Ja’Marr Chase Returns to Bengals Practice

CINCINNATI — Ja’Marr Chase is back.

The Pro Bowl wide receiver made his 2024 Cincinnati Bengals practice debut today, a team source.

Ja’Marr Chase Returns to Cincinnati Bengals Practice but Still Waits for Contract Extension

Chase has been sitting out of every practice while he waits for a contract extension despite still having two years left on his current deal.

While speaking with reporters at the pre-camp luncheon last month, Bengals owner and president Mike Brown said the team would “bend over backward” to get a Chase deal done.

But he didn’t say when those gymnastics would begin, offering only the “sooner rather than later preference.”

It doesn’t appear as though “sooner” meant this summer, as there are reports there hasn’t been much negotiating happening, which is why Chase has been standing on the field watching practice rather than running routes most days.

Aug. 13 was the only practice he missed, with head coach Zac Taylor declining to answer whether it was an excused absence. But Chase joined the team for the trip to Chicago and was on the field in the rain watching the joint practice against the Bears, as well as the preseason game two days later.

Today and Monday, the Bengals are holding light practices that are not open to the media.

After Sunday’s practice, Chase grabbed his jersey and got on a golf cart with assistant quarterbacks coach Fredi Knighten, who was holding a football. With head of security Mark Herren driving, the group rode off for what presumably was a post-practice workout with Knighten, who often throws to receivers during practice, firing passes at Chase.

Chase said on multiple occasions last season that he would be content to wait out Justin Jefferson to see where his contract landed. It came in at four years, $140 million with $88.7 million guaranteed.

Chase has said guaranteed money is the biggest thing he would look for in a new deal, and the Bengals don’t typically offer those sorts of guarantees. Quarterback Joe Burrow is an outlier with $219 million of his $275 million extension guaranteed.

Orlando Brown Jr. is next on the list of guaranteed money, with $31.1 million of the four-year, $64 million free agent deal he signed in March 2023.

Third on the list?

Chase.

After getting $19.8 million of the four-year, $30.8 million contract as the No. 5 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Chase earned a $3.8 million roster bonus by reporting to training camp. That means he has earned $29.8 million, with only a $1 million base salary for 2024 remaining.

The notion that Chase is criminally underpaid with just a $1 million base salary is a disingenuous twisting of semantics, usually authored by those willing to carry water for Chase’s agent, Rocky Arceneaux.

Another guaranteed $21.8 million awaits in 2025 after the Bengals picked up Chase’s fifth-year option.

Chase’s return to practice suggests this was always a way of signaling his displeasure and never a serious threat to sit out regular-season games. Could his return suggest a new contract is imminent? It’s always possible.

But more than likely, this is yet another case of Brown staring down a disgruntled player. He has a long history of not blinking in these types of situations.

The Bengals rarely make moves until they have to — or at least want to — and the Chase deadline is far in the distance with two years remaining on his contract.

There’s also not much precedence for non-quarterbacks getting extensions with more than one year left on their contract.

Jefferson put up record numbers for a receiver in his first three NFL seasons and played his fourth with a base salary of $2.4 million.

Today marked the team’s last full practice for more than a week. After Thursday’s preseason finale against the Colts, the players will lift Friday, get Saturday off, run through a pair of light practices Sunday and Monday, and get next Tuesday off to await the 4 p.m. deadline for roster cuts.

Aug. 28 will mark the start of the ramp-up to the Sept. 8 season opener against the New England Patriots. And today’s return suggests Chase will be there for every practice and every game the rest of the way.