Drew

Sample

Sample matched his season catch total with four against the Raiders. He caught a two-yard touchdown while none of his receptions were longer than five yards. The Bengals’ offense saw heavy focus on tight ends, with Tanner Hudson catching 2-of-3 passes for 14 yards and Erick All catching two passes before exiting due to injury. However, Mike Gesicki is the only fantasy-relevant tight end from the Bengals.

The re-signing of Sample won’t excite fantasy managers, as the fifth-year tight end has managed just 80 catches for 621 yards and three touchdowns for his career. Sample is a reliable depth signing for the Bengals, but the team still needs to add a viable pass-catcher at the position via the draft or free agency. Sample was tasked with blocking on 60.7 percent of his snaps last season and will serve primarily as a blocker in 2024.

Smith continues in a modest role for the Bengals, now sharing work with Drew Sample and Mitchell Wilcox on a team that runs primarily from 11-personnel. Sample also caught a touchdown against the Bills while passing Smith’s yardage with three grabs for 30 yards. The fantasy utility of this tight end group is largely lacking, meaning fantasy managers can safely avoid them on next week’s waiver wire.

Smith picked up the injury last week in practice and is now off to a slow start for this week. However, Wednesday’s practice is just a walkthrough after their Monday night game, so this is more of an estimation than anything. If Smith were to continue to miss time, the Bengals would lean more on Drew Sample.

Sample visited Arizona earlier this week. Once faced with some competition for his services, the Bengals acted quickly to bring him back. Sample only appeared in two games last year because of a season-ending knee injury. He previously served as a blocker for the Cincy offense, though he did manage to real in 40 passes as the team’s primary starter in 2020. Sample will return to Cincinnati as a blocking tight end and a special teams contributor for the upcoming season.

Sample’s 2022 ended just two games into the season after a Week 2 knee injury against the Cowboys left him permanently sidelined. A former second-round pick by the Bengals in 2019, Sample has 58 receptions for 458 yards and one touchdown in his career, with 349 of those yards coming in his second season. Assuming Zach Ertz rebounds from a devastating injury that ended his season, Sample would likely slot in behind Ertz and second-year tight end Trey McBride if he were to sign with the team.

Sample went down with the knee injury in the Bengals’ Week 2 game against the Cowboys and did not return. Credited with a start in both games this year, Sample was seeing most of his playing time as a blocker. He had two catches for -2 yards through two games. After this injury, Hayden Hurst will likely be thrust into an every-down role.

Coach Zac Taylor later said Sample is expected to miss a few weeks but that the team “probably dodged a bullet.” It sounds like he is dealing with a sprain. The tight end suffered the injury during practice on Thursday and was ultimately carted off the field. If he can get back healthy, Sample should be the blocking complement to Hayden Hurst.

Uzomah exited the AFC Championship game after a frightening knee injury that was later deemed an MCL sprain. He was carted to the locker room and returned to the sideline in a brace covering the length of his leg. It would be something of a surprise if he’s able to suit up against the Rams in two weeks. Drew Sample would presumably start at tight end for the Bengals and Tyler Boyd -- who saw six targets Sunday against Kansas City -- would likely see an uptick in targets as a middle-of-the-field option.

This is just for informational purposes after the Bengals lost C.J. Uzomah to an MCL injury in Kansas City. Uzomah seems unlikely to suit up for Super Bowl LVI, which would make Sample the starter. Sample caught only 11 balls all year, and even if he’s playing more snaps and running more routes, any production will be of the “fluke” variety.