managed just 20 yards on 14 touches.

He rushed 10 times for 3 yards.

Through three games, Brown has rushed 47 times for 93 yards.

He is averaging -0.06 yards before contact per rush, getting hit at or behind the line on 30 of his attempts.

Even when Brown has not gotten hit at the line, he averages a league-low 4.5 yards per carry on those runs.

Given the state of this offense now without Joe Burrow, Brown is careening towards being one of the largest fantasy letdowns to open the season.

There isn't much to be optimistic about here, other than the fact that the Cincinnati depth chart is still lackluster, and Brown should remain involved in the offense.

As a huge road underdog against a good defense, Brown is a back-end RB2/FLEX.

If you're looking to remain optimistic, Denver has allowed 4.6 YPC to running backs (25th), but their issues have been preventing yards after contact.

They are still getting penetration on the early-season runs they have faced.

They have still only allowed 0.79 yards before contact on running back runs (7th), which is where the Cincinnati front is having its largest issues.

RJ Harvey: Harvey only managed 5 touches for 16 yards, as his slow runway to opportunity continued.

Not all was lost despite the limited box score.

Harvey started the game and had two designed plays for him off the bat.

He also had two gains negated by penalties.

Denver is still mixing him in and giving him touches when he gets on the field.

If Tyler Badie is truly removed as part of the committee (not a lock after one game with limited offensive play volume), then there is added opportunity in this backfield.

Harvey is still not a fantasy starter and only a hold for gamers.

Dobbins has done nothing to suggest he needs to have his touches reduced.

If you want to take a deep flyer in single-game DFS, we could see Harvey get the proper game script here to accrue some added work against a soft defense.

Wide Receiver

Ja’Marr Chase: Chase caught 5 of 6 targets for 50 yards on Sunday, rushing once for 9 yards and losing a fumble.

Chase was not utilized downfield at all in Browning’s first start, posting a season-low 5.0 air yards per target.

5 of his 6 targets were within 9 yards of the line of scrimmage.

Over Browning’s first 7 NFL starts, Chase has one top-30 scoring week.

Seasonal gamers have little choice but to ride things out, but we mentioned calibrating for things last week.

It is hard to view Chase as a front-end WR1 for the remainder of the season.

He is more of a back-end WR1 in terms of talent and volume.

An example would be something similar to what we saw with Malik Nabers last season or CeeDee Lamb with Cooper Rush.

Chase will undoubtedly experience some good moments, as he is a talented player.

Still, we have seen this story repeatedly with WR1 fantasy options losing efficiency and consistency when they lose their starting quarterback.

There is plenty more to play out, other than one terrible game against a strong defense, but things do not get immediately easier here.

Denver is fourth in points allowed per target to wide receivers (1.28), allowing a 57.9% catch rate (6th), 6.1 yards per target (6th), and a league-low 1.5% touchdown rate to the position.

Courtland Sutton (TRUST): After only one catch in Week 3, Sutton bounced back quickly on Sunday, catching 6 of 8 targets for 118 yards and a touchdown, a 52-yard score.

Sutton has opened the season with two WR1 scoring weeks despite subpar quarterback play.

We already highlighted this being an advantageous spot for Nix, so his No. 1 target should come along for the ride.

The Bengals are allowing 8.1 yards per target to outside receivers (24th), while 68.5% of the receptions they have allowed to wide receivers have gone to outside receivers (sixth highest).

Cam Taylor-Britt missed last week’s game with a hamstring injury. If he misses another week, Sutton will have a larger runway for production.

Tee Higgins: Higgins only managed 1 reception for 15 yards on Sunday.

Worse, he only had 2 targets.

So far on 58 routes with Browning under center, Higgins has been targeted on 12.1% of those routes.

In Week 2, Higgins had the 42-yard touchdown he created on a 50/50 ball, but nothing has come easy for him since Burrow’s injury the past two weeks.

On the optimistic front, he has been on the field for 92.1% of Browning’s dropbacks.

As noted earlier with Chase, this is a tough matchup to enter with a backup quarterback.

I do not believe we will be seeing Higgins come close to the robust 11-131-3 line he posted against the Broncos a year ago.

Higgins can still win as a clasher, so you are hoping for some red zone looks when the Bengals get into scoring range.

He is a volatile WR3 option here.

Troy Franklin: Franklin caught 2 of 4 targets for 8 yards on Sunday after a breakout game in Week 2.

Following last week, we discussed that what we were looking for moving forward was that Franklin’s role remain static and whether he could earn targets in a game where Courtland Sutton also was drawing targets since Week 2 was an abnormal target game for the WR1.

Franklin did hang onto his role, so check one.

Franklin ran a route on 93.8% of the dropbacks after 87.5% in Week 2.

While he did only have 4 targets and Sutton bounced back, Franklin did still account for 17.4% of the team’s targets.

If he is running 85-90% of the routes with a 15-20% target share, then Franklin can be someone who is WR4/FLEX worthy in the right spots, which we have here.

Marvin Mims: Mims only had 1 reception for 4 yards on Sunday, but it could have been so much better.

Nix missed Mims on a potential 63-yard touchdown off a flea flicker, where he was uncovered.

He was then behind the defense in the end zone for another 28-yard scoring opportunity, and Nix threw another uncatchable ball.

Mims has taken on a reduced role with Franklin establishing himself as the WR2, but Denver continues to give him opportunities for big plays when he does get on the field.

That leaves him as a splash-play dependent option, best suited for single-game DFS.

Tight End

Mike Gesicki: Gesicki has only 5 catches for 38 yards so far this season, but with Noah Fant in concussion protocol, Gesicki could see a larger workload.

He is still only a TE2 for seasonal gamers, given the top-down offensive environment and matchup, but that will give him a pulse in an island game for DFS gamers.

Denver TEs: With Evan Engram sidelined last week, Lucas Krull was the leading tight end for Denver.

Krull ran 17 routes (53.1%) while Adam Trautman ran 8 (25%).

Krull only caught 1 pass for 9 yards, but he will be another DFS flyer on Monday night if Engram remains out.

The Bengals have allowed 6.3 receptions per game to tight ends (26th) and allowed a pair of touchdowns to Minnesota tight ends last week.

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