Film Room: The Dynamic Tahj Brooks

What Brooks brings to the Bengals backfield.

It was a bit of a shock in 2023 when the Cincinnati Bengals selected Chase Brown in the fifth round of the NFL Draft.

Brown’s talent was obvious, but the Bengals had always shown a preference for “low mileage” backs who had not taken a high volume of carries in college. Brown had 678 carries over five seasons, including a senior minister campaign where he carried the ball 328 times and caught 27 passes.

While Tahj Brooks never had over 300 carries in a season, he surpassed 280 twice, totaling 879 carries in his five years at Texas Tech.

Just like Brown, Brooks’s talent is obvious. He is a versatile back who can make explosive plays in both the run game and the passing game, and is strong as a pass protector as well.

Let’s start by looking at Brooks as a receiver.

Brooks had 102 receptions for 548 yards during his career with the Red Raiders. This includes catching more than 25 passes in each of the last 3 seasons.

In this clip, Brooks has run a wheel route out of the backfield and makes a tough over-the-shoulder catch on the sideline. He takes a shot almost immediately but still manages to secure the catch.

As you can see, Brooks is not just a check-down guy.

In this clip, he aligns in the backfield and runs the seam in the vertical passing concept. On top of that, he makes a fantastic touchdown catch on 3rd and Long with seconds remaining in the half.

What a clutch play to give his team the lead before halftime.

Brooks shows a nice burst through the line on this play, but what really stands out is his jump-cut.

As the slot defender comes in from the bottom of the screen, Brooks stops in his tracks and hops outside of the slot receiver’s block with a move that makes you want to make an old-school Chris Berman “Whoop!” noise.

He then takes an angle toward the sideline, but the safety adjusts his pursuit and has Brooks contained.

Brooks knows that he can’t get the edge on the defender’s angle, so he throws a stiff arm. As more defenders arrive, Brooks continues to fight for extra yards.

All in all, this play had three parts.

The initial burst through the line was good for about 6 yards. The jump-cut put him on an angle to pick up another 12 yards, and his physicality at the end resulted in another 7 yards.

Speed and agility are great assets, but a running back must have good contact balance and the ability to break tackles.

In this clip, Brooks follows the puller around the edge, and nice blocking leads him to avoid contact for 15 yards. When a defender wraps his arms around Brooks’s waist at the 40-yard line, Brooks powers through. Five yards later, a trio of defenders converge on him, but Brooks is able to get inside the 25-yard line before one of them finally jumps on his back to bring Brooks down.

A good running back would make Bruce Lee proud, because he is like water. He finds the fastest way downhill and squeezes through even the smallest of gaps.

Brooks hits this hole hard, and I love how skinny he gets to make his way through it.

Then he is off to the races for a score. This is just the type of explosive run that the Bengals are looking for.

Brooks and Brown could make for an incredible one-two punch in the Bengals backfield, but this is not a “thunder and lightning” situation. Both have very versatile skill sets, so unlike the Jeremy Hill / Giovani Bernard days in Cincinnati, who lines up in the backfield will not be a tell for the defense.

To paraphrase Zac Taylor’s favorite show, New Girl, it’s like they’re Batman and Robin, except they are both Batman and they are both Robin. Equals!

They are a truly dynamic duo (and are pretty good at inside zone, too).