Chad Johnson makes two bold predictions regarding Ja'marr Chase's contract situation

If anyone knows what it takes to thrive as a star wide receiver as a member of the Cincinnati Bengals, it's Chad Johnson, so he's uniquely qualified to discuss Ja'Marr Chase's current contract situation.

Chase, who is seeking a long-term contract extension from the franchise, has been a non-participant throughout training camp and preseason play. For lack of a better word, Chase's situation could conceivably be called a holdout.

Chad Johnson makes two bold Chase-related predictions

During a recent appearance on The Adam Schefter Podcast, Johnson made two bold predictions regarding Chase's financial future. The first one Bengals fans probably won't be too happy to hear, as Johnson doesn't think that Chase will take the field until he puts pen to paper on a new deal.

"He's not touching the field," Johnson said. "Certain players, they can separate their love for the game and business. If it was me, I'd have been out there practicing, deal or no deal, I don't care. But on the business side of things, Ja'Marr, his team, they understand now, and this is the only way to get deals done."

Johnson thinks that Chase will stand strong and hold his ground until he gets a new deal, even if that means missing time during the regular season. The good news though -- and Johnson's other bold prediction -- is that Chase will get the deal he's seeking in the near future, and definitely before the start of the season. Johnson pointed to quarterback Joe Burrow as a main reason why he's confident that a deal will get done.

"Ja'Marr's deal will get done, probably sometime this week, definitely before the season starts. Because I'm sure Joe Burrow will probably grow frustrated at some point not having his top receiver out there."

Johnson made it clear that he doesn't have any inside information, he's just confident that the organization will do the smart thing, which would be locking Chase up for the foreseeable future. The problem is that Bengals president Mike Brown certainly made it seem like a deal getting done prior to the start of the season was unlikely when he spoke to media members last month.

"It's not so likely that this is the good time to negotiate," Brown said at the time. "The offseason is a better time for that and we're going to try to keep focused on the football part. I'm not going to rule anything out, but I will tell you that the die has probably been cast."

So now we wait. There are still a few weeks before the start of the regular season, so there is technically still time for a deal to get done, but will one materialize? And if a deal doesn't come to fruition, will Chase really remain on the sideline? The next could weeks in Cincinnati could be very interesting.