How does the best wide receiver trio in the NFL get even better?

It may never be like this again for the Cincinnati Bengals, who stockpiled No. 1 receivers and started a trend that has spread across the NFL.

Three of the biggest steps in turning the Bengals into contenders over the last five years were giving a contract extension to a 1,000-yard receiver in Tyler Boyd, drafting Tee Higgins in 2020 and watching him turn into a star and drafting Ja’Marr Chase in 2021 and developing him into one of the best players in the NFL.

That plan, a collaboration between a front office and a coaching staff that’s on the same page about positional value, is approaching a reset. Boyd is in a contract year, and the Bengals drafted his replacement. The Bengals can give Tee Higgins a contract extension, but he’s in the last year of his rookie deal.

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The Bengals’ championship window may be for quarterback Joe Burrow’s entire career, but he might never have a receiver group as good as what the Bengals have in 2023. They had the best receiver trio in the NFL in 2022, and the group has the reasonable expectation to be better in 2023.

“We don't really miss a beat (at receiver) from previous years,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said. “We're hitting the ground running pretty quickly.”

There isn’t another team in the NFL that has had the same starting quarterback and the same three starting receivers since the start of the 2021 season. Continuity is baked into the Bengals’ training camp schedule. Taylor doesn’t reinstall the offense. He adds to it, and the rookie backups are expected to follow Chase, Higgins and Boyd’s lead.

It’s only been two years since Chase couldn’t catch the football in training camp, and Higgins wasn’t viewed as a No. 1 receiver yet when last season started. They’re not quite the veterans in the receiver room, but they’re also not young receivers anymore.

“Ja’Marr is just more polished about how he goes about his work day,” Boyd said. “He doesn’t miss treatment. He’s not worrying about the wrong things outside of football. He gets here, is locked in and does what he has to do before he gets on the field. Before, he used to just chill, sit around and go play. Now, he takes things more seriously. He has become a vet. It’s the same thing with Tee.”

With Burrow sidelined, Chase has been the best player on the field at training camp. He’s so comfortable with his technique at the line of scrimmage that he has started giving more feedback to the Bengals’ cornerbacks. On Wednesday, Chase reeled in a one-handed catch while dragging his toes in bounds inches away from the left sideline.

Chase was already one of the best athletes in the NFL, and he played more than 90% of the offense’s snaps in most games last season. One of his goals for 2023 is to play even more snaps, and he has worked to get in even better shape.

Working with backup quarterbacks, Chase tapped into his speed, strength and explosiveness to still consistently catch deep balls down the sideline.

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“The focus for Ja’Marr is coming out every day to get better and practicing at an elite level,” Bengals wide receivers coach Troy Walters said. “Not having any down days. He has done a great job of getting better every day. Some guys get tired and go through the motions. Ja’Marr has been elite every day. It comes down to fine tuning route running. Adding nuance to it. Giving him different looks to change up his stems. Just little things, really."

Higgins has been more of a project during training camp than Chase. When Chase missed a month with a hip injury last year, the Bengals’ coaching staff decided to have Higgins run Chase’s routes. Higgins hardly had any experience running some of these plays, but he figured it out on the fly.

Now, those routes are baked into Higgins’ role for the 2023 season. The Bengals plan to feature Higgins more in the slot, target him more on run-pass-option plays and put Higgins in positions where he can’t be double-teamed.

“The No. 1 receivers, and I believe we have two of them, are not stationary,” Walters said. “You’ve got to move them around. There will be times where Tee gets doubled and we still want to get him the ball, so we’ve got to move him around. Just like Chase. And those guys want to learn. They want to be great. They want to line up everywhere on the field.”

Boyd slots in as the best No. 3 receiver in the NFL. He had a drop in production with 762 receiving yards last year, but his importance was on display in the AFC Championship Game after Boyd exited the game with a thigh injury.

Defenses still panic on third down when they see Boyd in the slot. He’s one of the best receivers in the NFL at reading third down coverages over the middle of the field, and Boyd’s choice route remains one of Burrow’s favorite plays.

“I know my role,” Boyd said. “For myself, I want another 1,000 yards. We want one year where all three of us receivers get 1,000 yards. That and a Super Bowl.”

Last year, when Chase started playing in the slot, Boyd’s production faded late in the season. Since so many changes were made on the fly, Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan admitted that the Bengals didn’t have as many ways to feature Boyd as an outside receiver last year when Chase was in the slot.

While Boyd’s receptions dropped, the offense was still better than it has ever been during Taylor’s head coaching career. The offense has more answers with more versatile receivers, and the Bengals enter 2023 with more established contingency plans for when their receivers line up at different positions. For example, when Higgins is in the slot, the Bengals have pre-planned ways to keep Chase and Boyd just as involved.

The Bengals have reached the point where every starting receiver can play every role in the offense. It’s a rare level for an offense to reach, and it’s a result of the Bengals’ continuity at that position.

“The adjustments that we made last year were successful, and now it’s about building on it,” Walters said. “We’re not restricted. Whatever the defense does, we have answers. We can move TB outside. We can move Ja’Marr and Tee around. There’s no limit to what we can do with this offense."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Next steps for Bengals' Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd