Chase back on the field, and Cincinnati can breathe again

Ja'Marr Chase returned to practice after the knee scare that had hung over the Bengals' final camp days, and the franchise's most pressing health question now has an answer. He limped off August 25, downplayed it immediately, but still drew a Questionable tag by August 29 — which, for a team with essentially no proven receiver depth behind Tee Higgins, was not a small thing.

The Bengals went 6-11 last season with Chase healthy for 16 games and producing at an elite level. Losing him for any stretch of 2026 would have put the offense in a position it simply isn't built to survive. Higgins is a legitimate number one on most rosters, but this offense was constructed around Chase as its center of gravity, and the depth chart behind those two doesn't inspire confidence heading into a season where Cincinnati needs to be better than it was.

Everything else on the offensive side is confirmed active — Burrow, Higgins, Gesicki, the backfield. The defensive rebuild with Dexter Lawrence and Bryan Cook is intact. The Chase scare was the last open question, and it's closed. Small note, but it's the right one to end camp on.