Chase off to a slow start

The Athletic's Paul Dehner lists WR Ja'Marr Chase as 1 of the fallers of the first couple of weeks of Bengals training camp. "His skill set is that unique. You see flashes of that early, but you also see somebody tentatively getting used to a new offense, new league and not playing football since January 2020," Dehner writes. "He has endured a string of drops, on short and long passes, with another coming Sunday. He has not shown as much separation as you’d hope, and the contested balls haven’t gone his way much, either." It's not a major surprise that Chase is off to a slow start after opting out of the 2020 season -- but it is at least part of the reason that we have him as overvalued at his 4th- or 5th-round price tag.

Bengals WR Ja'Marr Chase (shoulder) is active for today’s game vs. the Chiefs. It’s unclear how big a factor that shoulder will be, but Chase obviously comes with more risk than usual in Week 17 fantasy lineups. See where he lands in the Week 17 WR Rankings.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that there's "optimism" that Bengals WR Ja'Marr Chase (shoulder) will play vs. the Chiefs today. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport calls Chase "likely" to play. He'll go through a pregame workout before a final decision is made. We won't get Cincinnati's inactives until a little before 3 pm ET, so fantasy owners hoping to start Chase should have a replacement from the late games rostered as insurance.

Bengals WR Ja'Marr Chase (shoulder) is listed as questionable for this weekend’s game vs. the Chiefs. He got in limited practices on Thursday and Friday. “We’ll see,” HC Zac Taylor said on Friday when asked about Chase’s availability. We won’t get Cincinnati’s inactives until a little before 3 pm ET on Sunday, but there will likely be updates on Chase between now and then.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport said he'd be surprised if Bengals WR Ja'Marr Chase (shoulder) played against the Chiefs this weekend. Chase is dealing with a 2-4 week injury, according to Rapoport, and has missed just one game so far. We'll continue to monitor Chase's progress but are removing him from the Week 17 Rankings for now. His absence would be good news/bad news for WR Tee Higgins, who would get a target boost but also see more of Chiefs stud CB L'Jarius Sneed.

Bengals WR Ja'Marr Chase (shoulder) did not practice on Wednesday. He was spotted stretching with the team and getting in some work on a rehab field. Chase's availability for this weekend's game vs. the Chiefs remains up in the air. Check back tomorrow for another update on his status.