Snip snap: Ja’Marr Chase’s holdout takes another turn as star WR joins Bengals for practice

During the entire offseason, three superstar wide receivers have dominated the headlines with their contract holdouts. First, Brandon Aiyuk and the 49ers went through as much drama as one organization could handle before they inked his extension. The Cowboys and CeeDee Lamb had some friction, but they also landed a deal before Week 1.

Now, it's the Cincinnati Bengals and Ja'Marr Chase that is left still to agree on an extension and, if you haven't noticed, it's game week for the Bengals.

Chase has sat out of practice as a sign to the Bengals front office that he wants his extension before the Week 1 matchup with the Patriots. While he has been attending the practices and conversing with teammates and coaches, Chase hasn't really been involved in any drills yet.

Until the Wednesday practice came around, according to NFL analyst Ian Rapoport.

Ja'Marr Chase returns to practice, changing the narrative yet again

The initial report when game week rolled around was that Chase was absolutely going to play. and then he didn't show up for practice as the holdout continued. This came as a surprise to Bengals head coach, Zac Taylor, who has since been much more conservative with his comments on the situation.

With each day of game week passing, it was becoming clear that Chase would miss week 1. And now he's back at practice with four days until kickoff.

Not only is he back at practice, but he was involved in the drills and doing everything that is expected of him. He was a full go, running routes and making plays, like he would in a normal week.

This kind of day would lead many to believe that the deal is nearly done. There could be a few things that are holding up the agreement at this point, but with Chase back at practice, it doesn't seem that he thinks he will miss any game time.

His teammate, Joe Burrow, was also vocal about Chase and his return to practice when he talked to the media on Wednesday.

Burrow believes in his best weapon, and he isn't lying when he says they need Chase in order to be at their best.

Cincinnati lost Tyler Boyd and Joe Mixon this past offseason. Losing those two playmakers and then missing Chase would place the Bengals in position to end up on upset alert against the Patriots in week 1.

If Chase plays, which looks more likely now than ever, the Bengals will be just fine. Especially with Chase likely to be paid one penny higher than his former LSU teammate Justin Jefferson. That should make the young man pretty happy.