Two sleeps until the first Sunday of the NFL season, Ja’Marr Chase still sits in limbo.
Vacillating from practicing to standing on the sidelines, the star wideout said Friday a deal could be close and called himself a "game-time decision" for Sunday’s tilt against the New England Patriots. Cincinnati officially listed Chase as questionable on the injury report.
"Contract status, pretty good for real," he said. I want to say we're off a little bit, but it's in reach. We'll see about game day…I'd say we're pretty close. A few numbers need to be switched around and changed other places, but I'll say we're pretty close."
Chase, who called himself "100 percent" healthy, added that if he plays he'd probably be "limited" after sitting out the bulk of training camp practices as sides work toward getting a contract done. He added that if a deal doesn't get done, he still plans to play this season.
"If it gets to that point, I will be, yeah," he said. "If I don't get one, I will play, yes."
Chase hopes to get a mega-contract after putting up massive numbers over his first three seasons, including 1,216 yards on 100 catches with seven touchdowns last season despite Joe Burrow missing a chunk of the campaign.
"I mean, yeah, it would be good to do it," he said. "It's three years, you always want to do it within three years. It gives you a better opportunity later in life down the line. So, if you want to look at it like that, then I would say yeah."
The 24-year-old said he knows "for a fact" he is the top receiver in the NFL. With Justin Jefferson currently sitting as the highest-paid wideout at $35 million per year, Chase said he's not worried about chatter that he wants to get paid one penny more than the Viking.
"If I want to beat Justin, I'm gonna beat the s--- out of Justin. Not by a penny," he said.
Chase added that crushing the top of the market isn't his goal.
"I'm not really looking to go a lot higher," he said of Jefferson's deal. "It's not really me trying to beat him out, me trying to go crazy. It's just what's right."
The question is whether the Bengals, already paying Burrow top-QB dollars, are willing to meet Chase's version of "what's right."
The best news for Bengals fans -- especially with Tee Higgins (doubtful) nursing a hamstring injury -- is that Chase doesn't plan to hold out if a deal doesn't get done soon. He said Friday that chasing a Super Bowl is goal No. 1.
"That's what it's all about for me at the end of the day," he said. "So, if this contract situation doesn't go through, it's back to what my focus is, and it's on this team, being a leader and just being who I am."
