It hadn’t even been 24 hours since Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor told reporters that he expected star receiver Ja’Marr Chase to play in the team’s season opener before Chase made him look foolish.
The 24-year-old wideout showed up to practice on Wednesday more than 10 minutes late and in street clothes, insinuating that he was sitting out practice again despite participating in the team’s last two practices after skipping all of training camp during his “hold-in.”
“I think I probably put my foot in my mouth and this is a day-to-day situation,” Taylor said of Chase’s decision after Wednesday’s practice, via Paul Dehner Jr of The Athletic.
“…Every day is a new day. 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.”
Chase is sending a message to the Bengals front office.
He’s seemingly not happy there’s been no traction regarding a contract extension, and with the regular season less than two weeks away, he seems to be putting pressure on the team to stop dragging its heels.
Chase has one more year left on his rookie deal, and he’s likely seeking to become one of the highest-paid WRs in the NFL. Spotrac currently projects his market value at $30.9M per year.
Other notable receivers who’ve signed new deals this offseason include Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson (four years, $140M, $35M per year), Dallas’ CeeDee Lamb (four years, $136M, $34M per year), Philadelphia’s A.J. Brown (three years, $96M, $32M per year) and Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown (four years, $120M, $30M per year).
