Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase has gone from one of the league’s deadliest weapons to breaching the 50-yard mark in a game just once over his last five outings.
No secret as to why — defenses are paying more respect than ever to his talents, letting Joe Burrow exploit them with other weapons.
Chase was very candid about his struggles in a recent media session, telling reporters he wouldn’t mind moving around more to mix things up, per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:
He admits he’s frustrated over what has transpired over the last five games and is looking for ways to beat the attentive coverage. Chase says he’d love to line up in more different spots, realizing, “It means I’ve got to know more.”
Chase has been used sparingly from say, the slot. Here’s a look at his route distribution:
Here's Ja'Marr Chase by request!https://t.co/ETuUwqPlul pic.twitter.com/fY1ww1eOOm
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) December 6, 2021
Chase is predominantly running deep routes, which makes sense. It’s opening up the field for others like Tee Higgins. He has had some usage in the form of jet sweeps and things in the intermediate/middle of the field, but not a ton. It’s also hard to justify running him out of the slot too much because it would mean displacing Tyler Boyd, one of the NFL’s best in that area.
Still, Chase is on the money — it’s now up to the coaches to counter-adjust to what defenses are doing. It’s no great shock defenses have adjusted to slow him down, so just doing the same thing over and over again isn’t going to lead to success.
And whether the Bengals adjust to get their top weapon going again could be the difference between playing in the playoffs or watching them from home.
