As Bengals eye Super Bowl return, they must first solve Ja’Marr Chase’s high-stakes contract situation

CINCINNATI — Ja’Marr Chase watched as fellow Cincinnati Bengals pass catchers cut to their left and then curled back for a catch.

Like every member of the Bengals’ offense, Chase wore a white team jersey. But amid a sea of helmets on the final day before padded practices began, Chase wore a baseball cap.

Almost a week into camp, he was not practicing.

Instead, the three-time Pro Bowl receiver was “holding in” — participating in meetings and walking through some concepts on his own but eschewing organized physical activity as he campaigned for a contract extension.

He knows the market is lucrative right now.

For NFL teams, the receiver market is downright scary.

Just days before the NFL Draft in April, the Detroit Lions awarded Amon-Ra St. Brown a four-year extension worth with a receiver-record $77 million guaranteed and $30 million per year. The record lasted a day.

Then the Philadelphia Eagles awarded A.J. Brown $84 million in guarantees and a $32 million annual average salary.

By June, the Minnesota Vikings smashed non-quarterback precedents as they gave Justin Jefferson a four-year, $140 million contract ($35 million per year) with $110 million guaranteed.

So while it is easy to look at Chase’s non-participation as dramatic — he still has one year remaining on his rookie deal and then a fifth-year option, and then two possible franchise tags — a glance at the receiver market tells another story.

The time is ripe to be an NFL wide receiver on the brink of extension. Why not maximize his chances of striking?

“He’s obviously a huge part of our offense,” Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher told Yahoo Sports. “The business part is the business part. Those two sides are going to handle that how they need to handle it. We obviously would love to have Ja’Marr practicing. But I think everybody here understands the elements at play.

“There’s an implicit love and trust of Ja’Marr Chase because of who he is, what he’s meant to this team, the plays that he’s made in some of the biggest spots. So that process will play itself out however it does and we’ll be happy to have him back whenever we get him back.”

In short and long term, delaying Chase deal may cost parties

Two points were clear in conversations with Bengals leadership.

The first: The Bengals have no intention of moving forward, in 2024 or any year soon, without their LSU product who’s caught 268 passes for 3,717 yards and 29 touchdowns in just three seasons.

Director of player personnel Duke Tobin lauded Chase’s value and fit at the start of camp. Team owner Mike Brown described Chase as the team’s most important piece after quarterback Joe Burrow, whom they already extended last summer.

“We’re going to bend over backward to get it done,” Brown told reporters on July 22. “I can’t tell you when, though.”

Which leads us to the second point.

A person with knowledge of negotiations told Yahoo Sports that the Bengals want to extend Chase before the start of this season. Sure, they already control his rights for up to four more years. But the same reason Chase is holding out — to get the value the market is saying he’s worth — speaks to why the Bengals would want to pounce sooner than later.

The market isn’t slowing down.

As the Bengals donned pads Wednesday, Chase still withholding services, the Chicago Bears were finalizing an extension for receiver DJ Moore. The four-year, $110 million extension with $82.6 million guaranteed would have ranked third in average annual salary and first in guarantees four months ago.

Now: sixth and third.

The Dallas Cowboys could soon shift the market further with CeeDee Lamb; the San Francisco 49ers, too, could engage with Brandon Aiyuk.

Expect Chase’s agents, Rocky Arceneaux and Jason Lampert, to argue their client deserves Jefferson-stratosphere money. Chase’s value is expected to rise by next year.

“Hopefully something gets done and he’s out practicing because he understands how valuable he is to this team,” receivers coach Troy Walters told Yahoo Sports. “He’s humble and he’s hungry, so he’s never satisfied. He doesn’t care what he did in the past.

“He wants to be better this year than he was last year.”

Bengals’ 2024 offense will rely heavily on Chase

The Bengals’ offense also wants to be better than last year.

After two seasons as a top-seven scoring offense and top-13 in total yardage, Cincinnati slipped last year to 16th and 22nd, respectively.

Burrow’s health is the top explanation, Cincinnati’s oft-injured quarterback tearing a ligament in his wrist Nov. 16 and undergoing surgery in December. Burrow has returned to practicing in individual and team drills, though head coach Zac Taylor is managing his workload when the team practices consecutive days.

“Him being on the field for a full season is what’s going to help us win a Super Bowl,” Pitcher said of Burrow.

The ‘S’ and ‘B’ words are used frequently around Cincinnati, the Bengals three years removed from their last appearance in the big game and confident they can beat anybody with a healthy Burrow.

A key area of improvement they’re eyeing: more explosive plays.

“We’ve been at times a very explosive offense,” Pitcher said. “Then we’ve evolved to a very efficient offense [where we] take what the defense gives you because they’re quite frankly worried about your explosive players on the outside — which is a great way to play football but as in anything, if you fall too squarely in any one camp, they can beat it.”

So the Bengals want to swing their pendulum back toward explosion after a season in which they produced the 10th-fewest plays of 20+ yards. They know Chase is their surest route toward that goal, memories ranging from Chase’s 266-yard, three-touchdown performance to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in 2021 to Chase’s clinic in go-ball separation last December in Jacksonville.

Backup quarterback Jake Browning sailed a pass down the left sideline to Chase, who outpaced cornerback Tyson Campbell to haul in a 23-yard catch and race it the remaining 53 yards to the end zone. The Bengals ultimately won the prime-time road game in overtime, 34-31 — without Burrow.

“He almost has a running back physique or body, [which] makes him such a dangerous guy with yards after the catch,” Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo told Yahoo Sports. “He accelerates when the ball’s in the air. He has a different speed to go get it. And when he tracks it, his hands are so big and strong that it’s hard to get off him.

“And now being a veteran, he’s knowing how to get open, knowing what route, all the different things that we do. Put that all together and you got a special player for sure.”

What’s a special player worth? The Bengals will have to decide, wary that the Vikings raised a market in which they’re not paying a quarterback top dollar in the way Cincinnati is. The Bengals seem closer to Super Bowl contention this year, too, and they may choose to factor in chemistry as they navigate Chase’s emotions.

But in the franchise’s first year since 2016 without Joe Mixon anchoring its run game, and in a franchise-tag season for fellow receiver Tee Higgins, Chase’s production and the defensive attention he commands is a necessary ingredient for the Bengals’ Super Bowl pursuit.

“We feel like he’s a great fit for us but we also feel like we’re a great fit for him and I think he realizes that,” Tobin said entering training camp. “Normally in those situations something can find a way to get done so we’ll see.

“He’s pretty valuable.”