Who Should I Start? Chase Brown or Bucky Irving

Thursday, July 30, 5:37 AM

Cincinnati Bengals running back Chase Brown was brought up during Joe Burrow's training camp opening press conference on Wednesday, and the three-time Pro Bowl quarterback was effusive in his praise of his fourth-year backfield mate. Burrow told reporters, "He does everything. He's a complete back... He trains as a receiver all offseason, you wouldn't know that he's a running back when he's out there doing it." Burrow went on about Brown's versatility and importance to the offense before making a bold statement about his projected usage for 2026. "Obviously we're going to try to get the ball in [Ja'Marr Chase's] hands as many times as we can, but I think a close second is Chase Brown." The 2023 fifth-round pick made a career-high 69 catches on 86 targets in 2025, and if those numbers see even modest improvement in 2026, Brown could prove to be one of the safest selections in the early rounds of drafts, currently ranked as RotoBaller's RB10.