Ja’Marr Chase’s early struggles and the impact on Tyler Boyd, Tee Higgins

With concerns about Joe Burrow’s early struggles at Cincinnati Bengals training camp a thing of the past, the attention now turns to fifth-overall pick Ja’Marr Chase.

Chase has been far from perfect at camp so far, though rumblings of struggles probably just means Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd benefit even more in the offense.

Alas, while stressing not to panic and there being plenty of time to turn things around, Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic broke down some of Chase’s early struggles:

“You see flashes of that early, but you also see somebody tentatively getting used to a new offense, new league and not playing football since January 2020. He has endured a string of drops, on short and long passes, with another coming Sunday. He has not shown as much separation as you’d hope, and the contested balls haven’t gone his way much, either.”

Wideout isn’t the easiest pro transition in the first place for rookies, so struggles for Chase even if he had played last season were to be expected.

With Chase, you’re talking about the pro transition after a year away against good cornerbacks and a revolving door along the offensive line and at quarterback — never mind the coaches only running specific installs on certain days.

While fans would probably love to hear that Chase has walked into Paul Brown Stadium and — partially thanks to his prior connection to Joe Burrow — already looked like a top-20 wideout, that just isn’t realistic.

And for the Bengals, a slow start isn’t that big of a deal — it just means more room for Boyd and Higgins to eat while Chase sees reduced pressure to succeed compared to a normal fifth-overall pick.