04-01-2022, 01:43 PM
(03-30-2022, 04:48 PM)Housh Wrote: Guys please watch this video. It’s an amazing Jessie Bates highlight video. I think anyone who is wondering why we aren’t pulling the trigger on that 70+ million dollar deal needs to watch this and take note of what you DONT see. Because best believe they Bengals are doing this.
What do we see? We see a man whose amazing in pass coverage….period. He can cover. He can get to a spot and do it fast. We also see a solid outside tackler. He’s not gonna make many Troy Polamalu goal line stops or 1 yard stops but on outside runs he’s aggressive and strong. But if you getting paid top 3 safety money we need you to tackle inside as well. Bates just isn’t a factor on inside runs. A lot of that is we play him over top almost all the time but he doesn’t seem to have good instincts making plays in the traffic like other safeties do. Which is fine, no one is perfect. But these things stop you from getting huge contracts. Lastly i see a great decision maker. Whether he makes the play himself or not Bates seems to choose the right area of the field the QB wants to attack. I was really impressed by Bates this year in this regard. You can’t teach this. If you ever really sat and watched Ray Lewis play, he would almost magically have a hand in most tackles. He just knew where to be.
What don’t you see in these highlights though? You don’t see many interceptions. You don’t see many TFLs. These are the sexy plays that get people paid. Bates doesn’t have them. This is why i am 100% sure whatever we offered was fair. Bates is within his right to want more though because of his argument is our D couldn’t have operated without him, he’s right. Bates ability to cover the full field from that deep middle position is amazing. But i warn Bates, we could easily go cover 2 and make him less valuable. He does not make enough game changing plays to warrant top 3 FS money. These highlights imo show his exact strengths and the lack of picks on these highlights show that he’s still got work to do.
https://youtu.be/liHGIXzSinw
Nice post Housh. Well done getting this thread back on track too.
