Ja'Marr Chase wants Joe Burrow to take all the time he needs for recovery

Ja’Marr Chase‘s message to Joe Burrow during the injury recovery process is quite simple: Take your time. The wide receiver doesn’t want the start quarterback to rush back onto the field too quickly and risk further damage.

Burrow suffered a calf injury in training camp, sidelining the quarterback for practice and likely the preseason. But Chase doesn’t necessarily want Burrow back on the field even when the regular season starts.

It sounds like a weird take — hoping one of the NFL’s top passers doesn’t play early in the season. However, Chase says it might be the best-case scenario.

“I told him, in all honesty, I don’t want him there,” Chase told NFL Network, per Pro Football Talk. “I sat out an extra game just to let my hip heal all the way up. You don’t want to cause problems later in the season. As long as you’re there after Week Five and on, we’re good, brother.”

Burrow had to be carted off the field because of the injury, causing panic among fans. While a calf injury can still be a significant issue, it’s not nearly as devastating as previously thought.

Will Joe Burrow wait until new contract reached with Bengals?

ESPN’s Adam Schefter has commented that he believes Burrow won’t return until his contract situation is figured out. The timeline for a new contract and the quarterback’s recovery from injury seem to match up, too.

“Zac Taylor said that strained calf is going to sideline him ‘several weeks.’ Which, I think happens to be about the same amount of time it should take both sides to figure out a contract extension, several weeks,” Schefter said on ESPN. “So, I think the timeline for a contract extension marries up nicely with his recovery from a strained calf injury. He is not going to be out there, he is not practicing, wasn’t practicing yesterday, don’t think he’ll be out there today. I don’t think we’ll see him on a practice field again until the contractual situation is figured out. When he goes down and is carted off, obviously, the worst fears go through everybody. But a calf strain is the best case for everybody.

“And calves can linger, they’re problematic. But the season is about six weeks away. There’s time for him to rest it. And you’ll notice that when he went down on that play, he had a sleeve on that calf. Because the day before, it was sore anyway. It was already irritated. He was guarding against it, he aggravated it and I think that’s probably a little bit of a warning, ‘Let’s not get back out there until that new deal is done.’”

But is that Burrow’s actual plan? Chase didn’t indicate that contract conversations had anything to do with a return.

“He told me he’s going to see how he feels when the time comes,” Chase said. “He doesn’t know when he’ll be back, but he’ll be back soon.”