Cincinnati Bengals Practice and Injury Report: Ja’Marr Chase Absence Length Update

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor confirmed that Ja’Marr Chase will not play Saturday at Pittsburgh, but he isn’t ready to rule out the possibility of him returning to play in Week 17 at Kansas City.

“We’ve got significant length before the next game from where we are today, so we’ll just continue to go from there,” Taylor said, referring to the eight-day week ahead, the product of playing on Saturday and then Sunday.

Chase suffered an AC joint sprain in his right shoulder during Saturday’s 27-24 overtime win against the Minnesota Vikings and tried to play through it.

Ja’Marr Chase Out Saturday, Could Play in Week 17

His last play of the game was a 24-yard reception on 3rd-and-21 early in the fourth quarter to keep alive the drive that ended with a Joe Mixon touchdown run that tied the score at 17-17. Chase went into the locker room for evaluation and returned to the sideline in street clothes with his right arm in a sling underneath his hoodie.

Chase was at practice Friday in street clothes, but his right arm was not in a sling.

Just Chase on the injury report. pic.twitter.com/YoZKmihZkR

— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) December 21, 2023

The other 51 players on the active roster — the Bengals currently only have 52 players on it after placing defensive tackle DJ Reader and cornerback DJ Ivey on injured reserve — were present at practice, including defensive tackle Travis Bell, whom the Bengals claimed off waivers from the Atlanta Falcons on Wednesday.

MORE: Cincinnati Bengals Depth Chart

“There was an opportunity at this point to claim a guy like that and see how he fits in the mix,” Taylor said of Bell. “He’s a guy we had high regard for coming out of the draft.”

Bell was a seventh-round pick of the Bears this year before signing with the Falcons and appearing in each of the last two games. He’s unlikely to play this week after just arriving today, so preseason standout Domenique Davis could be elevated from the practice squad to join Zach Carter, Josh Tupou, and Jay Tufele as a depth on the interior of the defensive line.

Chase is the only player on the injury report, which means the Bengals will have some interesting decisions to make in terms of healthy scratches for the inactive list on Saturday, especially given the fact that they are expected to load up at defensive tackle given both the Reader injury and how the Pittsburgh offense is expected to operate with Mason Rudolph getting his first start of the season and just his third since 2019.

Rudolph will be the 58th different quarterback to start a game this season. By comparison, there were 68 last year.

Want to predict the rest of the 2023 season with our FREE NFL Playoff Predictor? Looking for the most up-to-date NFL standings? What about a breakdown of team depth charts or the NFL schedule? Pro Football Network has you covered with that and more!