One of the biggest headaches for fantasy football managers this preseason has been Cincinnati Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase. The Bengals and Chase have been in somewhat of a contract standoff, which has led to the receiver “holding in.” He reported to training camp but did not practice outside of a couple of isolated sessions.
With Chase finally having spoken to the media ahead of the 2024 season, what is the latest update on his status, and will he be playing in Week 1?
Is Ja’Marr Chase Going To Be Active in Week 1?
Chase has been practicing with the Bengals this week ahead of Week 1 and spoke to the media on Friday. Chase told reporters that he would play without a deal and said he was 100% healthy but called himself a “game-time decision.” When questioned further, he told reporters, “It’s my decision.”
During his time with the media, Chase also revealed that today is his deadline for negotiating a new deal, and after this, he will wait for the next offseason. When asked about where the negotiations were, he answered, “We’re off a little bit, but it’s in reach.”
Head coach Zac Taylor said, “We’ll see,” when asked whether Chase would be playing on Sunday.
Chase’s Week 1 Fantasy Outlook
It is tough to know what to do with Chase this week because this situation has been messy. Taylor told reporters last week that Chase would be a full participant, and he showed up in street clothes and no pads. While he returned to practice this week, Chase’s non-committal answers suggest he could just decide not to play Sunday.
If that happens, this will escalate to a whole new level. Once Chase starts missing games, the standoff will get worse, especially if the Bengals get off to a winning start without him.
Even if he is active, knowing what to do is tough. He is most likely going to play somewhere between 50 and 75% of the offensive snaps, but that is a wide range. A fully healthy Chase averages a touch under 18 fantasy points per game. Chase at 50% is likely still going to score you in the region of 10 points, but the range is in that 7-15 region, as opposed to the 10-25 region when 100%.
With Joe Burrow under center, Chase averages 18.93 fantasy points per game, so being reunited with his starting quarterback looked to be a bonus for fantasy managers. Having averaged just over 10 points per game with Jake Browning, fantasy managers will have been delighted to get the Burrow-Chase combination back.
If Chase ends up not playing, then it is hard to know who benefits. Tee Higgins should be the WR1, but he is also dealing with a hamstring injury. That could mean Andrei Iosivas and Jermaine Burton as the main weapons. However, their ceilings would be much more in the 10-15 points region than the potential 20+ points we could see from Chase as Burrow’s No.1 target.
Where things get really messy is if Chase is active but limited to around a 50% snap share, because then we could see all of the receivers with middling outputs. There is every chance that not one Bengals WR is a top-30 option this week, despite having two of the very best at the position on their roster.