Taylor: Bengals’ ailing WR Chase not going on IR

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase will not be placed on injured reserve, coach Zac Taylor said Saturday.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Chase is expected to miss between four-to-six weeks with a hip injury.

Taylor’s comments on Saturday leave the window open for Chase to return at the beginning of that timetable. The fourth-year coach said the timing, which includes the team’s Week 10 bye, went into the decision not to place Chase on injured reserve this week.

“The overall prognosis of how it could play out factors into that,” Taylor said.

Following the team’s Week 6 win over the New Orleans Saints, Chase was listed with a hip injury throughout the week at practice. In the team’s Week 7 victory against the Atlanta Falcons, Chase slowed at the end of a route and walked to the locker room in the closing minutes of the first half. Chase finished the game and downplayed the issue after the game.

“I’m good though,” Chase said.

However, sources told Schefter that Chase visited an orthopedist on Wednesday, an additional non-practice day for the Bengals with the team playing the Cleveland Browns on “Monday Night Football” instead of the traditional Sunday game.

Bengals wide receiver Tyler Boyd said he has been in contact with Chase throughout the week.

“It’s not super devastating,” Boyd said of Chase’s injury. “He got a nagging injury. He’ll be back, though.”

In 2021, the Bengals drafted Chase with the fifth overall pick. He set the franchise record for most receiving yards in a single season and was named the Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year. Through the first seven weeks of this season, Chase ranked sixth in the NFL in total receiving yards (605).

Chase, Boyd and Tee Higgins represent the team’s only group of three wide receivers to each have 400 or more receiving yards through the first seven weeks of the season.

Boyd, a seventh-year receiver who posted a career-high 155 yards in last week’s win over the Falcons, said that the weekly process has been the same with Chase out and there isn’t any added pressure to contribute in Chase’s absence.

“I feel like me and Tee are going to continue to have that production,” Boyd said. “We come in each day, every week, regardless of who’s in and who’s out, because we got a job we got to do at the end of the day. And we’re still going to get our targets and we still have to prepare for a way to win our matchups.”

Throughout the season, defenses have made it a point to shift its coverage to stop Chase. But even with Chase out, Boyd doesn’t anticipate those looks changing.

“We still have good matchups if they want to go man,” Boyd said. “Maybe they might go a little more [double] coverage, but we’re still expecting the same things.”

Along with Chase’s absence, wide receiver Stanley Morgan will miss his second straight game with a hamstring issue. That leaves four healthy wide receivers on the active roster. Trenton Irwin, who has been on the team’s practice squad since 2019, was referenced by Taylor on Saturday as a potential call-up option.

Taylor said whether it’s the starters such as Boyd or Higgins or the other reserves, players will have to step up in Chase’s absence. Taylor said the familiarity with the scheme and the continuity with the receiving group should benefit the Bengals as they look to snap a four-game losing streak to the Browns (2-5).

“Those guys all have a role to play,” Taylor said.