What It Means:

“The way the offense is set up, the ball goes to the open receiver,” Taylor said. “The ball goes to the best matchup. It’s not ‘Hey, the X should get twice as many targets as the F and the Z.’ It’s not built that way. I think last year shows you that.” The Bengals had three receivers each draw over 100 targets last season: Tyler Boyd (110), Tee Higgins (108), and the departed A.J. Green (104). First-round rookie Ja'Marr Chase is expected to step in and replace the bulk of Green's production. The No. 5 overall pick in this year's draft and a former LSU teammate of Joe Burrow, Chase has the talent and rapport to emerge as the preferred target in the Bengals' offense, despite Taylor's comments.

Chase is currently WR23 in numberFire's preseason fantasy rankings and Higgins is WR24, with Boyd checking in at WR40. Our models project Higgins to lead the team in targets (134.8) and and receptions (86.0) while Chase paces the unit in yards (1,160.7).