Bernard has frequently found himself as the second option on the Bengals running back depth chart, despite often outplaying whoever has been in front of him. As a rookie, it was BenJarvus Green-Ellis, and over the past four years it was Jeremy Hill. Last year, it was also Joe Mixon.
For his career, Bernard has taken about a 40/60 split with his fellow running backs with the rushing duties and often ceded short yardage and touchdown carries. Despite this, since joining the Bengals in 2013, Bernard has almost an identical yards from scrimmage as Green-Ellis, Hill, and Mixon combined, despite touching the ball 285 fewer times.