CINCINNATI (WXIX) – The idea was born a bit out of necessity. Between Week 12 and Week 15, the Cincinnati Bengals didn’t have a ton of depth with their skill position group. Ja’Marr Chase was suspended for the Patriots game, Tee Higgins missed two games due to concussions during that stretch and reserves like Charlie Jones and Noah Fant have been banged up.
Looking for some wrinkles to spice up the offense, the coaching staff dove into something that the Bengals had previously done 20 total times during Joe Burrow’s entire NFL career.
The Bengals put in a package of plays with two running backs on the field (21 personnel). In six games since Week 12, the Bengals have used that package 22 times.
While that personnel grouping is more common around the NFL and is used frequently by teams like the Dolphins, Ravens and 49ers, the Bengals barely did in the days of Joe Mixon and Giovani Bernard, the years with Mixon and Samaje Perine and the season where Chase Brown and Zack Moss split carries in the backfield
The coaching staff believed that the 21 personnel sets would work in 2025 specifically because of the complete skill set that Chase Brown has developed and now can bring to the table every week.
The new package has worked so well that the Bengals have kept doing it over the last two weeks, even with effectively the entire skill position group healthy and available.
“The reason why we’re able to do it is because of Chase Brown’s versatility,” Dan Pitcher said. “He provides the ability for us to go that route if we choose to go that route, and that’s a credit to him and the work that he has put in. He gives us the confidence that we can use him in that role, and that opens other doors.”
Heading into 2025, there was a lot of hype surrounding Brown as he entered his first full season as a starter. Brown has completely delivered and lived up to those lofty expectations. Brown is at 947 rushing yards for the season (even though the Bengals’ run blocking was pathetic back in September), and he can easily reach the 1,000 yard milestone next Sunday. Brown also ranks sixth in the NFL in receptions by running back with 65, which is also a Bengals’ franchise record.
Brown can run between the tackles, bounce runs outside the numbers to break off explosives, turn check down receptions into efficient gains, run dynamic routes down the field, create separation on got-to-have-it plays and hold his own in pass protection.
He has proven to be one of the most versatile running backs in the NFL. In that area, Brown isn’t that far behind Christian McCaffrey, Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs.
“I have complete trust in (Brown) in all three phases of playing running back,” Zac Taylor said. “He’s a first and second down runner. Coming out of the backfield. Being in empty. Protection. I think he’s had some great clips in protection. In terms of being really effective in all three phases, we absolutely trust him.”
Brown rushed for 101 yards in Sunday’s win over the Cardinals, and that performance was full of old school runs between the tackles on plays that looked like what you’d see from a running back in the early 2000s. With Brown’s ability to be a bruiser and a bellcow when needed, he can pick up a tough first down, fight for a touchdown and let a team control the clock.
The Bengals’ run scheme is built around duo, which is a power run between the tackles. Brown is great at making the most of those runs.
“I’ve been playing well,” Brown said. “I’m making the most of my opportunities. Most importantly, I’ve been able to receive the ball and then step up with protection. We take pride in (that in) this offense.”
From a schematic perspective, the most fun thing to watch is how Brown has evolved as a pass catcher and as a route runner. With drives on the line and in the red zone, Brown can be the featured target on a specific play. One of his best routes, Taylor said, is a choice route where Brown is trusted to read the defense and adjust based off of what he’s seeing.
Last year, Brown had six catches out of the slot (and two of the six were very nondescript plays). This year, Brown has eight catches out of the slot plus a catch where he lined up at tight end. Six of those nine receptions, including two touchdowns, are since Thanksgiving as the Bengals have built more around Brown’s ability as a route runner.
“He gets really good matchups,” Taylor said. “There are a lot of times you make him one in the progression. If he gets the matchup, take it.”
Last year, Brown ran 24 routes out of the slot. He has run 39 routes out of the slot this year, including 14 since Thanksgiving. In the second quarter on Sunday against the Cardinals, Brown lined up in the slot in the red zone and was in position to catch a touchdown on a play that instead went to a wide open Ja’Marr Chase for a score.
Joe Burrow has shown a ton of confidence in Brown’s ability to get open and make plays down the field on fades, slants, curls and all sorts of routes.
“(Brown) just keeps getting better,” Burrow said. “Last year, he hit a level that where, once you hit that level, then you’re just continuously improving in all areas of your game. He didn’t have any weaknesses last year. And he just stepped it up a notch this year. It’s been fun to watch.”
Brown’s development as a route runner has made it more seamless for the Bengals to lean into 21 personnel packages for the first time in the Joe Burrow offense, which has existed for six years and 6,550 total snaps.
According to Sharp Football, in 2020, the Bengals ran seven plays out of 21 personnel all season. In 2021, the Bengals ran three total plays out of 21 personnel.
In 2022, the Bengals didn’t run a single play out of 21 personnel. The Dolphins led the NFL with 359 plays with two running backs, and the median team was the Saints with 46 snaps.
In 2023, the Bengals ran five plays out of 21 personnel. While that ranked 26th in the NFL, the Dolphins led the league with 440 and the median team was the Saints at 35.
In 2024, the Bengals again ran five plays out of 21 personnel, which ranked 28th. The 49ers led the NFL at 358 and the median team was the Falcons at 27 plays.
Then this season before Week 12 — as far as I can tell (while I couldn’t sort the personnel database by week, I did go through the plays manually) — the Bengals didn’t run a single play out of 21 personnel.
The Bengals ran five plays out of 21 personnel in Week 12 against the Patriots, two more of them at Buffalo and six more of them at home against the Ravens.
“Every week is a little different,” Pitcher said. “How do we think that will present issues for the defense? Sometimes, it’s born out of necessity from from your own constraints going on if you’re not going to have certain guys available for a game.”
The Bengals’ skill group was back to full strength in Week 16 in Miami. The Bengals literally opened that game with consecutive plays out of 21 personnel.
The first play was a two-yard end around for Brown, but it set up bigger plays for later in the game. Pitcher said, “It wasn’t a flashy play, but it’s something the defense had to respect.”
As a whole, the Bengals ran six plays out of 21 personnel in their win over the Dolphins. The Bengals kept it up against the Cardinals, running three more plays out of 21 personnel.
Summing it up, the Bengals have run 22 plays out of 21 personnel.
“It has a lot to do with our confidence in Samaje and our different ways to use Chase and put him in space to try to make people have to cover us a lot of different ways,” Taylor said. Chase is very versatile with how you can utilize him.”
These plays are working.
Against the Cardinals, plays out of 21 personnel resulted in a touchdown pass, a touchdown run and a play that was an eight-yard gain.
Against the Dolphins, plays out of 21 personnel resulted in two eight-yard passes as well as a play that would have been a 20-plus yard completion to Mitch Tinsley had Burrow made an accurate throw.
The Bengals’ offense was terrible in its home shutout loss against the Ravens. But even in that game, plays out of 21 personnel resulted in an eight-yard run, a 34-yard pass and a 16-yard pass.
Having Brown and Perine both on the field has been a great changeup for the Bengals’ offense.
“We’re both versatile players and we bring a lot to the table,” Brown said. “We keep defenses on their toes.”
2025 WXIX