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Not that it should come as much of a shocker, but it indeed sounds like the Cincinnati Bengals and star safety Jessie Bates will have to settle on the franchise tag for now.
Teams have until March 8 to apply the franchise tag to players, so time continues to run out for the two sides.
Saturday, USA Today’s Tyler Dragon reported that the Bengals are “likely” to use the franchise tag on Bates while they continue to work on a long-term extension.
That’s been the expectation for a little while now with the tag deadline looming. Had the two sides been closer, there wouldn’t be any point in delaying a signing of an extension.
A franchise tag for a safety would check in at roughly $13.5 million on a one-year deal. The Bengals have roughly $49 million in free cap as of this writing.
Barring a last-second agreement on something long-term, the Bengals aren’t going to let Bates test the free-agent market and will apply the tag.
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