Ja'Marr Chase grabbed his left knee and hobbled off the practice field outside Paycor Stadium on Tuesday, sending a jolt of anxiety through Bengals camp just three days before Cincinnati's preseason finale. The star receiver had been running a deep route on a pass from quarterback Joe Burrow when he landed awkwardly, and while he ultimately walked away under his own power, the moment was enough to freeze the sideline.
According to a report from Athlon Sports citing NFL analyst Charlie Clifford, Chase was evaluated on the sideline by head trainer Matt Summers before walking back to the bench without needing a cart. Per the Cincinnati Enquirer, Chase was seen walking without assistance and stretching his leg afterward. Official diagnostic details from the club remain pending, and it is not yet known whether imaging will reveal any structural issue.
The scare lands at the worst possible moment on the calendar. Cincinnati's final 2026 preseason game is scheduled for Friday against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field, the last tune-up before the regular season opens. Whether head coach Zac Taylor opts to hold Chase out of that game — or even into Week 1 — as a precaution is one of the open questions hanging over the team as it wraps up camp.
A Camp Already Marked by Bumps and Bruises
Tuesday's injury is not the first health scare of Bengals camp this summer. On July 29, defensive end Shemar Stewart, Cincinnati's 2025 first-round pick, suffered a left knee hyperextension during an 11-on-11 drill and had to be carted off, though CBS Sports reported he avoided structural ligament damage and returned to rehab work weeks later. That same day, tempers boiled over when Chase got into a heated on-field scuffle with cornerback D.J. Turner II, requiring teammates and coaches to pull them apart — a flashpoint Hoodline covered in its report on camp's opening-day scuffle.
The intensity is understandable given what's riding on this season. The Bengals are trying to bounce back from a 6-11 finish in 2025, a year in which Burrow himself was limited to just eight games by injury and Cincinnati missed the playoffs entirely. Keeping the offense's top playmakers upright through the preseason has become something of a preoccupation in Cincinnati this August.
Why Chase's Health Carries Nine Figures of Weight
Nobody in Bengals camp is watching Chase's knee more closely than the front office that just made him one of the highest-paid non-quarterbacks in football. In March 2025, Chase signed a four-year, $161 million extension through 2029 that included $112 million guaranteed, a deal that set an NFL record at the time for average annual salary at a non-quarterback position, according to theScore. That contract surpassed the previous receiver-record deal held by Justin Jefferson. Cincinnati simultaneously locked up fellow receiver Tee Higgins on a four-year, $115 million extension, a move CBS News noted made Higgins the highest-paid second-string receiver in NFL history.
The production behind that price tag is hard to overstate. Chase caught 125 passes for 1,412 yards and eight touchdowns across 16 games in 2025, earning his second straight Associated Press First-Team All-Pro nod, per the Bengals' own reporting. Through his first five NFL seasons he has piled up 520 receptions, 6,837 receiving yards and 54 touchdowns — the only player in league history to clear both 500 catches and 50 touchdowns that early in a career, and totals that rank fourth and fifth, respectively, in franchise history.
The Enquirer's accounting of Chase's early-career milestones underscores just how rare that run has been. He became the fifth player in NFL history to post at least 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first five seasons, joining Randy Moss, Justin Jefferson, A.J. Green and Mike Evans on that list, and he won the receiving triple crown in 2024 — the first in Bengals history. In Week 7 of the 2025 season against the Steelers, he broke his own franchise record with 16 receptions in a single game, finishing with 161 yards and a touchdown, a mark detailed by NFL.com.
A Season Already Tested by a Suspension
Chase has also weathered off-field turbulence in the past year. He was suspended one game for spitting on Steelers defensive back Jalen Ramsey during an on-field altercation in Pittsburgh, a punishment the NFL upheld after Chase appealed it and denied the allegation, even though Ramsey said Chase had spit on him before Ramsey was ejected and video of the incident supported Ramsey's claim, per the Enquirer's reporting. Cincinnati played its Week 12 game against the New England Patriots without him as a result — a contest Hoodline covered in its recap of the Patriots' win streak over Cincinnati. Chase has otherwise been a fixture for the franchise, appearing in 78 games with the Bengals and earning a Pro Bowl selection in each of his first five seasons.
For now, the exact nature of Chase's knee injury remains unresolved, and the club has not released a formal diagnosis. Bengals fans will be watching closely for any update before Friday's preseason finale against the Eagles, with the regular season opener now just weeks away.
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