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Film Breakdown: Everything That Makes Ja'Marr Chase An Elite Receiver

The star rookie has transformed the Bengals' offense.

Mike Santagata

Ja’Marr Chase just lit up the record books just like he proclaimed he would on draft night. 

He set the record for most receiving yards in a game by a rookie, receiving yards in a season as a rookie, and receiving yards in a game by a Cincinnati Bengal. All three of those records now belong to Chase after his incredible performance against the Chiefs. 

Chase caught 11 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns. There were two areas of his game that really stuck out as special in this one. His underrated ability to run after the catch and his body control.

Let's take a look at the film.

Running After The Catch

Chase is built like a running back. At 6-foot, he's a little bit shorter for a receiver, but he's stout and strong. He has shorter arms, but that’s what helped him put up 23 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press. His legs are thick and powerful, which makes him so explosive. He had a 41” vertical and a 132” broad jump at his Pro Day. 

Not everyone could see the explosion and strength of Chase while he was at LSU, but his route tree and how they used him was part of the problem. He would mostly run vertical down the field or in contested spots over the middle of the field, so there were not many chances to showcase his ability to run after the catch.

The Bengals have started to utilize this ability in recent weeks. They try to get him into the open field with room to run so he can break tackles and turn 5-yard gains into 15-yard gains. He’s a special player and they treat him as such.

This play encapsulates exactly what I am talking about with the ability to run after the catch. The Bengals don’t even have the numbers on this play with three defenders for the two players working the screen, but that doesn’t matter with Chase. He runs through two tackles to push for about a 10-yard gain when the first contact was behind the line of scrimmage. Awesome play and one of the prime examples of how his powerful legs help him run after the catch.

This play not only showcases his ability to break tackles and fight through contact, but also shows his intelligence when running with the ball. He steps back and squares up to the line of scrimmage to allow his blocks to be set up. This is not something that every wide receiver does on these screens. He does not break any tackles, but the patience to let his blocks set up turn what could have been no gain into another gain of about 10 yards.

This was the primary example of his ability to run after the catch both in this game and probably for the season. When he catches this pass, there are four defenders surrounding him. It takes a special receiver to escape that. Chase escapes it with a juke move on a linebacker that opened up some room to run. Even after he makes the linebacker miss he is still surrounded by Chiefs defenders. He accelerates and begins to sprint downfield. He is able to outrun all of the Chiefs defenders on his way to the endzone. 

What should have been just a 15-yard gain turns into a 72-yard touchdown because of how special Chase is as a receiver. He's just an awesome player that can gain yards after the catch. Nevertheless, his ability to run after the catch is not even his greatest strength.

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Body Control

Chase’s ability to contort his body and make sure he always gets two feet down is his best ability. Combined with how well he tracks the ball and uses late hands, it makes for a devastating downfield threat for defenders. This was the ability coming out of LSU that everyone coveted and rightfully so because it was the one that was most on display. 

At 19 years old he was overwhelming defenses with this lethal combination of body control and ball tracking. Most of his highlights came from this ability and it’s something that has carried into the NFL.

The body control on this catch is insane. He does not catch the ball cleanly on the first attempt, which is frustrating, but he then is able to haul it in and get two feet down while being pushed on the edge of the sideline. It’s almost like he is playing the game in slow motion on this catch. 

A truly frustrating play from the defense’s perspective as they think it was a missed opportunity only for Chase to turn a normal catch into a circus catch with this sideline grab. The innate ability to get both of his feet down on this play is fantastic and something that will serve him well throughout his career.

This play is exactly why Chase is such a nightmare to defend in downfield scenarios. He may not have the prototypical size and while his speed can be lethal, he is not Randy Moss. It’s this ability right here to not only contort his body in mid-air to make the catch, but also his late hands and ability to track the ball. He jumps at the last possible moment in this play. To understand why this is nearly impossible to defend from an out-of-phase position, I’ll let this quote from Nick Saban explain what out-of-phase means.

“If you’re in the out-of-phase position, which means you can’t see his near number, you can’t be even with him, then you have to play the guy’s eyes and hands for the ball because you’re not in position and if the quarterback throws it correctly [on a fade type pass] you’re not going to be able to get to the ball—you’re behind him too far.”

Think about Saban's comments as we move forward.

The corner is playing the receiver’s eyes and hands for the ball. The thing about Chase is that he does not show the defender what he is doing until the last possible second. How is a defender supposed to react and go up to get the ball when Chase reacts at a time when only he can make that play?

All of this is romanticizing his freakish ability to track the ball and has not even gone into his ability to contort his body mid-air on the sideline to make this catch. He spins around in the air to catch the ball on his back shoulder and then still has the body control to both land on his feet while also getting his feet in bounds along the sideline. There is no defense for this play. It’s pretty much an impossible task for the cornerback.

This is a similar play to the last one. Chase is able to force the corner into an out-of-phase position, goes up late for the ball, contorts his body in mid-air to make the catch, lands on both feet, and keeps his feet in bounds. 

Chase repeatedly did exactly this throughout the game and it was the area that hurt the Chiefs the most. When you have a player like Chase, there is no way they should be singled up in press coverage unless the corner can jam like a prime Richard Sherman. Playing press and just trying to mirror Chase is putting the corner in a bad spot. They’re now going to be in an out-of-phase position against a guy who is one of the best in the league at destroying out-of-phase cornerbacks.

Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo still put his corner in a position to be dunked on like this, even after after Chase had 10 catches, 233 yards and three touchdowns. 

The Chiefs are playing Cover 0 and throwing everyone at the Bengals on this play, despite Cincinnati being in the split back gun. 

With the Bengals in this formation, they are able to pick up the blitz (shout-out C.J. Uzomah for the clutch block) to allow Joe Burrow throw a perfect go ball to Chase. This is the last catch of the game for the star rookie and yet the defense still hasn't reacted or changed their tune after his performance. 

They are playing press-man coverage without a jam at the line and no help over the top. There are receivers that this will work against, but as clearly shown throughout this game, Chase is not one of those guys. Of course, he is able to make an extremely difficult catch look routine as he once again uses his combination of tracking and body control to come down with this ball. The defender does not stand a shot here against Chase.

Chase’s game this past Sunday was the amalgamation of everything he does well. He’s pretty much impossible to guard when a corner is in an out-of-phase position and if the cornerback is off and tries to stay in-phase, he can catch the ball short and break tackles. 

He’s a truly special player and has been more than the Bengals could have asked for with the 5th overall pick. He's going to be one of the best receivers in the NFL for a long time.

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Mike Santagata
MIKE SANTAGATA

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