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Ja'Marr Chase Rumors: Bengals WR Has 'No Plans' to Negotiate Contract During Season

Julia Stumbaugh

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase has "no plans to negotiate a long-term deal this season," according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Chase "believes the team misled him during the offseason," according to Schefter.

"According to sources, the star wide receiver remembers the Bengals telling him at the end of last season and again during the offseason that he would get an extension, which ultimately did not happen," Schefter wrote.

Chase is currently signed with the team through 2025 after the Bengals exercised his $21.8 million club option for next season.

The receiver took out a $50 million insurance policy on himself this season "to reinforce his word and strengthen his position," Schefter reported.

"Chase and his representation believe the time to complete a deal was during the offseason, when the Bengals told him it would get done," Schefter wrote.

According to Schefter, the Bengals first told Chase about the extension at an exit meeting following the 2023 season, and brought up the topic again at the NFL scouting combine in February.

Sports Ilustrated's James Rapien recently reported that the Bengals offered Chase a four-year, $140 million deal prior to team's season-opening loss to the New England Patriots. That average annual value would have tied him with Minnesota Vikings wideout Justin Jefferson as the NFL's highest-paid receiver.

Although Chase was on board with the "raw numbers" of the record-tying deal, the wide receiver objected to the timing of the guarantees, Rapien reported.

Schefter similarly reported that Chase's problem with the deal centered around "the structure of the deal and the payout of the money."

The Bengals have not offered a player an extension during a season since signing offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth to a one-year deal in 2015, per Schefter and ESPN Research.

That is the only in-season deal the Bengals have signed since at least 2004, per Schefter.

Although Chase's reported decision not to negotiate a new deal during the season raises questions about his future with the team, the wide receiver has stated he will join the team for the 2024 season. He made six catches for 62 yards during the season opener.

   

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