Predicting who will lead the Cincinnati Bengals in rushing yards in 2022

The Cincinnati Bengals have one of the most explosive offenses in the league and their run game should help make it scarier. Who will lead the team in rushing yards in 2022? 

When it came to the 2021 Cincinnati Bengals, it wasn’t even close with who led the team in rushing yards. Joe Mixon finished the season with a team-high and career-high 1,205 yards on the ground.

The second-most rushing yards belonged to Samaje Perine, who had 246 rushing yards. Joe Burrow was third with 118 rushing yards and Chris Evans earned the four-spot with 77 yards.

It’s pretty easy to pick Mixon as the Bengal who will lead the team in rushing yards because he did it with ease last year.

Joe Mixon will lead the Cincinnati Bengals in rushing yards this year.

Thie only way Mixon isn’t the leading rusher for the stripes is if he gets injured. He missed all but six games in the 2020 season and the offense suffered without him. Outsiders wouldn’t have known that Mixon missed 10 games the year before with the performance he put on in 2021. He dashed for a career-high 1,205 yards and didn’t skip a beat whatsoever.

While it might be hard to get back to that 1,200-yard mark on the ground, Mixon is the easy pick for this category. Evans hopefully gets more reps this year, which should eat into Perine’s totals, taking him out of the running.

Burrow was more of a runner before his injury but he can take off with the ball when he needs to. The hope is that he’s not anywhere close to being the team’s leader in rushing yards because that’d mean the offensive line isn’t protecting him and that Mixon isn’t as effective.

When Mixon is on point, the offense can be even scarier and we saw that last year. Unless injuries occur, Joe Mixon will lead the 2022 Cincinnati Bengals in rushing yards.