Jeremy Hill, RB Cincinnati Bengals Rookie Fantasy Spotlight
Byron Lambert, Rosterwatch.com

We screamed at the top of our lungs during the 2013 NFL Draft that the Bengals should draft Eddie Lacy. He was a sensational prospect – a powerful bruiser with incredible feet and pass catching skills. Instead, Cincy opted for the smaller more dynamic runner in Gio Bernard, who did flash brilliance at times during his rookie season. While Lacy went on to become the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year as a member of the Packers, the Bengals can’t have too many regrets.

Perhaps, things actually worked out better for the Bengals. For the second consecutive year they decided to use a valuable second round pick on a running back. This time, it was one of our favorite bruisers- Jeremy Hill out of LSU. A player whom we extensively scouted throughout this year’s NFL Draft process, including a live visit to LSU Pro Day on the final stop of the RosterWatch Pro Day Tour.

In fact, and maybe not so coincidentally, our scouting comparison for Jeremy Hill was Eddie Lacy. At 6’1″ 233 pounds, he’s a very similar player with live feet and good pass catching skills. Admittedly, although we see him as similar to Lacy, we do rate him a notch or two below in terms of talent. He and Carlos Hyde were neck and neck 1A/1B in our 2014 NFL Draft rankings when it came to the “big backs”.

With AJ Green on the outside, and Tyler Eifert stretching the seam, a Jeremy Hill / Giovani Bernard combo could become absolutely lethal for Cincinnati.

Benjarvus Green-Ellis is still on the roster, but we don’t care- because he’s just a guy headed for the bench. Bernard is likely not a workhorse back, and the Bengals actions spoke as much when they took Hill in round two. We expect him to get big action as a rookie.

Offensive coordinator Hue Jackson confirmed that recently, when he saids the Bengals will become much more of a power run based offense. Expect goal line work, and don’t be shocked if he’s catching the ball and making big plays. He’ll get plenty of opportunities on first and second down to become quite valuable in fantasy leagues as a rookie. His late round ADP in current mock drafts is a steal. We’d like to draft him as an RB4 with huge upside. However, if you get in to early round trouble at running back in your draft- Hill is a guy you should target later to patchwork the group- even as your RB3.