Andrei

Iosivas

Taylor told reporters that Higgins — who was checked multiple times after a couple major hits on Sunday — reported symptoms after the game. Given the quick turnaround from his last concussion, it would be surprising if Higgins managed to play this week. It looks like Andrei Iosivas and Mitchell Tinsley, as well as Mike Gesicki, will be solidly on the 12-team radar for Week 15.

With Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins back in the lineup, this was to be expected. His one incompletion was a ghastly drop. Higgins did have to go to the blue medical tent twice during the game for concussion checks. Keep an eye on the Bengals’ practice report, but with both Chase and Higgins healthy Iosivas isn’t much of a play in fantasy leagues.

Tee Higgins was out this week, freeing up some work for the Bengals’ depth receivers. Despite Mitchell Tinsley seeing nine targets to Iosivas’s two, Iosivas ultimately went for more yards and scored the only receiving touchdown for a Cincinnati wide receiver today. Higgins missed five games in 2024. Iosivas only caught eight passes in those games, but he found the end zone three times. Higgins missed this game with a concussion, meaning he could be back for Week 14. Iosivas won’t be on the fantasy radar if that happens. He will be a touchdown-or-bust WR6 if Higgins is out again.

With such a short turnaround time to clear protocol and prepare for the Ravens, Higgins has already been ruled out. The star receiver will instead set his sights on clearing concussion protocol in time to suit up for Week 14’s game against the Bills. Higgins’ absence will create another opening for Andrei Iosivas to have another impactful day after he went for 4-61-0 on seven targets against the Patriots with Ja’Marr Chase suspended.

With Ja’Marr Chase suspended for this one, Iosivas stepped into a much bigger role for the Bengals. Unfortunately, it did not lead to much fantasy goodness, even though Iosivas did make two big catches on the final drive. With Tee Higgins suffering a potential concussion, Iosivas could remain on the fantasy radar on Thursday against the Ravens, but he would be little more than a deeper league FLEX option.

The league handed down a suspension after Chase was seen spitting at Steelers S Jalen Ramsey during the Bengals’ Week 11 loss to the Steelers. Chase will reportedly argue that if he meant to spit at Ramsey, he would have aimed for his face and not his jersey or the ground. It’s an interesting argument, one that likely won’t change the NFL’s calculus in suspending the star wideout. Tee Higgins and Andrei Iosivas would operate as the Bengals’ top two receivers if Chase misses Week 12 against the Patriots.

All three of Iosivas’ receptions came on the Bengals’ first two offensive drives. Outside of that, the third-year receiver was held in check for much of the afternoon. Iosivas has seen a slight uptick in volume since Joe Flacco took over as starter, but is far too inconsistent to warrant any fantasy consideration for Week 12 against the Patriots.

Sunday marked Iosivas’ second highest receiving total of the season and it came on the heels of a zero-catch effort against the Jets. Iosivas was a beneficiary of another high volume passing game for Joe Flacco and the Bengals, who logged 54 dropbacks against Chicago. He could have some fantasy value in deeper formats in the coming weeks but should remain well behind Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins in the team’s pass-catching pecking order.

Iosivas’ missed connection was a bad drop. Iosivas posted his second best overall statline of the season as Joe Flacco dropped back 49 times and attempted 47 passes, but he was out-targeted 33-4 by Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins’ combined efforts. It would take injury to one of the elite wideouts ahead of him for Iosivas to become fantasy relevant.

Better in best ball? I’ll say. Iosivas had 34 yards on two catches this season entering play Sunday. With the Bengals playing from behind in the second half, Jake Browning found Iosivas again and again against a soft Lions secondary that was missing multiple bodies. To say that this isn’t production you can count on going forward should be obvious. Iosivas needs another outing like this to establish himself as the Bengals clear No. 3 wide receiver before we can discuss fantasy relevance.