Tag: Ja’Marr Chase

Justin Jefferson has ‘jealousy’ regarding Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase

Justin Jefferson was apart of one of the best offenses the college football world has ever seen, now he is jealous of seeing it in the NFL.

The 2019-2020 college football season was memorable for several reasons. Primarily, we saw the LSU Tigers utilize a record-breaking offense on their way to a national championship. The offense had a three-headed monster leading it: Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and Justin Jefferson.

Fate would have it as Burrow and Chase would play professionally together in Cincinnati while Jefferson became a Minnesota Viking.

Jefferson was on comedian Kevin Hart’s “Cold as Balls” YouTube show this week. He discussed the feeling of seeing his former college teammates playing together.

“I love them together, I love the chemistry that they have, but it’s definitely some jealousy on that side, we always want the best for each other, but also we wanna be better than one another so it was always a competitive thing. . .”

Jefferson would also discuss his love for his former teammates and the joy he has watching them play. The Vikings wide receiver is a looming free agent, and while some may point to this as a sign of him wanting to join his former teammates on the Bengals, it’s highly unlikely.

The Bengals currently have the franchise tag placed on wide receiver Tee Higgins. They are expected to sign him to an extension, which would make having three top-paid receivers close to impossible.

While he hasn’t been extended yet, there shouldn’t be any panic yet from Vikings fans despite the jealousy comment.

Puka Nacua ranks his top 5 WRs in the NFL, which includes Cooper Kupp

Puka Nacua ranked the top 5 WRs in the NFL and Cooper Kupp made the cut, but where did he land?

There’s a remarkable amount of wide receiver talent in the NFL right now, making it incredibly difficult to discern the best from the rest. The Rams have two of the more talented receivers in football right now in Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp, but many people wouldn’t even put them in the top five.

While on Maxx Crosby’s podcast this week, Nacua was tasked with ranking the five best receivers in the league. He didn’t include himself, but Kupp did make the cut. He also included Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams, Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase.

Here’s the order he put those five in.

  1. Justin Jefferson, Vikings
  2. Ja’Marr Chase, Bengals
  3. Tyreek Hill, Dolphins
  4. Davante Adams, Raiders
  5. Cooper Kupp, Rams

There’s little question that Jefferson is the best in the league currently. He had 68 catches and 1,074 yards in only 10 games last season, some of which were without Kirk Cousins at quarterback.

After Jefferson, there’s a case to be made for several receivers as being the second-best. Hill led all players with 1,799 yards in 16 games, while CeeDee Lamb was second with 1,749 yards – and he didn’t even make Nacua’s list.

Neither did Amon-Ra St. Brown, who had a stellar season as a first-team All-Pro in 2023.

When healthy Kupp is up there as a top receiver, and so is Adams when he gets steady play from his quarterback. It’s hard to fault Nacua for his top five because it is a great list, but it’s just an example of how much talent there is at the position.

Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins praised Brian Callahan to DeAndre Hopkins

Bengals stars had nice things to say about their former offensive coordinator.

Cincinnati Bengals wideouts Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins have signed off on Brian Callahan to at least one Tennessee Titans star.

Speaking at the NFL owners meetings this week, Titans wideout DeAndre Hopkins revealed that he got positive words from Chase and Higgins once the former Bengals offensive coordinator came over from Cincinnati to serve as the new head coach.

“I am very excited to get going under Brian’s offense, and his schemes,” Hopkins said, per Jim Wyatt of the Titans’ official website. “Obviously I’ve talked to Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins and those guys told me that I would love this offense, and I think the sky is the limit, especially with a guy like Calvin (Ridley). I am very excited for this offense.”

Chase and Higgins, of course, would know. And now Callahan looks like he will indeed try to emulate the Cincinnati system at least a little bit by having Calvin Ridley play a Chase-like role to Hopkins’ Higgins.

Hopkins scored seven times with 1,000-plus yards last year as it is, so he’s probably thrilled to hear about the possible upgrade, too.

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Saints’ Derek Carr, Chris Olave ranked just outside of Top-10 QB-WR duos

Derek Carr and Chris Olave had a rocky first year together, but there’s potential for greatness. B/R ranked them close to the top 10 QB-WR duos:

Where do Derek Carr and Chris Olave rank in the NFL as a duo? The New Orleans Saints’ quarterback and top wide receiver obviously are not on the elite tier with big names like Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase or Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill.

Individually, Carr isn’t in that conversation after a decade in the league, and Olave hasn’t reached that status yet going into his third season. But they have a lot of room to grow together. Bleacher Report’s Maurice Moton has the pairing ranked right outside the top 10 as an honorable mention:

Derek Carr had an up-and-down first year with the New Orleans Saints in part because he played through injuries, but the 10-year veteran established a strong rapport with Chris Olave, who caught 87 passes for 1,123 yards and five touchdowns as the focal point of the 11th-ranked passing offense.

Perhaps the Saints offense takes a step in the right direction under new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. If it does, look out for Carr and Olave to pick up where they left off in 2023.

That rapport took a while to find. Early in the season there was a clear disconnect between Carr and Olave. Olave’s effort was being questioned which led many to question his feelings towards his quarterback. Carr blowing up on Olave, when Carr was in the wrong, didn’t help matters either. As the season went on, however, they began to get on the same page and seemed to have a better relationship.

It’ll be interesting to see if they hit the ground running this year with a season under their belt. Being an honorable mention is a start. In order to crack the top 10, Olave will likely need to surpass 1,200 yards. Carr is who he is at this point in his career, but the addition of Klint Kubiak is here to elevate the passing attack schematically. As important as the players’ chemistry is, the new offensive coordinator is the most important piece.

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No reason for panic about Ja’Marr Chase, Bengals extension

No rush on a Ja’Marr Chase extension — here’s why.

Things are unfolding about exactly as expected when it comes to a long-term extension for the Cincinnati Bengals and Ja’Marr Chase.

That’s even the case this week with Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn revealing at league meetings that the process has yet to really start.

“We haven’t started,” Blackburn said, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Kelsey Conway. “That’s sort of the next thing is just to piece together some of those things to consider and give it some thought. And like I said, I can’t say for sure where any of it will go. But we certainly are going to study up on it and see what we can figure out to try to get the best result we can for the club one way or another.”

No great shock there — Chase himself told anyone who would listen back in January that he’s waiting on names like CeeDee Lamb and Justin Jefferson to get their new deals first.

Oh, and teammate Tee Higgins, too.

For Chase, there’s no rush — he benefits from waiting and letting guys with expiring contracts set the bar higher before he swoops in last. Maybe that’s this summer, maybe not.

For the Bengals, there’s no rush either — they can still pick up Chase’s fifth-year option, locking him down through 2025, with team-friendly options like franchise tags into 2026 if things hit a standstill.

It’s hard to imagine things reach that point though, as Chase has always felt like the No. 1 priority for the team at wideout. When Chase is ready, the Bengals will undoubtedly be ready, too.

More pressing right now is whether Higgins will report and sign the franchise tag as the team heads for another Jessie Bates-styled situation.

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Ja’Marr Chase contract extension projection is massive number for Bengals

Experts have outlined what a Ja’Marr Chase contract extension might cost the Bengals.

What might a contract extension for Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase look like this offseason?

Other than resetting the wideout market, of course?

For Spotrac’s Michael Ginnitti, the contract projects to come in at four years and $120 million with a $30 million-per-year average, with $70 million effectively guaranteed:

Injuries to himself & to QB Joe Burrow over the past two seasons have limited Chase’s ability to reach his max ceiling. Cincinnati likely pays a king’s ransom to see that happen within their offense soon. The 24-year-old has 2 years, $26.6M left on his rookie deal through 2025, so there’s not an immediate rush to get something done here, but it’s certainly worth discussing. Spotrac projects a $70M guarantee over the next 3 seasons, including back to back $20M bonuses to keep cap hits at bay while this contending team continues to get more and more expensive across the board.

At face value, that looks like something the Bengals should be willing to rush to sign, should Chase and his reps be willing to accept. By Spotrac’s own projections, that’s in line with what CeeDee Lamb will get in Dallas and actually under what Justin Jefferson will get in Minnesota.

Of course, Chase has been very open about the fact he wants to wait to do an extension until Jefferson and others have signed their own, which will need to happen sooner.

As such, Chase is bound to reset the market and be the highest-paid receiver in football by pretty much every metric. But these projections, at least, provide a baseline — and further explain why an extension with Tee Higgins is so tricky.

As with Joe Burrow before him, even an extension signed this offseason wouldn’t kick in on the cap space until after the 2025 fifth-year option, though for the Bengals, sooner is probably better for peace of mind and a full understanding of what they’re working with on the balance sheet.

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Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase helping another LSU QB-WR duo before draft

Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase are helping other LSU stars before the NFL draft.

The Cincinnati Bengals have a famous LSU duo in quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and they still haven’t lost their connection to the school after winning a national championship together in 2019.

With the NFL draft coming up and another talented LSU duo who will almost definitely be off the board by the time the Bengals choose at pick No. 18, the two former Tigers are helping Jayden Daniels and Malik Nabers out according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com.

Burrow and Chase have both given the young Tigers the advice to just be who they are as they talk to NFL teams looking to draft them.

“The process, at the end of the day, is just the game of football,” Nabers said. “All that stuff is going to happen. Don’t worry about the cameras and stuff. Just do what I know and play football.”

Nabers also said he tries to model his game after Chase, who was the No. 5 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Even though Burrow and Chase will be playing against Daniels and Nabers someday, they are all still loyal to their LSU ties.

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Look: Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase meet with LeBron James after Lakers vs. Suns

Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase met with LeBron.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and wideout Ja’Marr Chase were a few of the team’s players attending Sunday’s game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns.

Before the game, Burrow and Co. met up with the likes of Devin Booker.

And after? The quarterback-wideout duo made even bigger waves by exchanging on-court words with LeBron James.

Social media went wild trying to pull off some lip-reading to see what was said, though conventional wisdom says LeBron asked Chase if the Fruity Pebbles cleats he sent the star receiver fit well — Chase wore them during a primetime game last season.

Here’s some media of the duo at the game and the postgame interaction, courtesy of All Bengals’ James Rapien:

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Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Bengals show up at Lakers vs. Suns

Bengals stars showed up at the Suns game.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has been making the rounds over the weekend.

Burrow first popped up at a Fanatics Collectibles’ Topps Hobby Rip Night and went viral for his interactions with fans and names like Kevin Durant.

He followed that up by brushing shoulders with more of the NBA space by showing up courtside at a Phoenix Suns game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.

There, alongside Ja’Marr Chase and Bengals teammates, he chatted with Devin Booker and others (using his left hand for greetings, of course).

Here’s a quick look at some of these interactions that — as expected — went viral pretty quickly on social media platforms:

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Bengals learn franchise tag, fifth-year option cap hits for key names

Here’s what it will officially cost the Bengals to use franchise tags and fifth-year options.

The Cincinnati Bengals wound up as big winners on Friday after the NFL announced the massive spike to the salary cap for the 2024 season.

That reveal means the Bengals get more free cap space to use than projected by quite a bit.

And alongside the announcement, the NFL also cemented specific numbers, such as the cost of a franchise tag for each positional group.

Of note, two official numbers for the Bengals, should they decide to use a tag on Tee Higgins or Jonah Williams:

  • WR: $21.8 million
  • OL: $20.9 million

Also of note for the Bengals, fifth-year option numbers, meaning Ja’Marr Chase:

  • WR: $21.8 million

Tender numbers for restricted free agents are also set:

Given the important key offseason dates, it won’t be long before the Bengals make decisions when it comes to tags and similar matters. As of now, Higgins getting the tag seems a given, barring a long-term contract extension, with Chase’s fifth-year option a given, too.

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