Ja’Marr Chase wants to put Vikings’ Patrick Peterson on his highlight reel

The Bengals rookie has big plans for a star CB in Week 1.

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Both the Cincinnati Bengals and Minnesota Vikings think they got big upgrades on the boundaries this offseason.

For the Bengals, it was drafting wideout Ja’Marr Chase at fifth overall. For the Vikings, it was signing veteran corner Patrick Peterson.

Both are former LSU guys — and Chase would like to make an example of Peterson when the Bengals and Vikings play in Week 1.

Here’s what he told reporters about the matchup, per ESPN’s Ben Baby: “I could put Patrick Peterson on my highlight tape. He might be mad I’m saying it, but hey, you know what I’m saying, it’s part of the game. I’d love to make a play on him.”

Chase followed that up with this:

Of course, Chase will have to get over the drop issues that plagued him late in training camp and over the course of the last two preseason games to get the best of anybody in a matchup.

But if Chase is over those issues, he’s shown the route-running and playmaking ability to give anybody lining up across from him problems.

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Ja’Marr Chase’s drop issues had the internet buzzing again

Fans are worried about Ja’Marr Chase.

Cincinnati Bengals fifth overall pick Ja’Marr Chase had another brutal drop, this time in his team’s preseason finale against the Miami Dolphins.

Chase, getting to play with the returning-from-injury Joe Burrow for the first time in the NFL, dropped Burrow’s only pass attempt of the day on an easy bubble screen.

It’s hardly the end of the world for Chase, even if it has been a consistent issue. But NFL fans and onlookers sure had some thoughts on the matter.

NFL fans crushed Bengals rookie Ja’Marr Chase after another brutal drop in preseason

Time to worry?

Sunday’s preseason finale for the Cincinnati Bengals brought some renewed energy to the team as Joe Burrow made his first on-field appearance since the devastating knee injury last season. He was greeted to a standing ovation as he took the field to face the Dolphins for three snaps.

Things were looking up! Briefly. That’s because the same drop issues that have plagued fifth-overall pick Ja’Marr Chase all preseason emerged with Burrow at quarterback.

On a second-down play, Burrow looked to target Chase on a screen pass only to have the ball hit Chase in the hands and ricochet back to the turf. Chase, who opted out of last season at LSU, dropped three passes in Aug. 20’s preseason game. He’s dealt with drop issues in practice, and for it to happen again on Sunday, well, it wasn’t encouraging.

Predictably, NFL fans piled on Chase after the latest drop.

Ja’Marr Chase drop issues reappear on Joe Burrow’s first target since injury

Joe Burrow returned — and so did the drop issues for Chase.

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Apparently we’re not done talking about the drop issues for Cincinnati Bengals rookie Ja’Marr Chase just yet.

After having a stellar week of practices, Chase was on the field with the first-team offense for the start of the Bengals’ Week 3 preseason game against the Miami Dolphins.

Naturally, Chase was the target on the first pass attempt by Joe Burrow since the quarterback’s season-ending injury in Week 11 of last season.

And Chase stone-cold dropped it.

It was a manufactured, easy-to-complete look for rehabbed quarterback and struggling receiver alike — a simple, quick-hitting bubble screen. Chase bobbled it while looking at potential defenders coming in for the hit and that was that.

Chase had put these issues behind him. They initially popped up during the team’s second preseason game, where he dropped three targets — all on third downs. Those problems carried into one further day of practice before disappearing.

Adding in a drop on Burrow’s first target during his big return isn’t likely to make things easier on Chase from here.

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Checking in on top 2021 draft picks ahead of Kyle Pitts’ Falcons debut

Looking at notable performances from this year’s first-round picks with Kyle Pitts set to make his debut on Sunday night against the Browns.

The Atlanta Falcons host the Cleveland Browns Sunday night in their final preseason game and there’s a lot at stake for players trying to make the 53-man roster. Falcons head coach Arthur Smith said he expects just about everyone to play, meaning fans should get their first glimpse of highly touted rookie tight end Kyle Pitts.

As you wait for tonight’s preseason finale, let’s check out the top highlights from other notable first-round draft picks around the league.

Ja’Marr Chase’s deadly route had teammates cheering before he even caught ball

Let’s just say Ja’Marr Chase looks good at Bengals training camp.

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The conversation around Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase did a 180 quickly.

After a few days of drop issues, Chase bounced back and hasn’t had much of a notable drop since while scoring touchdowns and impressing onlookers with his development.

Case in point? On Wednesday, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com, Chase busted out such a wicked route on Chidobe Awuzie that the immediate separation he created caused the sideline to erupt in cheers — before he even caught the inevitable pass.

The big highlight came after Bengals coach Zac Taylor heaped praise on him, per Hobson:

“In terms of the details and making progress in that way, his arrow has been up. I think he’s getting used to the play of speed at this level, a lot of the nuances of the offense is really slowing down for him. Now it’s just putting it all together.”

Call it just another big highlight for Chase, who put in extra work to quickly end the drop issue.

With Joe Burrow playing in the team’s next preseason game, it should be pretty interesting to see if Chase puts it all together in live action. Either way, he’ll be a staple of the offense in Week 1.

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Reminder for Ja’Marr Chase doubters: Tee Higgins was a slow starter too

No need to worry about Ja’Marr Chase — just look at Tee Higgins.

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Roughly a year ago, a Cincinnati Bengals rookie by the name of Tee Higgins was working behind…John Ross, of all people.

So no, it’s not time to panic about the recent drop issues by fifth-overall pick Ja’Marr Chase.

As fans might recall, Higgins had a nagging injury issue in camp, initially had problems adjusting to NFL speed and wasn’t a major factor in the team’s season opener, all this while the Bengals were talking him up as a first-round prospect they happened to find in the second round.

Despite the slow start, Higgins scored twice in Week 2 and would go on to be the team’s No. 1 wideout, nearly breaking a franchise record held by Cris Collinsworth despite a rocky quarterback situation once Joe Burrow went down.

Yes, we can argue expectations are even bigger on Chase, of course. The historic connection with Burrow from their 2019 LSU journey plays a part, too. But it’s important to keep the bigger outlook in perspective while a rookie who hasn’t played football in more than a year has a few days of mental struggles on the field.

Higgins actually shared his perspective of the mental side recently, per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:

“Once I got drafted there was a lot of hype. A lot of, he’s coming here this and that. You have to block that out, too. Too much can fill your head up and you go out there and not live up to what they’re talking about and all the negativity comes. That’s when you start playing badly and this and that. You just block out the negativity and the positive and just play your game.”

The reality? Chase is going to be just fine. And the team doesn’t need him to carry the offense — Higgins and Tyler Boyd can do that just fine. He’s got the upside to be the No. 1 wideout, but it’s not time to react much in either direction to some struggles by a rookie during his first summer as a pro.

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An early progress report of the 2021 NFL Draft opt outs

A handful of rookies are getting their first football action in over a year and a half.

The 2021 NFL Draft gave us a group of players that haven’t really existed in the NFL before: multiple first round picks that didn’t play their final season of college football.

Due to the pandemic that seems to be never-ending, players were allowed to opt out of the season with no penalty or real scrutiny, paving the way for highly touted draft prospects to begin preparing for the NFL a year early.

Six players that opted out of the 2020 college footballs season were selected in the first round of this year’s NFL Draft. Their acclimation and adjustment to the NFL will be fascinating to track this year as they jump right into professional action after a year away from the game.

Here’s how a few of these guys have performed up to this point in the preseason.

(Cornerback Caleb Farley, who was drafted by the Titans in the first round, didn’t get a blurb because he just got his first action of training camp in Week 2.)

Ja’Marr Chase put in extra work to quickly fix drop issue

Ja’Marr Chase went in on his off day to put in extra work.

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Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase put in some extra work in order to shore up the drop issues that made headlines in recent days.

After his trio of drops on third-down looks during last Friday’s preseason loss, Chase sought out help and worked on the issue during an off day.

Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com explained:

“And it all may have started when rookie wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase went to wide receivers coach Troy Walters after Friday night’s three drops in Washington and asked to come in on Saturday’s off day so they could meet ‘to get my focus back.'”

What followed was Chase putting up the biggest highlight of the day during practice on Monday — a day in which he didn’t appear to drop a pass at all.

While Bengals coaches might end up giving Chase more run in the team’s preseason finale than previously expected to make sure the issue is a thing of the past, it’s pretty clear the fifth-overall pick is willing to put in the work and has already made strides in addressing the problem.

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Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase posts highlight play of the day after drop struggles

Uno shook off the drop issues and got back to putting up highlights on Monday.

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As expected, Ja’Marr Chase didn’t need long to shake off the drop issues that plagued his last few days.

After a trio of drops during a preseason game and some other notable drops during a practice over the weekend, Chase got back to being his usual self on Monday.

ESPN’s Ben Baby explained one of the big highlights of the day: “Play of the day: In red zone drills at the end of practice, Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase leaps, twists his torso and plucks a ball out of the air for a TD inside the near right pylon. Got big cheers from the players.”

Some of Chase’s improvement just comes down to extra work — he’s spent the last two days at training camp putting in extra work with the quarterbacks on the side when he didn’t need to.

Some visual evidence of Chase’s big bounce-back day:

There was never a big reason to worry about a rough patch for Chase, as that’s what the summer and preseason is all about — and he didn’t need long to shake off the issues.

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