Almost five months after breaking Justin Jefferson’s record for most receiving yards by a rookie, Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase has his former college teammate in his sights again.
Among the 16 best rookie receiving performances since the 1970 merger, Jefferson is one of only four players to increase his number of receiving yards, touchdowns and receiving touchdowns in his second year.
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“Why is it always a competition with this guy?” Chase asked with a laugh after being told that stat.
Told the reporter wasn’t trying to make it a competition and that he just found it interesting, Chase responded, “No, now that I know, I’m making it a competition.”
Chase’s goal isn’t simply to avoid a sophomore slump in 2022 but to thoroughly lay waste to the notion the same way he did with opposing defensive backs. And as was the case last summer, when he put his goals on display on his mirror, there already are some new numbers staring back at him every day.
Ja’Marr Chase’s record-setting season earned him NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and was pivotal to the Bengals reaching the Super Bowl. (Joe Sargent / Getty Images)But unlike last year, he’s not ready to share specifics.
“I’ve got two up there so far,” Chase said after Tuesday’s OTA practice. “I’m not going to say what they are, but I don’t think they’re hard. They’re a little more than last year, like catches and yards. I’ve still got to find my touchdown minimum.
“I’ll give y’all the list maybe before training camp.”
Topping the 1,455 yards he posted as a rookie would give him the two highest yardage totals in team history. And besting his receptions total (81) would make him just the fifth Bengals player to hit that number in back-to-back seasons. Chad Johnson did it five years in a row (2003-07), T.J Houshmandzadeh three (2006-08) and Carl Pickens (1995-96) and A.J. Green (2012-13) two.
Green also shows up on the list of four receivers in the top 16 who increased their receptions, yardage and touchdowns in their second year. Like Jefferson and Odell Beckham Jr., another LSU product, Green played more games in Year 2 than he did as a rookie.
That won’t be the case with Chase, who played all 17 games last year, even though his participation in the season finale was limited to five snaps just so he could break the team record with a two-catch, 26-yard performance.
Top rookie WRs' second-year stats
Player ▲ | Team
| Year 1
| Yds
| Rec
| TDs
| Yr 2 Yds
| Yr 2 Rec
| Yr 2 TDs
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A.J. Brown | Titans | 2019 | 1,051 | 52 | 8 | 1,075 | 70 | 11 |
A.J. Green | Bengals | 2011 | 1,057 | 65 | 7 | 1,350 | 97 | 11 |
Amari Cooper | Raiders | 2015 | 1,070 | 72 | 6 | 1,153 | 83 | 5 |
Anquan Boldin | Cardinals | 2003 | 1,377 | 101 | 8 | 623 | 56 | 1 |
Bill Brooks | Colts | 1986 | 1,131 | 65 | 8 | 722 | 51 | 3 |
Ernest Givins | Oilers | 1986 | 1,062 | 61 | 3 | 933 | 53 | 6 |
Joey Galloway | Seahawks | 1995 | 1,039 | 67 | 7 | 987 | 57 | 7 |
Justin Jefferson | Vikings | 2020 | 1,400 | 88 | 7 | 1,616 | 108 | 10 |
Keenan Allen | Chargers | 2013 | 1,046 | 71 | 8 | 783 | 77 | 4 |
Michael Clayton | Buccaneers | 2004 | 1,193 | 80 | 7 | 372 | 32 | 0 |
Michael Thomas | Saints | 2016 | 1,137 | 92 | 9 | 1,245 | 104 | 5 |
Mike Evans | Buccaneers | 2014 | 1,051 | 68 | 12 | 1,206 | 74 | 3 |
Odell Beckham | Giants | 2014 | 1,305 | 91 | 12 | 1,450 | 96 | 13 |
Randy Moss | Vikings | 1998 | 1,313 | 69 | 17 | 1,413 | 80 | 11 |
Terry Glenn | Patriots | 1996 | 1,132 | 90 | 6 | 431 | 27 | 2 |
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor is all in on the idea of Chase being even better than he was last year when he made the Pro Bowl and was voted the offensive rookie of the year, but statistics aren’t going to be his preferred tool for measuring growth.
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“Catches, yards and touchdowns aren’t the things we judge players on,” Taylor said. “Ultimately we’re looking for team success. That may mean that other guys have more success because of what the defense is doing to Ja’Marr. It’s up to the coaches and Joe (Burrow) to take advantage of how teams are playing. In this fantasy football world, people always are looking at regression as this number has dropped. That’s not how we look at it.”
The ability to take advantage of defenses paying more attention to Chase was a staple of last year’s run to the Super Bowl. It began as early as Week 7 with the rout at Baltimore, when Chase racked up 201 yards mostly on underneath throws and long runs after the catch after torching teams with the deep ball through the first six games.
“There certainly were examples in the second half of the year where teams were cheating his way because of how he started,” Taylor said. “A great example is the second Pittsburgh game. You can see it’s a middle safety defense, it’s one-on-one everywhere, and Minkah (Fitzpatrick) cheats almost halfway over toward Ja’Marr and we throw it to Tee (Higgins) for a touchdown.”
Putting Chase in a decoy role to prey on an opponent’s attempt to counter tendencies may lead to great success from time to time, but it isn’t something the Bengals plan to use often. Why opt for deception when you’ve got dominance on your side?
What Chase did to the league last year was a product of his immense talent and athleticism. Where he can grow in 2022, and beyond, is by attacking defenders with more than just his hands and feet.
“I think the next step for him is really attacking these DBs from the mental side of things,” Taylor said. “He’s already done that to some extent, but as he goes, he’s only going to add to his list of guys he plays against and how they play and what their strengths are and how can I attack what their weaknesses are. That’s an exciting thing that (receivers coach Troy Walters) will help him with.”
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Chase’s film study as a rookie focused more on the defensive scheme as a whole. The tendencies he took away from specific defensive backs came more from the head-to-head meetings. At least early on.
But that changed after the Week 9 drubbing from the Browns at Paul Brown Stadium.
“The first main person I really started to study was that freakin’ cat from the Browns, (Denzel) Ward,” Chase said. “I like his game a lot. He’s so good and so patient. He doesn’t get beat often, and when he does, he gets beat with his eyes. He is really patient, and that’s one of those tendencies that doesn’t really show on film, so you have to watch his tape real, real close to find out everything you can on him. He’s the one guy I watched a lot of film on after the first meeting.”
It was that first meeting against Ward that produced one of Chase’s most regrettable plays as a rookie, the 99-yard pick six in the first quarter.
“Horrible route by Ja’Marr Chase. Horrible,” he said. “That wasn’t on (Burrow). I didn’t sell the route and I didn’t give eyes. It was just bad all the way around.”
Higgins isn’t on the list of the 16 best rookie receiving seasons, but catching 67 passes for 908 yards and six touchdowns certainly increased his chances of a sophomore slide. He instead upped his receptions (74) and yards (1,091) and matched his TDs.
His advice for Chase in Year 2 is simple: Consistency.
“It’s all about locking in and challenging yourself to stay consistent,” Higgins said. “Obviously your rookie year, everything is fresh and new and you’re still learning and the second year you get more comfortable, but you can’t let up because of that. You have to stay consistent every day. Practices, meetings, working out, all of it.
“And he’s already doing that,” Higgins added. “He obviously had one of the best rookie seasons ever, but he’s not letting up. You can tell in these OTA practices how locked in he is.”
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Unlike Higgins, the other receiver in arguably the league’s best starting trio, Tyler Boyd, saw the second-year dip. Part of it was due to a knee injury that cost him four games. But he also found his way into then head coach Marvin Lewis’ doghouse and was a healthy scratch for two games.
Despite having experienced it himself, Boyd said he thinks the sophomore slump phenomenon is bunk.
“Nah, I don’t believe in that,” Boyd said. “Especially for a guy like Ja’Marr. Once you start getting confident in your own craft and you know you’re gonna beat any guy, like he does, it’s going to continue if you keep working. Just stay on top of it. Don’t start getting nonchalant because you’re already killing it. Keep killing them. Keep your foot on the pedal. Don’t get complacent. And I don’t think he will.”
Chase already has started to fulfill his draft-day prediction of coming to Cincinnati and breaking all the records, topping the single-season (1,455) and single-game (266) marks. He also set the franchise’s single postseason mark with 368, shattering Dan Ross’ 244 from 1981.
The single-season receptions (Houshmandzadeh, 112) and touchdowns (Pickens, 17) records are still out there. As are all of the career numbers, which Chase is on pace to shatter after his stellar rookie year. But he’s going to need several more like it to grab those records and achieve the ultimate of helping bring the franchise its first Super Bowl title.
It’s a long road, even with his giant first step.
And even if the second step is just as good, it won’t be enough for Chase. If he’s going to join Jefferson and the others by improving his numbers in all three of the major categories, the encore will be even harder than the debut.
But Chase doesn’t see any reason it won’t happen.
“Last year I was just out there running routes, having fun again,” he said. “Now I’ve got all the small details down, like learning how to set people up before the next route. And I feel more comfortable with the offense. Maybe I can move around a little more when we see different things on film. I feel like all of that’s going to make me a lot better this year.”
(Top photo: Aaron Doster / Associated Press)
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