A day after Bengals coach Zac Taylor said the plan is for Ja’Marr Chase to practice moving forward, the Bengals star receiver arrived in street clothes while his teammates continued to prepare for the start of the regular season.
Chase, a three-time Pro Bowler, had recently begun practicing after being a “hold-in” during training camp as he seeks a contract extension. The 2021 first-round pick is entering the final year of his rookie contract and is likely seeking an extension that would make him among the league’s highest-paid players at his position.
“Every day is a new day,” Taylor said of the situation, via The Athletic. “We are working through it. I am not going to make any predictions to what tomorrow brings. At the end of the day, Ja’Marr is a great dude that means a lot to this team. We are going to continue to take it day to day.”
Clearly, something changed between Taylor’s comments Tuesday and the start of Wednesday’s practice. One could assume that there may have been a change regarding the status of Chase’s contract talks with the Bengals, who are running out of time to come to terms on a new deal before Week 1.
Bengals owner Mike Brown typically does not deal with contracts during the season, which means the team and Chase have less than two weeks to figure something out. It appears Chase is willing to continue to miss practice time as he awaits his new contract.
Fortunately for the Bengals, they have depth at wideout in the event that Chase’s holdout lingers into the regular season. Cincinnati’s receiving corps still has former two-time 1,000-yard receiver Tee Higgins, and rookie third-round pick Jermaine Burton, who made several big plays during the preseason. The team also feels good about complementary wideouts Andrei Iosivas, Trenton Irwin and Charlie Jones.
