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

[treee]

Sometimes the factors just don't line up. He wants to get paid and that's fair. But with a salary cap, teams need to maximize the production they're getting for each dollar spent. In other words, to field the best team possible.

Our DBs are already very solid with a lot of upside. That combined with the fact that we have so many huge contracts to be signed in the next few years puts him as less likely to get a long term deal here.

It is understandable to want to play under a long term deal instead of the franchise tag. Evidence points to sitting out for a year not being the optimal move for these players, so that pretty much narrows it down to either playing under the tag or having their total compensation impacted by the fact that teams will also have to give up assets to acquire the ability to sign them to a contract (draft picks or other players).