Ja'Marr Chase is on his way to surpass an NFL legend in Week 1
The Cincinnati Bengals take on the Cleveland Browns in Week 1 to kick off their 2023 campaign. One of the biggest X-Factors on the offensive side of the ball for Cincinnati is Ja'Marr Chase, who is entering the third year of his NFL career.
Chase, the fifth overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, has been an incredible addition to the Bengals offense and he's helped turn them into a perennial Super Bowl contender. Chase has a chance to accomplish another goal on Sunday and all it'll take for him to do it is to tally 27 yards against the Browns.
According to Rebecca Toback, with 27 receiving yards, Chase will pass legendary NFL receiver Randy Moss for the third-most receiving yards by a player in his first 30 games.
Ja'Marr Chase can pass Randy Moss in key record on Sunday
As Toback notes in her post, Chase is sitting with 2,501 yards in 29 career games while Moss had 2,527 yards in his first 30 games. If he gets at least 27 yards on Sunday, he will take Moss' third-place spot on that list.
While it's not as likely, it'd take 234 receiving yards from Chase on Sunday to pass the second-place receiver on the list, Chase's former LSU teammate Justin Jefferson, who had 2,735 yards in his first 30 games. Chase did have a career-high 266 receiving yards in a 2021 game against the Chiefs so it is possible for him to get to that number but just less likely.
Twenty-seven yards is nothing for Chase so unless he gets injured (knock on wood, please) or he's just covered incredibly well, expect the former first-round pick to knock this record out pretty quickly on Sunday. And if he doesn't, that likely means that Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd were left uncovered and had big days.
It'd be cool if Ja'Marr Chase could get this record and further cement himself as one of the best wide receivers in the league.