With the start of the regular season quickly approaching, the Cincinnati Bengals and superstar wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase are still working on a contract extension.
Chase is the last superstar standing without a new contract after Brandon Aiyuk received a four-year, $120 million deal from the San Francisco 49ers earlier this week.
Aiyuk's deal came only days after the Dallas Cowboys and CeeDee Lamb came together on a massive four-year deal worth $136 million.
So what's the hold up between Chase and the Bengals?
In a Saturday morning appearance on Sportscenter, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN gave a little insight into why the two sides haven't come to an agreement yet.
"But the problem really is the guaranteed money, the structure, the number of years. They're still really hashing out everything is my understanding, but people are on standby in Cincinnati," Fowler said via Bleacher Report.
Even though it seemed the hold-in Chase had been conducting came to an end earlier this week when he returned to practice, the superstar wideout then continued his hold-in just a day later.
That came despite the fact that head coach Zac Taylor told the media Chase was expected to practice in full every day.
Fowler did give a bit of hope that the Bengals and Chase are working toward a deal soon, though.
"The Bengals, I'm told, are trying to get this done. I'm hearing that they've tipped up their negotiations a little bit," Fowler said. "There's a feeling, a little bit of hope, a little bit of optimism, that maybe they can get this across the finish line in the next few days."
Fowler also mentioned that the expectation is for Chase's deal to be around the $34-35 million mark, but he also doesn't believe the latter will surpass Justin Jefferson's annual value.
The start of the season is less than one week away for the Bengals so this deal should be coming down the pike soon.
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