Despite Ja'Marr Chase's struggles, Bengals not discouraged with WR

Despite Chase's struggles, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said Cincinnati is still optimistic about the fifth overall pick's future in the NFL. 

"By no means are we down on Ja'Marr," Taylor said before Sunday's practice, according to ESPN's Ben Baby. "He's just going through some of the things rookies go through in training camp, and we expect him to improve over the course of this week."

Earlier this week, Taylor said Chase was "getting better every day," and the Bengals will "just keep looking for improvements" in his game throughout the preseason. 

According to Joe Danneman of Fox19 Now in Cincinnati, Chase saw extra reps with the quarterbacks during the special teams' portion of Sunday's practice.

Last week, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who played with Chase at LSU, praised the wide receiver and admitted that he's excited about the future with his top target. 

"I'm excited about where he's at," Burrow said, according to ESPN. "He's going to make a lot of big plays for us. We're going to get him the ball in space, and he's going to score a lot of touchdowns."

Chase entered the NFL with high expectations out of LSU. He was the highest-selected wide receiver in this year's draft after leading the FBS with 1,780 receiving yards in 2019 and setting a then-record 20 touchdown receptions. 

According to ESPN, Taylor said Chase's difficulty getting acclimated to the NFL could stem from him not playing since 2019 but didn't know if that was exactly the case.