Tag: bengals news

A new report paints the contract situation between the Cincinnati Bengals and Ja’Marr Chase in a pretty bad light.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Chase won’t partake in contract talks with the team during the season unless something changes.

And it gets worse:

According to sources, the star wide receiver believes the Bengals misled him when they told him at the end of last season, and again during the offseason, he would get an extension that ultimately did not happen.

The report goes on to note that the contract talks this summer featured numbers that would beat the annual average of $35 million that Justin Jefferson got from Minnesota, but that other structures and payout details were issues for Chase and his reps.

Now, there are a few catches here.

For one, the Bengals don’t talk extensions during the season, anyway. As Schefter goes on to point out, Andrew Whitworth in 2015 was the only exception in the last two decades.

Two, we already knew that the guaranteed money wasn’t to Chase’s liking, perhaps especially in the case of injury guarantees.

And three, the fact Chase took out a $50 million insurance policy on himself against injury for this season, per Schefter, simply adds further confirmation that this is merely the latest leverage play by a player and his camp in these circumstances.

As has been the case all along, Chase had handled things well, walking the tightrope between showing the team he’s serious about his market-resetting contract while not overly harming the team.

That won’t appease all fans, of course, especially after the offense’s flop in the Week 1 loss to New England. But he didn’t do a dramatic holdout during training camp, nor miss games that matter, which given the money at stake for a player of his caliber (especially after he watched the team break precedent for his quarterback last year), is notable.

And while this all seems very dramatic, it merely moves the extension to next summer which, for the most part, was the expected time for one anyway. There, the Bengals will likely pay up well over that $35 million and fix the guarantee structures to Chase’s liking.

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An NFL insider says Cincinnati Bengals wideout Ja’Marr Chase and his reps aren’t happy after fiveish months of extension negotiations fell apart at the deadline over the weekend.

On his “NFL Spotlight” podcast, Ari Meirov said that the Bengals and Chase tried roughly up until the Week 1 kickoff to get an extension done — but key factors prevented it.

“They tried Friday night,” Meirov said. “They even tried on Saturday, into Saturday night. And they continued into Sunday morning, actually. They could not bridge the gap. It just was not happening. There were numbers they couldn’t figure out. There was a cashflow issue, there was a year issue, the APY was fine, it would have surpassed Justin Jefferson. But everything else was not there.”

Meirov noted that average annual numbers on the proposed deal were in the $36 million range and speuclated that the number could climb to $40 million by this time next year.

Also important to realize, as Meirov detailed, is that Justin Jefferson went through the exact same thing with the Minnesota Vikings last year before getting his market-resetting contract this offseason.

While we may never get more info than this, it’s notable that Chase and his reps were frustrated with how the Bengals go about extension talks.

And when it comes to a so-called “years” issue, it wouldn’t be surprising to find out that Chase’s side wanted roughly three years, while the Bengals were pushing for four. Players want shorter, lucrative deals to get back in extension talks sooner as they remain in their prime (perfectly understandable), while teams want more control for a longer amount of time.

Given that Chase has two years left on his rookie deal, plus any tag possibilities from the team’s side, it’s not a shock to find out cash flow and years were barriers the two couldn’t get past together.

For now, it sounds like Chase will simply play on the fourth year of his rookie deal. Despite the frustration, it’s hard to imagine the two sides don’t get something done in 2025, as originally anticipated, anyway.

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The Cincinnati Bengals and Ja’Marr Chase won’t have an extension done before Week 1 kickoff on Sunday.

So says ESPN’s Adam Schefter: “Now official: The Bengals and WR Ja’Marr Chase are not expected to reach a contract extension before today’s regular-season opener, per sources. It remains unclear if Chase will play today. Actives/Inactives in 30 minutes.”

Chase is set to play 2024 on the fourth year of his rookie contract, a $9.8 million cap charge that — technically — only featured $1 million in base salary.

Conventional wisdom said the sides would do an extension in the summer of 2025 before his fifth-year option season. But the wideout market developed faster than expected with Justin Jefferson resetting it completely and both CeeDee Lamb and Brandon Aiyuk coming close.

Those big names out of the way, Chase rightfully performed a “hold-in” during camp and impressed the organization in the process, missing all but one day of training camp.

Chase appeared to force the team’s hand by returning to practice, then sending a message by reverting back to being a non-participant last week after head coach Zac Taylor suggested everything was back to normal.

Right after that, a report emerged that the Bengals had “intensified their efforts” to get something done. Chase then joined practices before Week 1, but told reporters that while he might play without an extension, it also might be on a “limited” basis.

The team had always been adamant Chase will remain alongside Joe Burrow, but it appears an extension will have to wait until next summer — pending his participation on game days and how things develop from here.

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