Could Steelers Rival Bengals Franchise Tag Chase? Expert Warns Star WR

While it was a historic offseason for the NFL's receiver position with several of the league's star playmakers earning long-term deals, none bigger than Justin Jefferson's four-year, $140 million contract with the Minnesota Vikings, getting paid hasn't come easy for many of his counterparts.

Star receivers like CeeDee Lamb, Tee Higgins, Brandon Aiyuk , and Ja'Marr Chase are all still waiting to cash in on their chance to surpass Jefferson as the NFL's highest-paid-non-quarterback. However, it seems none of their current teams are willing to make the deal.

That couldn't be truer for Chase, whom ESPN's Mike Tannenbaum is warning could become the next victim of the NFL's franchise tag like his teammate Higgins this offseason because of Bengals' owner Mike Brown's tight purse strings.

“I’ve negotiated with Mike Brown in trades. He is a guy that puts a value on a position and he will not move, period, end of story," Tannenbaum said . "So this, to me, is really interesting. ...  just to remind you, like his teammate Tee Higgins, they can franchise [tag] him.

"So if I’m Mike Brown, I’m saying, ‘Hey, for the next 3 years, I know what you’re going to get paid.'”

Despite entering just the fourth season of his five-year deal, thanks to the Bengals' exercising his fifth-year option, Chase has not participated in training camp thus far. And after starting camp as a "hold-in," it seems Chase has recently become a "hold-out" after being inexplicably absent from Tuesday's practice .

Related: "Steelers Money!" Colin Cowherd Sends Message To Brandon Aiyuk

While Chase can attempt to pressure Brown and the Bengals to agree to a long-term deal, as Tannenbaum notes, they have two more years left on his rookie deal and a third with the franchise tag.

That is if this contract dispute extends past next year's training camp. This is a big if, considering the Bengals have already seemingly made it clear that they intend to keep Chase long-term rather than Higgins, who was franchise-tagged this offseason after failing to agree on a long-term deal.