Cincinnati Bengals: Are any players deserving of Pro Bowl nod?
By Kenn Korb
Joe Mixon
Entering this season, there was plenty of talk of Mixon being Cincinnati’s bell cow. It’s fair to say he’s been living up to the hype.
Despite missing two games, he already has 240 more yards on the ground this season (866) than he had in 14 games as a rookie (626) — and he’s done so on almost exactly the same number of carries (178 in 2017; 180 in 2018). He’s also become a better receiver: he has more receptions (30 in 2017; 38 in 2018) and nearly as many receiving yards (287 in 2017; 283 in 2018) in three less games than he used as a rookie to accumulate his totals.
Prorate his current totals across the final stretch, and he’ll have a strong stat-line for his second professional season: 229 carries, 1,102 rushing yards, 4.81 yards per carry, 48 receptions, 360 receiving yards, nine total touchdowns. That’s a really good year, and it has been despite little help from the rest of his backfield. Gio Bernard hasn’t even added 200 yards on the ground. Nobody else even has 100.
Despite it all, Mixon has led the team to be pretty good on the ground in comparison to the rest of the league. Granted, in total rushing yardage they are awful (seventh-fewest rushing yardage), but that probably has more to do with their awful defense letting them get buried than anything. On a per-play basis, the run game has been surprisingly useful: they are No. 9 in yards per rushing attempt and No. 2 in rush offense Football Outsiders’ DVOA through 14 weeks.
Mixon’s year gives him a decent case for the Pro Bowl, but he’s probably on a tier right below those who should make it. He’s ninth in rushing yards, tied-13th in yards per attempt, tied-9th for 20+ yard plays and seventh in first downs accumulated.
In my estimation, five of those six RB spots are locked up: Ezekiel Elliott, Todd Gurley, Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara. That final spot is going to be a mess, with a large handful of guys left to compete with Mixon: James Conner, Melvin Gordon, Phillip Lindsay, David Johnson, Lamar Miller, Tarik Cohen and Aaron Jones each have a decent-or-better argument in their favor.
In that group, Mixon has advantages in some key areas. He’s produced more than Cohen and Jones, has been far more efficient than Peterson and Johnson, isn’t splitting carries the way Lindsay or Miller have to, has not had the fumble issues of Conner, and could end up with more games played than Gordon. If voters can paint the picture in that exact fashion, Mixon has his path to the final spot.