The Buffalo Bills continue their offseason transactions as the team has traded offensive lineman Ryan Bates to the Chicago Bears.
Bates, 27, has fetched the Bills a fifth-round draft pick in the upcoming 2024 NFL draft:
🚨TRADE!! 🚨
We’ve agreed to terms on a trade that will send OL Ryan Bates to Chicago for a 5th round pick in the 2024 draft: https://t.co/TBCWPhUbB3 pic.twitter.com/yV2q1LDp7y
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) March 5, 2024
Bates has had an interesting position on Buffalo’s interior offensive line the past two seasons.
The Bills matched an offer sheet the Bears signed Bates to in 2022. At the time, he was an important piece on the offensive line. Fast forward to now and he’s no longer a starter for the team.
Not only that, Buffalo had an extremely healthy offensive line in 2023 and they played well. Pro Football Focus named the Bills offensive line the sixth-best in the NFL this past season.
Following the end of Buffalo’s 2023 season, Bates stated he wanted to stick around with the Bills.
“I don’t want to go anywhere else,” Bates said. “I want to stay here. I don’t keep that a secret.”
But what made keeping Bates around difficult was a $5.5 million cap hit. Following the move to Chicago, Bates’ departure will only save Buffalo $1.4M in 2024 because of dead cap hits, but it’s better than nothing for a team that is still approximately $35M over next year’s cap.
Reaction to the Bates trade can be found below: