Forget The Quarterbacks: Ja’Marr Chase Is The Best OROY Bet

• Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase is making a quick name for himself at the NFL level. 

• Joining up with college teammate Joe Burrow has been fruitful for Chase, who has recorded seven catches for 155 yards and two touchdowns in his first two games.

• Per PFF, Chase became the first wideout since 1976 to have touchdown catches of 40+ yards in his first and second career games. He had a 47-yarder in Week 1 and then a 42-yarder in Week 2. 

• The LSU product is Burrow’s clear deep-ball threat. Per NFL Next Gen Stats, he accounted for 40.5% of the team’s air yards in his first two games, more than fellow wideouts Tee Higgins (31.7%) and Tyler Boyd (19.7%). 

• Per BetQL, Chase has +861 consensus odds to win the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award and these might be the longest odds he sees for the rest of the year.

Weeks 1 and 2

Chase became the first wideout since 1976 to have touchdown catches of 40+ yards in his first and second career games. 

In Week 1, he caught five passes for 101 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown. In Week 2, he only caught two passes for 54 yards, but one of them was a 42-yard touchdown. 

Joining up with college teammate Joe Burrow has been fruitful for Chase, who should continue to put up solid numbers all year long.

Per NFL Next Gen Stats, he accounted for 40.5% of the team’s air yards in his first two games, more than fellow wideouts Tee Higgins (31.7%) and Tyler Boyd (19.7%). That’s very telling, not only about the cohesiveness and chemistry between the quarterback and his receiver, but also how Cincinnati’s offense plans on utilizing him.

Cincinnati’s passing offense has been concentrated on the aforementioned players and running back Joe Mixon and will continue to be all season long. 

Looking Ahead

The Bengals have made a clear effort to run the football this season. They’ve passed the ball just 54.1% of the time, compared to 60.5% last season and 63.3% the year before. 

Not only will that give Joe Mixon a chance to do work on the ground, but it’ll set up play-action opportunities and the chance for splash plays downfield. That’s what makes Russell Wilson so dominant in Seattle, as the ultimate example. 

Per BetQL, Chase has +861 consensus odds to win the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award and these might be the longest odds he sees for the rest of the year.

With matchups against the Jaguars, Lions, Jets and Raiders secondaries and plenty of other games in which the Bengals will most likely be playing from behind in a pass-happy game script, Chase has the best chance of all the rookie receivers to put up monster touchdown and yardage numbers. 

The quarterbacks with shorter odds than him should get the bulk of their team’s starts this season (with the lone exception of Trey Lance), but if Chase can continue to make history, voters won’t be able to ignore him for long.

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LISTEN: Handicapping the Deadlocked AFC North

Chelsa Messinger and Michael Jenkins take a look at the deadlocked AFC North, where surprisingly all four teams sit at 1-1 after two weeks. Jenks and Chelsa breakdown how they would handicap futures bets on the AFC North, then offer their best bets.