Every quarterback needs weapons to throw to, and Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals has been blessed with several. 

Veteran wide receiver Tyler Boyd was already on the roster before Burrow came, and Tee Higgins was drafted a round after he was in 2020. However, Burrow got his best weapon a year later, his old college teammate at LSU, Ja'Marr Chase.  

Chase has helped the Bengals finish seventh in points per game in each of the last two seasons and was a driving force for their back-to-back trips to the AFC Championship Game. Pro Football thinks Chase has been so good throughout his young career that he was ranked the fourth-best player under the age of 25 in the NFL.

Chase’s receiving grades for the first two seasons of his career came out to 86.1 in 2021 and 85.2 in 2022. Over the past two years, he’s recorded 3,000 receiving yards and 25 receiving touchdowns. He’s also been one of the top big-play receivers in the league, recording 60 explosive plays of 20 yards or more.

Chase had a rookie season to remember with 1,455 yards and 13 touchdowns. He had five games over 100 yards with two eclipsing the 200-yard plateau including a team-record 266 yards against the Kansas City Chiefs. In the postseason, Chase had two more 100-yard games and put 89 yards in the Super Bowl, proving that he can step up in the biggest moments. 

The 2022 season presented Chase with a challenge. He suffered a hip injury that cost him four games but Chase still put up over 1,000 yards and nine scores while recording four 100-yard performances. In the playoffs, he was productive once again catching 20 of his 28 targets for 220 yards and two touchdowns in three games. 

Chase is such a dangerous weapon because not only does he have the speed to win deep but he can take a simple quick pass and take it to the end zone with his elusiveness and field vision. What makes it difficult to stop Chase is the threat of Higgins and Boyd which doesn't let opposing defenses rotate coverage his way easily so he's left with one-on-one opportunities quite a bit, and that's bad news for defensive backs.

Cincinnati should thank their lucky stars every day that they have Chase on the roster.