Why doesn’t the Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase want Joe Burrow to play in Week 1 of the 2023-24 NFL season?

Some Bengals fans were taken aback by comments from their wide receiver after he said he doesn’t want quarterback Joe Burrow to start the season opener against the Cleveland Browns. He’s since explained exactly what he means and it makes sense to us.

Ja’Marr Chase explains comments about Joe Burrow

If you missed it, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver, Ja’Marr Chase, said on Friday gone that he doesn’t want the team’s injured starting quarterback Joe Burrow to rush back to play in the season opener against the Cleveland Browns. This of course left some fans wondering whether he had some kind of issue with the 26-year-old signal caller. On Sunday, Chase made it clear that such an idea couldn’t be further from the truth, but rather his statement where Burrow is concerned was based in care, not callousness.

“I 100% mean that,” Chase said. “I just want him to be 100% healthy to play. I don’t want him rushing nothing. I don’t want people in his ear telling him to play a certain time. I just want him to be healthy. That’s not me telling him to play this certain game. That’s me saying be healthy when you’re back - 100% healthy.” In terms of what Chase said initially said that got people so riled up, you can be the judge: “I told him that with all honesty, I don’t want him there,” Chase said. “...As long as you’re there after Week 5 and on, we’re good, brother.”

So, what’s the situation with Joe Burrow right now?

As you probably know, Burrow had to be carted off the field during a Bengals training camp session on July 27th after suffering what appeared to be a right leg injury. One day later, head coach Zac Taylor confirmed that Burrow had in fact sustained a right calf strain that would see him sidelined for “several weeks.” It goes without saying that this is not ideal for the Bengals, however, when compared with some of the other injuries that we’ve seen during preseason prep, one could say that both the Bengals and Burrow got lucky.

That said, the ambiguous timeline that the franchise has offered does raise some concerns, and that’s where we’ve got to say that Chase probably has a point. If it is that Burrow is not fully fit for Week 1, then why would you risk him? One could argue that no player in the NFL is ever truly 100% but the point remains the same: Better to be as good as you can be, than not quite there.

How do the Bengals cope?

This is perhaps the more interesting part of Chase’s comments, in that it would appear that the wideout believes the Bengals can cope without Butrrow in the middle. While we can appreciate his confidence, the NFL regular season is as short as it is critical as it relates to earning a spot in the postseason. With that in mind, one has to wonder how the team will manage without one of the best playmakers in the league. To hear J’Marr Chase tell it, the Bengals will be just fine. “We’d be OK as long as he’s there for the end of the season,” Chase said Sunday. “We’re worried about the bigger picture, not the small picture here.”