Ja'Marr Chase, the fifth overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals because of his ability to catch a ball thrown by quarterback Joe Burrow (teammates at LSU), is admitting his case of the dropsies this preseason is because of the actual NFL football.
"The ball is different because it is bigger," Chase said, according to Bengals.com's Geoff Hobson. "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 (the) whole ball is brown and you have the six strings that are white."
Huh? If you need to explain the issue that deeply, the problem lies not in the ball, but in the mind of the person attempting to catch the ball.
This is called the yips.
The poor Bengals. Just when you think the team might be turning a corner, there's always something that just snaps them back into the sad reality of their existence. Can't help but think of a few former first-round picks of the team who didn't live up to their draft position (or potential): Peter Warrick, Akili Smith, David Klingler...
While we certainly hope that's not the case and Chase is able to catch a football -- the job he was drafted for and paid to do -- it's still early, and we're not giving up on him just yet.