'Bengals are just gonna Bengal': ESPN analysts slam team for not extending Ja'Marr Chase

Analysts on ESPN's "NFL Live" reacted to a tweet from reporter Ben Baby indicating that the Cincinnati Bengals might not be inclined to give receiver Ja'Marr Chase a contract extension anytime soon.

"A new contract for Ja'Marr Chase might be unlikely anytime soon," Baby tweeted Monday evening . "Mike Brown: 'The die has probably been cast.'"

The Enquirer's Kelsey Conway tweeted earlier in the day that Brown said the Bengals are going to "try hard" to keep Chase and quarterback Joe Burrow playing together, reiterating that the pair are priority Nos. 1 and 2 for this team right now.

"Our intention is to keep Ja'Marr Chase," Brown said, per Conway.

Mina Kimes, Kevin Clark and Jeff Darlington discussed Baby's tweet at the end of Monday's "NFL Live."

"I'm guessing it's just a timing thing because it seems so unfathomable that they wouldn't extend him, especially with the obvious that Tee Higgins is out the door," Kimes said. "The longer they wait, the price tag is only going up, so it doesn't seem like there's much advantage from the Bengals' standpoint in waiting this one out for a while. … In my mind, (extending Chase) is a no-brainer. You try not to overreact to a quote though."

"Bengals are just gonna Bengal," Darlington said. "Like it feels weird to me because you have the blueprint. You have the Justin Jefferson deal on the table. What are you waiting for? The CeeDee Lamb deal? Ja'Marr Chase is in the Justin Jefferson category. Like, maybe you don't want to pay him more than Justin, certainly, I understand that. But if you're trying to pay him much less than Justin Jefferson even if you believe Jefferson is a superior player, that's just dumb. Because the price tag is going to go up. This feels odd to me, especially to your point about Tee Higgins. It felt like you chose Ja'Marr Chase. You picked him over Higgins at this point. Sign him. It doesn't make sense to me."

"This is baffling," Clark added. "The reason that Tee Higgins is supposed to walk is because Ja'Marr Chase was supposed to get his extension. So if he's not getting it - there's a lot more questions than answers here. The Bengals do not operate like a normal NFL franchise. We know that. We have about 50 years of data points on this. But this to me is baffling, because it felt like Burrow and Chase were going to be the cornerstones of everything. Take care of those guys. Maybe squeeze some dollars out of other guys, a couple guys on the defense are upset about their contract. I thought that's the way it was going to go. To not take care of Chase is baffling to me. I hope this is just a timing thing, that Mike Brown is gonna get this done."

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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 'Bengals are just gonna Bengal': ESPN analysts slam team for not extending Ja'Marr Chase