Ja'Marr Chase

A thought existed that Ja'Marr Chase could walk on to the Paul Brown Stadium practice fields and dominate from the first snap. His skill set is that unique. 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.

Chase is ranked 20th among our WRs right off the bat. But as the story said, this isn't to say he won’t start picking that up with more reps over the next month, and the story isn't trying to sound an alarm. The good news is, Chase is working after practice every day and, by all accounts, taking it seriously, and his skills and history are too impressive to think he won’t find a groove once he starts playing off instincts instead of constantly having to think about what he’s doing every play, the story said. It went on to say, most of this is all part of being a rookie receiver and improving as you go. But after 10 practices, Chase is clearly still fighting the rookie learning curve.