NFL Legend Makes Bold Ja’Marr Chase Prediction Ahead of 2026 NFL Season

The Cincinnati Bengals enter the 2026 season with plenty at stake after missing the playoffs for a third straight year. Cincinnati’s roster has changed significantly, especially on defense, but the franchise’s ceiling will still depend heavily on two players it has relied heavily on for years: Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase.

If Cincinnati is going to contend again, it will be because that quarterback-receiver duo drives the offense the way it has when both are healthy.

Burrow is entering his seventh NFL season and Chase his sixth, and together they remain one of the most dangerous duos in football. They have already led the Bengals to a Super Bowl appearance and an AFC Championship Game appearance, and their connection has consistently been the foundation of Cincinnati’s offense. Chase has already established himself as one of the league’s elite receivers, while Burrow, when healthy, remains one of the NFL’s most efficient and aggressive quarterbacks.

That is why college football Hall of Fame receiver Torry Holt believes Chase has a legitimate shot at one of the league’s biggest receiving records. Speaking with Kay Adams on the “Up and Adams Show,” Holt was asked who in today’s NFL could break Calvin Johnson’s single-season receiving yards record of 1,964. 

“If I had to guess, with a healthy Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, I think, would be first.”

It’s not an outrageous statement to make considering what these two have achieved together. In 2024, Burrow had the best season of his NFL career and led the league in passing yards (4,918 yards) and touchdowns (43).

Chase also posted the best season of his NFL career with 127 catches for 1,708 yards and 17 touchdowns. He won the receiving Triple Crown that year, leading the NFL in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. His 1,708 yards were already one of the highest single-season totals in league history and left him 256 yards shy of Johnson’s record.

Chase has topped 1,000 receiving yards in each of his five NFL seasons and has been Burrow’s go-to target since entering the league in 2021. Before the NFL, they also formed one of the most productive duos in college football history at LSU. In 2019, Burrow won the Heisman Trophy and led LSU to a national championship, while Chase caught 84 passes for 1,780 yards and 20 touchdowns.

The Bengals believe they are better equipped to maximize that duo in 2026; their defense has been upgraded, Burrow is healthy entering training camp, and Chase remains in his prime.

If the defensive improvements hold up, Cincinnati may not need Burrow and Chase to carry every game the way they have in the past. But if Chase is going to threaten Johnson’s record, it will almost certainly be because Burrow stays healthy for a full season and the Bengals continue leaning on one of the league’s best passing attacks.

Cincinnati opens the 2026 regular season at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, Sept. 13 at 1 p.m. ET at Paycor Stadium. It will be the first test for a Bengals team that believes it has fixed enough around Burrow and Chase to compete for a Super Bowl title.