Ja'Marr Chase is not practicing for the second consecutive day.
The Bengals star receiver was on the sidelines sans helmet as the team stretched on Thursday, per Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Chase also sat out Wednesday's session.
Head coach Zac Taylor said on Thursday that Chase was healthy, but sidestepped directly answering when the receiver would practice.
"It's a plan that Ja'Marr and I have," said Taylor, adding he has similar practice plans with other players such as defensive end Trey Hendrickson and quarterback Joe Burrow, who the coach said would not throw at Friday's practice.
Taylor was later asked if he expected Chase to be practicing by next week at the latest.
"I don't expect anything else other than the plan he and I have," he said.
Being "limited" generally differs from standing and watching teammates for two consecutive days. We'll see if Chase continues to sit out as we hit the weekend sessions or if it was, in fact, a team-led plan to sit the wideout out of what are usually the easiest practices of camp before the pads come on in a week.
If the 24-year-old receiver does stage a hold-in, it would come as little surprise. Chase is entering Year 4 of his rookie contract, set to earn a piddling $1.055 million in base salary. His base salary leaps to $21.816 million on the fifth-year option in 2025, still well below the $35 million per year that Justin Jefferson signed for this offseason.
In three years since the Bengals paired the LSU product with his college quarterback, Joe Burrow, Chase has been a big-play dynamo, surpassing the 1,000-yard plateau in every campaign, including 1,455 yards and 13 touchdowns in his rookie season. Despite Burrow missing a significant chunk of the 2023 season, Chase still put up a career-high 100 catches for 1,216 yards and seven TDs.
Despite two years of team control before a potential franchise tag even comes into play, Chase is seeking a new contract that puts his pay consummate to his standing as one of the top playmakers in the league. In an exploding wide receiver market, the Bengals playmaker should be one of the next to cash in.
Bengals owner Mike Brown admitted this week that Chase is a "key player" in Cincinnati and that the club planned to "bend over backwards" to get a contract done. However, a deal didn't sound imminent.
We'll see how long Chase stands on the sideline before either participating in camp practices or signing a new deal.
