© Provided by CBS Sports Ja'Marr Chase isn't in this business to become the next great wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals. He wants to become the greatest wideout the franchise has ever seen.
"I'm going to break every record they've got. That's my goal right there. I'm telling you right now," Chase said on a conference call with reporters, via the Bengals website. "I don't know how I'm going to do it, but it's going to get done."
Chase is known for setting records, just look at his career in the SEC for evidence. Chase, who sat out the 2020 season, had one of the greatest years for a pass catcher in SEC history. A unanimous All-American and Biletnikoff Award winner, Chase finished with 84 catches for 1,780 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2019. The receiving yards and touchdowns were SEC records, but have since been broken by DeVonta Smith. Burrow completed 76.3% of his passes for 5,671 yards and 60 touchdowns in 2019 -- the year Chase was his top wideout.
There already was a connection between Burrow and Chase leading up to the draft. Burrow even told Chase to "get your bags packed" Thursday morning -- which is when Chase knew he was going to be a Bengal.
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This is the first time in the common draft era that a team used top 10 picks on a QB-WR duo that played together in college.
"I like the way Joe carries himself. He's always calm, very collected and he's not afraid to tell you something," Chase said. "That's something I love from my quarterback. Me and him are always on the same page, communicating about the defense and the offense. I'm always willing to learn and have an open ear when Joe's talking to me."
As for those Bengals records? T.J. Houshmandzadeh holds the single-season record for catches (112) while Chad Johnson has the single-season record for yards (1,440) and Carl Pickens for receiving touchdowns (17). Johnson has the most catches (751), yards (10,783) and touchdowns (66) in franchise history. Jim Breech holds the scoring record with 1,151 points -- so Chase will need to score a lot of touchdowns to surpass him.
The receiving marks are very attainable goals for Chase with Burrow as his quarterback for the next decade.