Ja’Marr Chase has no plans to negotiate a long-term contract with the Cincinnati Bengals this season, league sources told ESPN.

Talks between Chase and the Bengals are off for now and likely for the rest of the season unless the team does something to change the situation.

According to sources, the star wide receiver believes the Bengals misled him when they promised him a contract extension at the end of last season and again in the offseason, which ultimately did not happen.

To back up his word and strengthen his position, Chase has also taken out a $50 million insurance policy for this season to protect himself against injuries and potential loss of earnings. One source said of Chase, he is “good” with the insurance policy.

The Bengals could always try to jumpstart negotiations with Chase. But Cincinnati has a long history of not negotiating contracts during the season, and that’s considered unlikely to change, especially because Chase reportedly has no intention of continuing contract talks and the team is focused on Sunday’s game against the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.

The last time the Bengals extended the contract of one of their core players during the regular season was in 2015, when offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth signed a one-year extension. According to ESPN Research, it was the only in-season contract extension the Bengals have made in the last 20 years.

Chase and his representative believe the time to complete the offseason deal was right when the Bengals told him it would work out. The team first brought up the possibility at Chase’s exit meeting after last season and then again at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Chase then watched as other players from his 2021 draft class, including wide receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jaylen Waddle and DeVonta Smith, signed lucrative long-term contracts earlier this year.

The Jacksonville Jaguars also paid the first overall pick in the 2021 draft, Trevor Lawrence, a salary that made him one of the highest-paid players in NFL history at the time.

Chase watched his fellow draftees’ numbers soar while he himself waited for a deal that never materialized. The three-time Pro Bowl player had originally planned to miss the first two days of training camp, league sources said, and was not planning to arrive until the third day to collect his $4 million bonus.

However, due to a miscommunication and misunderstanding, Chase showed up at the camp on time and made it look like the talks were in a better position than they actually were.

Chase and the Bengals spent much of the summer trying to negotiate a long-term deal, but it didn’t materialize before Cincinnati’s regular season began with a loss to the New England Patriots last Sunday.

A new contract would make Chase the highest-paid receiver in the NFL, surpassing the $35 million average annual salary his former LSU teammate Justin Jefferson received from the Minnesota Vikings earlier this year, sources said. The problem was the structure of the contract and the way the money was paid out, which Chase didn’t like.

Sources told ESPN that Chase’s camp at one point threatened that the receiver would sit out the first two games of the season, including this Sunday’s showdown at the Kansas City Chiefs, if an agreement was not reached. However, Chase eventually stepped in and made it clear that he would play with or without a new contract, and is now fully focused on the 2024 season.

Chase seemed to focus on the Chiefs earlier this week, stressing that Cincinnati needs to be on its toes and fully prepared for Kansas City’s defensive tactics, adding that the Bengals are “the team to beat in the AFC.”

“Everybody knows that, brother,” Chase said Thursday. “It’s not a question of ‘if.’ We’re the team to beat in the AFC. And we know it. And we have to play like it.”