Joe Burrow says Ja’Marr Chase ‘ready to go’ as Bengals WR returns to practice | News, scores, highlights, stats and rumors

As for Chase’s fitness ahead of Sunday’s season opener against the New England Patriots, quarterback Joe Burrow has no concerns, according to comments to reporters (via Paul Dehner Jr. of Cincinnati Enquirer).

Chase is obviously one of the NFL’s top wide receivers, but he has yet to secure a lucrative second contract. He still has Two years left on his rookie contract after the Bengals exercised their option to extend him for a fifth year in 2025.

Everyone else in the major leagues at his position has recently received a payday, including Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings, CeeDee Lamb of the Dallas Cowboys, Tyreek Hill of the Miami Dolphins, Amon-Ra St. Brown of the Detroit Lions and AJ Brown of the Philadelphia Eagles. These facts are probably obvious to Chase.

Bengals owner Mike Brown has made it clear he wants to keep Chase on the team, but he doesn’t seem to be willing to do that this summer.

“He’s a key player,” Brown told reporters in July, via Cincinnati Bengals Talk. “After Joe, he’s our next one, and he knows it. We know it. It might take a while.

“We’ll be bending over backwards to do it. But I can’t tell you when.”

“It’s not as likely that this is a good time to negotiate,” Brown said. “The offseason is a better time to do it and we’ll try to focus on the football part of it.

“I’m not going to rule anything out, but I will tell you the die is probably cast.”

It is unclear at this stage whether Chase will renew his contract this year, but he is capable of having another excellent season, which could lead to a groundbreaking deal in 2025.

For now, our focus is on Week 1, where the Bengals will host the New England Patriots on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.