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Ja'Marr Chase and Joe Burrow's friendship has carried through from LSU to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Defenses have not been able to handle Chase at all since he was drafted fifth in 2021. Joe Burrow's emergence as one of the NFL's best quarterbacks coincided with the arrival of his new wide receiver. There is hardly a quarterback-wide receiver duo in the league better than Chase and Burrow.
Chase had one of the greatest wide receiver rookie seasons in NFL history: 1,445 receiving yards, 13 touchdowns and a well-deserved Offensive Rookie of the Year award. He averaged 18.0 yards per reception and had two games with over 200 yards in his rookie season.
Chase went for 201 yards in a win against the Baltimore Ravens. And his 266-yard performance against the Kansas City Chiefs is one of the NFL's greatest performances ever. He averaged 24.18 yards per catch and had three touchdowns.
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Chase soon became familiar with the Chiefs defense in the playoffs. He was Joe Burrow's main target in the postseason as he helped the Bengals to the Super Bowl in his first season.
The receiver was again excellent in 2022, but he missed five games due to injury. Chase still had 1,046 yards in only 12 games, while Tee Higgins took over as the main man. Chase may have broken 100 catches if he had played all 17 games, Chase had more yards per game in 2022 than in 2021.
Teams have had to adjust how they play against the Bengals offense after 2021.
Chase was mostly unguardable when he was on the field. Greatness is on the card for the Bengals as long as Burrow and Chase remain together.
Ja'Marr Chase's teammate Tee Higgins is the best WR2 in the league
It's scary for defenses with Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins as part of the same offense. Higgins has broken 1,000 yards in the last two seasons and has been a red-zone magnet. Seventy-four catches in two straight seasons is about as high as you can expect for a WR2.
But Tee Higgins has to be paid next year. The Bengals have had to dish out a lot of money all over the field to build a Super Bowl-caliber team. Joe Burrow is going to have to be paid soon, as will Ja'Marr Chase. Higgins is a crucial element to the Bengals offense, and many teams would offer him a deal if he became a free agent.
