Buffalo Bills restricted free agent Ryan Bates is set to sign an offer sheet from the Chicago Bears according to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. The Bills will have five days to match Chicago’s offer.
As first reported by Heather Prusak of News 4 Buffalo, the Bills gave Bates a low-level tender of $2.433 million, and they can now match whatever offer the Bears have made Bates, who has been a hot commodity this offseason.
The young RFA also visited with the Minnesota Vikings and the New England Patriots over the past week, but apparently, the Bears, who are in desperate need of help on the O-line, made him the best offer. The ball is now in the Bills’ court, as they will ultimately decide where Bates plays in 2022.
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Low-Level Tender From Bills Could Help Bears
First, it’s important to note that while the Bears currently have more cap room than the Bills (Buffalo has just over $2.5 million in cap space, while Chicago has just over $24.4 million, per Spotrac), the Bills can restructure the contracts of other players or find other ways of making room if they want to match Chicago’s offer, which has not been revealed.
That said, the Bills choosing to give Bates a low-level tender does work in Chicago’s favor, because the Bears can structure Bates’ contract to have a large cap hit this year, forcing Buffalo to get creative to keep him. It also means the Bears won’t have to send any draft picks to the Bills if Bates does land in the Windy City.
It remains to be seen whether the Bears threw a ton of money Bates’ way with the hope the Bills won’t want to match. Salary cap expert Brad Spielberger of Pro Football Focus estimates the Bears might offer Bates something along the lines of a two-year, $7 million deal, or perhaps a three-year, $12 million offer:
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Bates Is Inexperienced, But He’s Ascending
Bates, who turned 25 in February, attended Penn State from 2016-18, playing in 37 games in that span. He signed with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent in 2019, and after playing in just one preseason game, Bates was traded to the Bills in exchange for linebacker Eli Harold. That alone speaks to how highly valued Bates is in Buffalo.
Since joining the Bills in 2019, Bates has played minimally, appearing in 41 games and starting four. He has just 454 career snaps under his belt, and the most he has played during a regular season was in 2021, when he started four games and played 25% of the team’s snaps on offense.
While he hasn’t played much, he has played well when given the opportunity. In 294 snaps last season, Bates allowed three pressures, three QB hits and no sacks playing mostly at left guard. He also has taken snaps at center, left tackle and right guard, so he’s versatile. In 2020, he played just 82 snaps on offense, but he kept his QB completely clean, not giving up a sack, hurry, or hit.
It’s clear both Buffalo and Chicago value Bates, and both must think he has potential. Now, it becomes a waiting game for the Bears.
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