Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates has been one of the most interesting potential free agents to monitor in this NFL offseason.
The star safety has let it be known very publicly that he wants a long-term contract with the team and a large one, judging by how he’s been posting on social media lately. Bates recently retweeted this post by NBA star Ja Morant, hinting that his value has gone up exponentially and that he expects a big deal.
yesterdays price ain't todays price
— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) March 5, 2022
It seems that he will have to wait another year for that as the Bengals have elected to franchise tag Bates for the 2022 season.
The #Bengals have tagged star S Jessie Bates, source said.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 7, 2022
Bates was a huge part of the Bengals’ unexpected postseason run to the Super Bowl, with two interceptions in four playoff games. While he most likely won’t be happy being franchise-tagged by the team instead of signing him to a long-term deal, Bengals fans are certainly ecstatic that Bates will be in the defensive backfield at least one year longer.
hopefully we still get a long term deal done… https://t.co/ZNCusO6BrO
— FlemLo Raps (@FlemLoRaps) March 7, 2022
Friendly reminder they can still work on a long-term deal in the meantime. https://t.co/bsSMP5NNE8
— Andrew Russell (@PFF_AndrewR) March 7, 2022
Time to get a long term deal done by July. https://t.co/0KbKajvIvP
— Matt Poole (@HChornets81) March 7, 2022
I was just asking what the Bengals were going to do by tomorrow with Jessie Bates.
Looks like we have our answer. 👇🏼
Bengals have just tagged him as a Franchise player 👇🏼 https://t.co/qHrSdA3TXi— Sheree Paolello WLWT (@ShereeWLWT) March 7, 2022
Bates will reportedly receive around $13 million with the franchise tag, which is likely far less than he would have received if the Bengals negotiated a long-term deal with him.
Jessie Bates’ tag withe the #Bengals will come in at around $13M. He’s easily a $15M+ per year player when it comes to a multi-year extension. https://t.co/VbPf3hcOI3
— Spotrac (@spotrac) March 7, 2022
We will see how Bates responds to being tagged this offseason as it doesn’t mean that the team can’t still reach a long-term deal with him later on. Given how much Bates has been saying he hates the idea of being tagged, it’s a possibility that he could decide to hold out from the team if he doesn’t get the contract he is looking for before the 2022 season.
