Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase did not participate in practice on Wednesday, just one day after head coach Zac Taylor told the media that Chase would be a full participant all week.
Chase was there on Wednesday, as snapped by ESPN’s Ben Baby, but he wasn’t practicing. He’d participated in light practices on Monday and Tuesday, which led Taylor to say on Tuesday afternoon “The plan will be to continue to practice with him.” Looks like Taylor spoke a little too quickly.
Chase has essentially been “holding in” all preseason as he seeks to be paid more than the $1.1 million he’s set to make in 2024 (though his salary will jump to over $21 million in 2025 since the Bengals picked up his fifth-year option in April). And he’s employed various methods to communicate his desires. He’s been at training camp, but not as a participant. There have been times that he hasn’t been at the facility at all. He hasn’t appeared in any preseason games. He dove back into practice earlier this week, but now he’s back on the sideline.
Chase has been a major part of the Bengals’ recent successes, a standout on the field catching passes from QB Joe Burrow and a reliable points-getter in fantasy. He caught 100 passes in 2023 and has hit 1,000 yards in each of his first three seasons.
Despite his hold-in complicating matters on the field (he’s barely practiced over the last month) and in fantasy (where in the world do you draft a high-impact guy who hasn’t been practicing?!), he deserves to get paid and is doing what he needs to do to ensure the Bengals give him what he’s worth.
Taylor also said on Tuesday that he expects Chase to play Week 1 against the New England Patriots. That still appears to be the plan, though given how quickly things are changing at Bengals HQ, who knows what the future holds.