Cincinnati Bengals not worried about struggles from Ja'Marr Chase

At LSU, wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase was quarterback Joe Burrow’s favorite weapon in 2019. Now, the two are reunited in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals. Chase has struggled with drops in the preseason, but the Bengals aren’t worried about his play, according to Around the NFL writer Kevin Patra.

Chase dropped all three of his targets on Friday

The Bengals chose to select Chase fifth overall out of LSU in the 2021 NFL Draft. Many thought that the Bengals should take an offensive lineman to protect Burrow, but the team elected to give him one of his favorite weapons from his college days.

When the Bengals faced off against the Washington Football Team on Friday, Chase had a night to forget. Chase was targeted three times, and he dropped all three balls.

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said that despite his struggles, Chase is still confident in himself. Taylor doesn’t think his rookie wideout’s struggles are anything more than typical rookie struggles. They still think that Chase can find the same success that he saw at LSU.

“I don’t think he’s short on confidence,” Taylor said. “That’s a good thing. Guys are building him up. Just talking to (Tyler Boyd) and all these guys, these guys all struggled with coming in as a rookie. The expectations are so high that you expect him to be a star right out the gate. But it takes work. You gotta put in the work. That consistency comes over time, and by no means are we down on Ja’Marr. He’s just going through some things rookies go through in training camp. We expect him to improve over the course of this week.”

Chase did not play last season for LSU after opting out

Last year, Chase elected to opt out of the season and did not play for LSU. After not playing live football since the 2019 National Championship, struggles should be expected for an NFL rookie.

In 2019, Chase paired with Justin Jefferson to give Burrow a pair of elite wideouts on LSU’s offense. The Tigers ultimately went undefeated and defeated Clemson in the championship game. On the season, Chase caught 84 passes for 1,780 yards and 20 touchdowns. Chase was a consensus All-American. Despite not playing last year, the Bengals still believed in Chase enough to make him a top five pick.

Chase joins a Bengals offense that is led by Burrow, running back Joe Mixon and receivers Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgin, among others. As he grows more comfortable in the NFL, Chase should quickly emerge as Burrow’s favorite target as he was at LSU.