Bengals excited to get year three of Joe Burrow-Ja’Marr Chase connection

It should go without saying, but part of the allure of making Ja’Marr Chase the fifth-overall pick was the pre-established connection with Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.

That’s something offensive coordinator Brian Callahan just touched on in an interview with Tyler Dragon of the Cincinnati Enquirer:

“You can tell they’ve played together. Just like you see with Joe now and TB (Tyler Boyd) and Tee (Higgins) after a year of time together playing. They communicate clearly. They know what’s expected on routes and Joe sees their body language. He sees their placement on their leverage and all the things that go along with reading the receiver. 

The cool thing is Joe’s done that with Ja’Marr for two years and this is the third year of doing it. They got a good rapport. You can see it and feel it. They know how to communicate with each other. I think that’s exciting for me. They don’t really need to get to know each other. They do know each other.”

During LSU’s sprint to the title in 2019, Burrow helped Chase amass more than 1,700 receiving yards with 20 touchdowns. Both have been adamant in interviews already that they’re right back on the same track.

Along with this, Bengals coaches have been openly surprised with how quickly Chase picked up the offense and put it into practice during minicamps over the last month.

That all equates to what should be a pretty interesting show for Bengals fans during training camp later this summer. And with Burrow on track for Week 1, he and Chase will get to show that the rapport is alive and well right from the season’s opening gun.