Bengals OC Brian Callahan on Joe Burrow's chemistry with Ja'Marr Chase: 'You can see it and feel it'
Burrow and Chase starred at LSU together in 2019

Back in 2019, Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase tore up the country together. On his way to the Heisman Trophy, Burrow completed 402 of 527 passes for 5,671 yards, 60 touchdowns, and just six interceptions. Chase was on the receiving end of 84 completions, 1,780 yards, and 20 scores on his way to the Biletnikoff Award. Oh, and they won the National Championship, too.
Fast forward about 18 months. Burrow was the No. 1 overall pick by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2020, and he was off to a strong start to his rookie campaign (264 of 404 for 2,688 yards, 13 touchdowns, and five interceptions) before he was knocked out with a torn ACL in Week 11. The Bengals finished with a poor enough record to land the No. 5 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, which they used on... Chase.
Reunited after a year apart, they're now participating in the Bengals' offseason program together. And offensive coordinator Brian Callahan says the pair's chemistry is palpable.
"The cool thing is Joe's done that with Ja'Marr for two years and this is the third year of doing it," Callahan said, per the Cincinnati Enquirer. "They got a good rapport. You can see it and feel it. They know how to communicate with each other. I think that's exciting for me. They don't really need to get to know each other. They do know each other."
That rapport was a big part of why the Bengals elected to use that No. 5 pick on Chase, rather than an offensive lineman. The Bengals love to overload the field with five receivers in empty backfield sets, to let Burrow operate the way he did at LSU. Having Chase out there along with Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins gives him a strong crew of weapons to work with. They'll have to hope he can stay protected long enough to get the ball to them, or get the ball out quickly enough such that the protection doesn't matter quite as much.
















