Tag Window Open - Bates Tagged

[*bfine32*]

(02-22-2022, 11:29 PM)Go Cards Wrote: Big fan of Bates and wanted to keep him months back when everybody that is saying to keep Bates now said he sucked and luckily the Bengals did not waste their money on signing him.

He would have come at reasonable price then and was part of a great Safety tandem even if his play had slipped some. But dude balled out in playoffs and could have easily been the Bengals MVP of playoffs earning him a really nice payday. His play was a thing of beauty when it counted.

Nowadays the NFL is "get yours" league when it comes to monetary compensation now that everybody starts on a rookie deal and Bates did just that when it counted and earned a big payday.

They say he could get upwards to $18 million and we are going to hold him hostage at 12 million when there is no chance of signing him to big deal later because it will be time for Burrow, Higgins, Wilson, Jonah, and Chase to be signed at same time and he would just be a one to two year mercenary for Bengals.  If we sign him now their deals coming soon will have to factor into Bate's contract. Just seems unfair to him.

If tagged you may get lucky and he balls out being it would still be a contract year, yet he may be unhappy playing for a half a million less a month too. He is a smart man and would treat him as such and explain the obvious that the O-line must be addressed immediately and a big contract to him would prevent this from happening. Would explain the respect we have for him and tell him to go get offers and we will match up to 13 million for you to remain a Bengal on contract but no tag will be used to hold you back.

He will get more from another team but he will leave knowing he was treated with honesty and respect and Bengals may have a chance of re-signing him a few years down the road when it benefits both parties . Would not try and sign a cheaper FA to replace him because there are some nice FS in the draft that will be there at 31 for a very reasonable price. Would target Brisker personally but the team knows better than me obviously.

Hate losing Bates but would hate not fixing the O-line much more. Plus there is a great chance to find a solid safety in draft at 31 than most other positions anyway imo.

But if they can fix O-line properly and retain Bates then I'm all for that but think the money he will require would add a really nice piece to O-line and seems the logical choice to trim the fat because it would only be one hole left to fill.

Everybody talking holes but the O-line is the only major hole I see. If not signing Bates allows Bengals to fix O-line in FA and the team to go BPA with exception of a FS.  Then they could use picks for FS, CB, DT, TE, RB, and OL in draft with only player lost being Bates and should be loaded for bear with a new solid O-line.

That's the transition tag