NFL insider reveals what went wrong between Bengals and Ja’Marr Chase

An NFL insider says Cincinnati Bengals wideout Ja’Marr Chase and his reps aren’t happy after fiveish months of extension negotiations fell apart at the deadline over the weekend.

On his “NFL Spotlight” podcast, Ari Meirov said that the Bengals and Chase tried roughly up until the Week 1 kickoff to get an extension done — but key factors prevented it.

“They tried Friday night,” Meirov said. “They even tried on Saturday, into Saturday night. And they continued into Sunday morning, actually. They could not bridge the gap. It just was not happening. There were numbers they couldn’t figure out. There was a cashflow issue, there was a year issue, the APY was fine, it would have surpassed Justin Jefferson. But everything else was not there.”

Meirov noted that average annual numbers on the proposed deal were in the $36 million range and speuclated that the number could climb to $40 million by this time next year.

Also important to realize, as Meirov detailed, is that Justin Jefferson went through the exact same thing with the Minnesota Vikings last year before getting his market-resetting contract this offseason.

While we may never get more info than this, it’s notable that Chase and his reps were frustrated with how the Bengals go about extension talks.

And when it comes to a so-called “years” issue, it wouldn’t be surprising to find out that Chase’s side wanted roughly three years, while the Bengals were pushing for four. Players want shorter, lucrative deals to get back in extension talks sooner as they remain in their prime (perfectly understandable), while teams want more control for a longer amount of time.

Given that Chase has two years left on his rookie deal, plus any tag possibilities from the team’s side, it’s not a shock to find out cash flow and years were barriers the two couldn’t get past together.

For now, it sounds like Chase will simply play on the fourth year of his rookie deal. Despite the frustration, it’s hard to imagine the two sides don’t get something done in 2025, as originally anticipated, anyway.

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