Why the **** is Jessie Bates not signed yet?

[Whatever]

(07-28-2022, 11:25 PM)fredtoast Wrote: A player under contract who refuses to report to camp can be stuck with huge fines.  But since Bates is not under contract there is no penalty.

So let's all be honest here.  As a 5th year vet Bates does not need a training camp.  If he is not getting as much money as he wants then he sees the "free pass" to skip training camp as an added benefit.  There is no way he is not taking advantage of that.  And I would do the exact same thing.  

As long as Bates reports in top shape and plays at his top level then the coaches will not give a shit that he skipped training camp.

The problem is last year Bates was distracted by his contract situation and played poorly even with TC.  There's no logical reason to assume he's going to play better than he did last year with both the distraction of a contract year and a missed TC.  Bates has had a history of whiffing on tackles throughout his career, so his tackling is a concern coming in with no padded practices or preseason.