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Having one of the best — if not the best — start to a career by a wide receiver apparently isn’t enough to get Cincinnati Bengals rookie Ja’Marr Chase monthly honors.
The rookie of the month honors for October instead go to Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris, who to date has rushed for 479 yards and three scores on a 3.7 per-carry average with another 37 catches and two scores as a receiver.
Harris has undeniably looked great despite a poor line in front of him. Over four games in October, he ran for 60-plus yards in each with three rushing scores, though his per-carry average dipped above four just twice.
Chase, on the other hand, has 786 yards and seven scores while averaging 20.7 yards per catch. He’s third in the NFL in receiving yardage, tied for fourth in receiving scores and tops in the league in per-catch average.
And Chase has had his best games in the month of October, too. He caught six passes for 159 yards and a score in a loss to Green Bay and had 10 catches for 201 yards and a score in a win over Baltimore.
There’s little debate to be had about which AFC North rookie is having a bigger impact on his offense. Chase and his 14 plays of 20-plus yards (Harris has two) and 27 first downs (Harris, 25) has dramatically changed the complexion of a Cincinnati offense that would otherwise still be pretty terrible without him. He’s compensated for a poor line and created one of the best deep-threat passing attacks in the league.
It’s a little strange that Chase has won seemingly endless awards to this point, only to miss one after his best month of football yet. He’s had the best seven-game start of any receiver since 1954, won one award four times in seven weeks and was the offensive rookie of the month for September.
The fact Harris scored every game in October while the Steelers went 3-1 probably nudged the award in his favor here. Chase’s Bengals went 2-2 and his 32 yards and a score in Week 8 probably didn’t help.
But those are reaches at best given what we know about positional value and each rookie’s overall impact so far — maybe the NFL just wanted to mix it up to make things interesting?
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