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Ja’Marr Chase is expected to be a big part of the Cincinnati Bengals offense moving forward, but he is still working on adjusting to the NFL after being a standout wide receiver at LSU.
While speaking with the media ahead of the start of the regular season, the first-round pick discussed his struggles with drops during the preseason.
According to Chase, the NFL ball is harder to catch and harder to see because it is bigger and doesn’t have the white stripes that the NCAA ball has.
“The ball is different because it is bigger,” Chase said, via Bengals.com. “It doesn’t have the white stripes on the side so you can’t see the ball coming from the tip point so you actually have to look for the strings on the ball at the top, which is hard to see because whole ball is brown and you have the six strings that are white. But for the most part, just have to get used to it and find out what I am comfortable with catching.”
Chase also attributed his decision to sit out the 2020 season for some rust.
“I don’t want to blame it on me sitting on my butt the whole year, but it probably had something to do with it, of course,” Chase said. “There’s a bigger ball adjustment, so I don’t want to make excuses but I’ve just got to be a pro and make the catch.”
Whatever the case may be, Chase will need to put in the work and make the adjustments to be the star player Cincinnati was expecting when they took him in this year’s draft.
