Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase suffered a left-knee injury at practice on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, after landing awkwardly while going up for a deep pass from quarterback Joe Burrow. He walked off the field under his own power and told reporters afterward that the injury “is not very serious.”
Key facts
- Injury: left-knee injury that Chase described as a hyperextension, suffered Tuesday, August 25, 2026, at Bengals practice
- Cause: landed awkwardly after going up for a deep pass from quarterback Joe Burrow
- Chase’s assessment: called it “not very serious”; said “If I had a game tomorrow, I’d play”
- Diagnosis: none official yet; outside experts differ on whether it could be a torn knee ligament or just a bone bruise/hyperextension
- Next preseason game: Friday against the Philadelphia Eagles; Chase’s playing status was undecided as of Tuesday afternoon
- Regular season opener: September 13, 2026, vs. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers
How the injury happened
Chase went up for the throw down the sideline, came down awkwardly and grabbed at his leg. The Bengals’ head athletic trainer, Matt Summers, checked him on the field, and the team held him out of the rest of Tuesday’s session as a precaution.
Chase pushed back on the idea that the injury forced him out, saying the team “pulled me” rather than the other way around. He spent the remainder of practice on the sideline, was seen stretching and talking with teammates including Burrow and cornerback DJ Turner, and did not head to the locker room.
Chase says he feels fine
Chase described the injury himself as a hyperextension and said he felt fine. “If I had a game tomorrow, I’d play,” he told reporters, adding that he could have kept going in practice if it had been necessary.
No official diagnosis
No team or medical source has issued an official diagnosis. A former NFL team physician, in comments carried by Yahoo Sports, said a torn knee ligament should not be ruled out yet, while a separate injury analyst, writing for Pro Football Network, said he was “somewhat optimistic” the issue is a bone bruise or hyperextension without ligament damage. Neither is a formal medical finding, and no imaging results have been reported.
What happens next
Friday’s preseason finale
The Bengals have one preseason game left, a Friday matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles, and head coach Zac Taylor is not expected to play starters in that game regardless of Chase’s health. Reporting on whether Chase himself will play is mixed: ESPN reported Tuesday afternoon that the call on his workload rested with team staff and had not yet been made, while another report said Chase, like Burrow, would sit out the finale. The two reports have not been reconciled. Beyond Taylor’s team-wide caution about starters, the Bengals have said they are letting Chase set his own pace in practice for the rest of the preseason — a separate matter from whether he specifically suits up Friday, which by ESPN’s account was still a team decision that had not been made as of Tuesday afternoon.
Season opener
The Bengals open their regular season on September 13, 2026, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. No team has said whether Tuesday’s injury will affect Chase’s availability for that game; his comments that he felt fine and could have kept playing do not establish his Week 1 status.