How the Bengals and Ja’Marr Chase unlocked another level: ‘As crazy as that sounds’

CINCINNATI — Offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher leaned forward and squinted at the graphic on my phone.

He was looking at the NextGen Stats chart of every target, route and run after the catch from Ja’Marr Chase’s 11-reception, 264-yard, three-touchdown performance at Baltimore.

“Looks like something my 2-year-old would draw,” he said.

Just like any parent fawning over what might appear to an uninvested observer to be toddler scribbles, this artwork was uniquely gorgeous.

In so many ways, that chart — and this season for Pitcher and everyone remotely connected to the Bengals offense — symbolized what they’d been growing since the moment Chase rejoined Joe Burrow as the fifth overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

“We’ve been building toward this usage of him,” Pitcher said. “Ja’Marr has shown he’s fully capable of wherever we ask him to go. Whatever we ask him to do, he’s going to be able to do it.”

He did it all. This was a diverse collection of motions, positions, routes, sections of the field exploited and play calls utilized — one even named and drawn up in the dirt mid-drive. They allowed Chase to show off one of the most unique skill sets the league has seen at the receiver position, and apparently on this planet.

“He’s one of the top athletes on planet Earth,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “I mean that as simple as you can put it. It’s not just about the NFL, it’s about planet Earth. He’s one of the best to do it.”

Chase currently holds the triple crown in receiving, leading the NFL in receptions (66), yards (981) and touchdowns (10). While some have posted more receptions, yards or touchdowns, none have topped all three numbers he’s on pace for in a single season.

Burrow leaned forward in the swivel chair of his weekly news conference as I showed him the chart on my phone and asked what he sees.

“We’re moving him around,” he said, offering the understatement of the day. “It’s a credit to him how smart he has been this year. Understanding when he is in the slot, when he’s in the stack, when he is outside, when he is in the backfield … he’s just continuing to get better, as crazy as that sounds.”

Crazy, without question, for a receiver who has already made three Pro Bowls, gained 3,717 yards in three seasons and won Offensive Rookie of Year.

That guy got better?

All part of this carefully constructed expansion plan put in motion this offseason that included yanking concepts from Justin Jefferson in Minnesota, stealing snaps from Tyler Boyd, acing Kahoot! quizzes, reading motivational Post-It notes, accessing previously untapped corners of the field, making Burrow drop a news conference F-bomb and unleashing a new chapter of the Chase playbook.

‘Just see me and throw it’

When Boyd was still with Cincinnati, the veteran who made a living on the inside lined up in the slot as much as any player in the league.

Chase would approach Taylor regularly about finding more work in the slot. He wanted to expand, but the nature of Boyd’s speciality kept those opportunities limited. It left Chase jealous and willing to secretly take matters into his own hands.

“Sometimes I used to ask TB, ‘Let me take it right here,’ without even mentioning it,” Chase said. “I would tell Joe, ‘Bro, I’m gonna take some slot sometimes. Just see me and throw it.’ ”

He doesn’t need to steal the slot reps anymore. With Boyd gone to Tennessee and more versatile pieces surrounding him, Chase can go anywhere on the field he’d like, but he specifically soaked up a large chunk of Boyd’s old plays.

How quickly he picked up the nuance of the position and made it his own allowed the staff to lean into his progression.

His efficiency increased right along with his volume and kept Burrow targeting him at a much higher rate when lined up inside.

“He has really taken strides working in the slot this year on choice routes, zone coverage, he’s really taken ownership of that,” Burrow said. “That’s exciting to see because that just adds another element to his game.”

Embracing the slot came from a genuine level of increased comfort in the vision he feels in there.

“It keeps the defense guessing,” Chase said. “Now, if I’m in motion, I can read if it’s man or zone. If I’m in the slot, I can see how the safeties are playing more, if they’re playing quarters, if they’re playing cloud. It just tells me a lot more than it does outside. When I’m outside, I’m reading the tight ends’ motion or the running backs’ motion. Now I’m reading my own motion.”

Chase said these days, he’s always trying to beat Burrow to his pre-snap decisions. Almost a requirement working inside, he can feel himself shifting from a purely physical player to a cerebral one.

“(As a rookie) I was just out there playing off speed, man, and just trying to be out there and make a play for the team,” he said. “Now, it’s more of like seeing the coverage, read the coverage, know the route, expecting Joe to can it, expect him not to can it. Now, I’m more of trying to beat the quarterback on his decisions. … It’s just all about timing now and knowing what read I am. It’s really the smallest thing that y’all don’t really think about that I do.”

‘Some of the stuff would confuse me’

Chase was asked last week if playing on “Thursday Night Football” felt like cramming for a test in school.

“I didn’t study in school,” he said.

The answer drew a loud laugh along with the signature smile and chuckle from last year’s winner of the local PFWA Media Cooperation Award.

He might be telling the truth, but studying for tests and handling what the team has asked him to execute on a weekly basis this year proves those bad study habits were left at LSU and Archbishop Rummel High.

There is no formation or blade of grass Chase is yet to line up.

“Every space you can think of, he’s occupied,” Taylor said.

A solid :25 watch.

.@joeyb ➡️ @Real10jayy__

📺: #PHIvsCIN on CBS/Paramount + pic.twitter.com/EEv2w4AFxv

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) October 27, 2024

There’s all three positions in 11 personnel and chipping the edge before catching the ball. He caught a touchdown against Philadelphia while lined up in the backfield, running to the flat to get matched up against a linebacker. He’s in front of the stack, in back of the stack, on the line, off the line, motioning to steal a spot, releasing underneath, taking bubble screens 70 yards for one-play touchdown drives and running posts 70 yards over the top for a one-play touchdown drive. And motioning between all of these options.

The amount of yards he runs just in pre-snap motion this year has jumped 35 yards per game from last season. The percentage of plays he’s on the move continued a career trend and bumped up another 4.5 percent.

“It’s amazing how much he can handle, truthfully,” Taylor said. “Some of the stuff would confuse me the first time I see it on the plan. And I’m trying to think through as we’re in the walk-through where exactly we want him and he just needs a quick reminder and he’s there, he’s got it. He gets it all.”

How does he get it all?

Kahoot! quizzes. Yes, Kahoot!

Wide receivers coach Troy Walters has used the online study tool for years, coming up with the questions and sending them out after every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday practice. Chase swears by it.

“That’s how we know what we are doing,” he said. “I’ve been doing that since I got here. It works.”

‘They have to have a new rule’

As the Bengals drove in the final minutes at Baltimore, one of the most critical drives of their season crossing midfield with 1:06 remaining, Taylor and his offensive staff were searching for a new matchup to create for Chase.

Knowing the two-man defense the Ravens were employing this drive, they needed to improvise by pulling a route and play combination they didn’t carry in this game plan or rep during the week, but needed to draw it up in the dirt as the play clock ticked.

They instructed Chase to line up in the slot, knowing the matchup and space it should create.

“We called it Ja’Marr Retro,” Taylor said of making up a name in the moment. “He did it in 10 seconds’ notice.”

Chase didn’t just do it. He sold the middle of the field, snapped off Marlon Humphrey and Burrow put the ball right on him for 26 yards. Toss in a roughing the passer penalty, and the Bengals were suddenly in the red zone attempting to tie the game.

There’s been no limit to how much they will put on Chase’s plate or how quickly they ask him to eat it.

“He’s a walking playbook,” tight end Mike Gesicki said.

This sets Chase apart.

“If we are doing that and moving him around,” Burrow said, “teams can’t take him away.”

.@Real10jayy__ said "skrrt skrrt"

Uno with two top 3 spots in @NextGenStats x @awscloud Fastest Ball Carriers. pic.twitter.com/9TzR7RnkXz

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) November 13, 2024

Of course, his rare body control and elite speed will fill highlight shows for years. His chemistry with Burrow remains unparalleled. Those traits are why teams focus all their defensive attention on him.

Yet, his ability to take on all these roles and stay a moving target changes the entire dynamic of the offense. It lives at the core of what makes him special and that entire chart possible.

“Every time you put him somewhere new they got to have a new rule,” Pitcher said. “If they have some type of ‘Cover Ja’Marr’ element to whatever they are doing to where they are checking where he’s at, every time he lines up in a new spot they have to have a new rule. That gets heavy. That gets expensive. It might discourage them from doing it altogether or could limit what they could do outside of that. It’s what we are trying to do with him.”

‘It’s ridiculous’

When Taylor hired Justin Rascati away from Minnesota into a passing game coordinator role, he was looking for a new voice and fresh ideas to inject into an offense he had run for the previous five years with current Titans head coach Brian Callahan.

As with any idea for the Bengals’ offense, they started with how to find more opportunities for Chase. Rascati saw ways the Vikings created opportunities for their star Justin Jefferson — specifically downfield — and brought a few tricks from fellow Sean McVay coaching tree member Kevin O’Connell’s system with him. Coincidentally, they were concepts Taylor used when he first came over from the Rams.

Specifically, a series of shotgun play-action concepts designed to stretch the defense later in the play. Burrow still looks to get rid of the ball quickly, but in cohesion with when he’s receiving better protection, he’s able to find Chase in the intermediate and deep middle portions of the field.

The two weren’t utilizing those spots enough in the previous two seasons.

“What you’re finding with Ja’Marr is you are accessing them with him on the move, so now instead of him catching the ball as a stationary or work-back target, he’s catching the ball as an on-the-move target that can continue his speed through the catch,” Pitcher said. “That’s what you see in Carolina with the touchdown. That’s what you saw on the first play of the second half the other night. If he maintains his speed through the catch at the second level of the defense and into the third level watch out.”

OH MY JA'MARR CHASE. ELECTRIC 63-YARD TD.

📺: #CINvsCAR on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/KwYspR7roj

— NFL (@NFL) September 29, 2024

The change has proven dynamic and again played into the variance of options for Chase. Instead of largely working outside for deeper shots or being force-fed back-shoulder go routes, they’ve increased the percentage of posts and crossers while decreasing the rate of go routes and quick slants.

Backup quarterback Jake Browning, who was in Minnesota for Jefferson’s rookie year and threw to Chase the final five games of last season, sees the growth as central to Chase’s latest ascension.

“If you are a really good receiver like that, it’s very easy to become a go-stop-slant guy and just win at that,” Browning said. “But you are pretty easy to take away. What’s been impressive with Ja’Marr — and from afar, it seems like Justin, too — how many times you can motion him, do a bunch of different things, use him to set up other people. You just look at how productive we are on offense when he’s on the field. It’s ridiculous.”

‘Everybody knows the worth’

Every year, before the season starts, Chase fills out Post-It notes and places them on the mirror in his bathroom.

“They let me know what I want to do every day,” Chase said of the trick he’s used since his freshman year at LSU. “Some days you feel sluggish and might not want to be at work.”

They have goals for the year, like All-Pro, an honor he’s yet to receive. He wrote the number 15 for 1,500 yards, 45 more than the Bengals’ franchise record he set in 2021. The triple crown he’s currently chasing has always been on the mirror. He also included notes about specific routes, improving the top of routes and being more quarterback-friendly in ways conducive to taking his game to the next level.

Chase says he tries to stay patient during games where he might not be filling up the stat sheet like he did in Baltimore. He’s better about that now. Like any great receiver, he wants the ball, but he doesn’t get in Burrow’s ear much about those numbers during the game. That’s not his way, the quarterback claims.

What is his way?

“Sometimes it is on the sidelines, sometimes it is individual conversation in the locker room, sometimes it is through you guys,” Burrow said at his Wednesday news conference. “There’s a lot of different ways that a receiver can tell you, ‘Hey, get me the f—ing ball.’”

.@Real10jayy__ is gonna let @JoeyB know when he wants the ball 😂 pic.twitter.com/IDW6rLarNG

— NFL (@NFL) November 13, 2024

There’s also a lot of different ways to get them the f—ing ball. That’s what has Chase and Burrow tracking a new batch of records and working to salvage a disappointing Bengals season. There’s a hope his story, habits and continued growth through an already elite career rub off on a young receiver room — and entire young core, really — in need of guidance. This makes his latest turn even more valuable as the team considers a future life without Tee Higgins.

“The way that he goes about his business, the professional, the leader he is, he doesn’t have a captain on his chest, but to me he’s a captain,” Taylor said. “His attitude and the way that he helps these younger guys along and just his positiveness in the locker room the way that he practices, he’s one of the hardest practicing players in the league.”

He’ll soon be one of the richest.

Chase, Burrow and the Bengals built an offense no other human on the planet can replace and those services aren’t cheap while getting more expensive by the week.

For that, the receiver who always has words to share doesn’t need to say a thing. The chart does all the talking.

“What’s understood doesn’t need to be explained,” Chase said. “I think everybody knows the worth.”

(Top photo of Chase: Dylan Buell / Getty Images)