Cincinnati Bengals: Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em for Week 8 vs. Jets

Sit ‘Em – All Jet Running Backs

When the Jets selected Michael Carter in the 2021 NFL Draft, many experts handed him the job by default. Despite the fact that Carter is slightly undersized at 5’8″, and his draft capital was fairly modest as a fifth round pick, the other candidates for carries in the backfield, to put it nicely, were suspects rather than prospects. However that hasn’t kept new Jets coach Robert Saleh from turning this backfield into a complete quagmire.

Many fantasy experts point to Carter’s week seven stat line of 11 rushes for 37 yards, and eight receptions for 67 as evidence that the reigns have finally been handed to the former Tarheel. I am going to need to see stronger evidence than an artificially inflated (yet still mediocre) stat line created by a blowout game.

The Jets basically make no attempt to establish a running game, and even when they do run, Ty Johnson and Tevin Coleman are sprinkled in.

If and when the Bengals establish enough of a lead to flip the game script to catchup mode for the Jets, can you really trust Carter to be the beneficiary? Ty Johnson has three fewer targets than Carter through seven weeks, so it’s just as likely to be a Johnson game as a Carter game.

Michael Carter should be a good player at some point in his career, but with Mike White at quarterback, against the Bengals swarming defense, it’s not going to be this week.

Prediction: 11 carries, 44 yards. 4 rec, 38 yards, 0 TD