Zack Moss will be tasked with filling the void left by Joe Mixon, who was traded to the Houston Texans this offseason. How Moss performs in that role will go a long way towards determining how successful the Bengals offense will be in 2024. As a result, Moss was recently named Cincinnati’s biggest X-factor for 2024 by Pro Football Focus.
Moss signed a two-year deal with the Bengals in free agency after spending the first four seasons of his career as a member of the Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts. Here’s what PFF had to say about Moss as the X-factor for Cincy:
“As mentioned above, Moss is expected to be the Bengals’ feature back, his first time really holding that role at any point in his four-year career. Moss is coming off his most productive season in Indianapolis last season, though, as he played a career-high 531 snaps and rushed for a career-best 793 yards and five scores without losing a single fumble. Due to how thin the Bengals’ running back room is, expect Moss to carry the bulk of the workload as he looks to build on the progress he made last season.”
Moss ready to do whatever it takes
Shortly after signing with Cincinnati, Moss made it clear that he was prepared to do whatever was asked of him to help the team.
“Here, these guys do a great job and when you have the talent like that outside, it makes sense,” Moss said while alluding to the presence of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins at the receiver spots. “However I can help this team. If it’s catching the ball, running the ball, trying to keep Joe [Burrow] clean as much as I can with the big guys up front, whatever my role is being called of that week, that’s what I’m going to try and do.”
The Bengals have one of the best passing attacks in the entire NFL. If Moss can complement that with consistent ground production, Cincinnati’s offense will be extremely difficult to defend. So for that reason is makes sense that Moss would be identified as a major X-factor.
