by Good-Faith Gesture
There has been speculation over the last few weeks that star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and the Cincinnati Bengals have been negotiating a long-term extension to properly pay Chase the amount he deserves, but the two sides have not yet been able to agree. Recently this week, Chase has shown up to practice as a good-faith gesture to the Bengals organization, even when the Bengals are not showing him the same respect back in terms of not getting a deal done.
Financial Information
Ja’Marr Chase is set to play this season in the final year of his contract and is set to make $4.86 million, which when compared to what the other top receivers make in the league such as Justin Jefferson or Tyreek Hill, is not a lot of money. Chase is seeking a deal that is relatively close to another wide receiver who was looking to get an extension done with their respective team: Ceedee Lamb. Lamb inked a $136 million deal over 4 years ($34M annually). Chase feels that he is just as good if not better than Ceedee Lamb, and that is no disrespect to Lamb as he is one of the prominent receivers in the current NFL landscape.
Zac Taylor’s Comments
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor made comments on Wednesday about the contract situation. Taylor stated “We’ll keep working through it. Not going to make predictions about what tomorrow brings. At the end of the day, Ja’Marr is a great dude that means a lot to this team. And we’ll just continue to take it day-to-day.” What I noticed in the interview is that someone asked him if he thinks that he will play in the season opener, and he responded along the lines of we will take it day-by-day. That is not a reassuring answer and shows that there really has been no progress made. He also said that Chase and the Bengals are in the later stages of the plan that they had come out with earlier in the offseason.
Analysis
What I have gotten from all of this is that there really has been no significant improvement in the contract situation. They can say that it’s moving along, but I think when teams start to use a “day-to-day” basis in terms of contract negotiations, it tends to mean that one side is further away from getting a deal done than the other side. And in this case, I think Ja’Marr Chase really wants to stay in Cincinnati and try to win a Super Bowl with his old college teammate Joe Burrow and the rest of the Bengals organization. The Bengals need to buckle down and pay Chase as the connection between him and Burrow is the main facet of this offense and really what it is all predicated on.
