Cedric Benson: Why Fantasy Owners Must Start Bengals RB vs. Bills in Week 4

Despite facing a three-game suspension for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy, Cincinnati Bengals running back Cedric Benson will play in Week 4 as he awaits a decision on his appeal of said ban.

While it's still likely that Benson will end up being suspended, that probably won't begin until Week 5, since a decision on his appeal is unlikely to be rendered until next week.

That means that Benson will be available this week and should be in your starting lineup, despite the fact that the Bengals face a 3-0 Buffalo Bills team.

So far this season, Benson has 244 yards and one touchdown on 58 carries. On Sunday, against the Bills, he is sure to get a ton of work, especially if he will be sidelined for the next few weeks. In addition, the Bills currently boast the NFL's 24th run defense and have surrendered 115.7 yards per game. Buffalo is also giving up 4.7 yards per carry, which is a ridiculously high number.

With Andy Dalton under-center, the Bengals are sure to ride Benson as much as possible to help bring the rookie quarterback along slowly. Dalton had a rough day against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 3, completing 17 of 32 passes for 157 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions.

With that performance still fresh in everyone's mind, Benson will likely see the ball a lot this weekend. In Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns, the seventh-year pro out of Texans carried the ball 25 times for 121 yards and a score. That was Cincinnati's only win to date. In the following two weeks, Benson had only 16 and 17 carries respectively.

The formula for the Bengals should be simple this year. They must ride Benson as far as they can and take the pressure off their young quarterback. This week, against the Bills, you should expect Cincinnati to do just that.

Start Benson while you still can, since he's likely to be sitting for a few weeks after Sunday's game.