Tag: Jessie Bates

Bengals’ Jessie Bates named one of NFL’s best safeties

Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates just got another national boost.

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Jessie Bates slotting as one of the NFL’s best safeties isn’t much of a shock to fans of the Cincinnati Bengals who have followed his journey so far.

But it sure doesn’t hurt for fans on a national scale to see exposure to such an idea.

Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar just helped in this endeavor, tabbing Bates as the league’s fifth-best safety:

“Bates has become one of the NFL’s best and most underrated safeties, lost as he is in defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo’s “Uh… what the heck was THAT?” schemes. Still, Bates had another fine season in 2020, giving up 19 catches on 35 targets for 178 yards, 72 yards after the catch, one touchdown, three interceptions, 12 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of just 42.3. Bates has the field awareness and closing speed to shut any play down. Here, Ryan Tannehill thinks he has A.J. Brown wide open in the end zone, but Bates is lying in wait for the interception.”

It’s certainly not a bad thing for Bates to only slot behind names like Justin Simmons in Denver.

Even better, Lou Anarumo’s odd approach to using his talent and the schemes employed even gets a mention here. Bates has persevered despite this and — hopefully, anyway — things will only get better for the entire unit now that corners to the coordinator’s liking are in town.

Either way, expect Bates to keep playing at an elite level and expect chatter about a contract extension soon.

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Jessie Bates leading charge for big attendance at Bengals OTAs

Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates has played a big role in rounding up players for OTAs.

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The Cincinnati Bengals expect a big turnout for OTAs before training camp next week.

And star safety Jessie Bates is a big reason for that.

Bates, the new Bengals representative to the NFL Players Association, took a leadership role alongside head coach Zac Taylor in calling players and rounding them up for the voluntary workouts.

Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com captured Bates’ thoughts on the situation:

“Getting everybody’s opinion from our team was good. There wasn’t much disagreement or anything like that. I think it was just smart for us to come in for three weeks before minicamp. For us, we can’t just go in off virtual meetings and have a productive minicamp. Just getting around each other and being able to talk to people in person, I feel like that plays a huge part in communication for a defense. I’m excited.”

Bates has long been tabbed by outside observers as one of the guys who will step up big as a leader while ushering in a new era for the locker room. Clearly, that thought has started to be very true.

This revelation comes at a time when a handful of teams are calling off OTAs altogether or dramatically altering the drills and structure of things.

But the Bengals sound like a team ready to have Joe Burrow and the majority of the roster at Paul Brown Stadium next week — in part thanks to Bates stepping up.

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Bengals CB Mike Hilton excited to be in same secondary as Jessie Bates

Cincinnati Bengals corner Mike Hilton is the latest to call Jessie Bates underrated.

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New Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton is the latest to call star safety Jessie Bates underrated.

Hosting a question-answer session on social media, one fan lobbed a softball by asking which player the former Pittsburgh Steelers standout was most excited to play alongside on his new team.

Hilton singled out Bates, who “doesn’t get the respect he deserves” as his answer.

It’s a bit of a funny answer coming from Hilton, who didn’t really get the spotlight he deserved either for his all around strong play while in Pittsburgh, covering well in the passing game but also leading the way against the run.

Bates, of course, was elite last year and a stunning first-team All-Pro snub. But after seeing him from across the sidelines in a bitter rivalry for years, Hilton now gets to link up with him and together they’ll get to make their case for more attention.

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Bengals safety Jessie Bates hints he wants to change jersey number

Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates has a new jersey number on the mind.

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One of the NFL’s best safeties might just undergo a jersey number change soon.

In the wake of the league confirming players at certain positions will be allowed to wear single-digit numbers, Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates took to Twitter and said he’d like to wear the No. 3. He wore that number during his standout college days at Wake Forest.

One problem — Bates will need to have a chat with kicker Austin Seibert, who is currently assigned the number.

As of now, one, two, four, five, six and seven are the only single-digit numbers available for a Bengals player to grab.

Either way, Bates probably won’t be the only guy looking to change his number now that the rules have changed. For what it’s worth, Tee Higgins has said he’ll keep No. 85 despite speculation.

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Bengals safety Jessie Bates was a top 25 NFL player in 2020 at PFF

The Cincinnati Bengals have a star in safety Jessie Bates.

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The Cincinnati Bengals have an elite player in safety Jessie Bates.

Bates, an egregious Pro Bowl snub and likewise snubbed with a second-team All-Pro selection, was one of the top 25 players in the NFL last season.

So says Pro Football Focus, with Sam Monson explaining:

“Not much went right for the Cincinnati Bengals this season, but one of the things that did was the play from Jessie Bates in the secondary. Bates made plays every time you put on a Bengals tape and impacted more plays from a deep free safety alignment than he had any right to. He tallied three picks and a monstrous 12 pass breakups to help him to a PFF coverage grade above 90.0 despite getting little help around him. Bates was a true impact playmaker on the back end for the Bengals, but the rest of the defense was often bad enough that it was hard to notice.”

It’s incredible to see Bates grade higher than players like Chris Jones, the superstar defensive lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs who just played in the Super Bowl.

And no wonder, as PFF graded Bates at a 90.0 on the year with 87 tackles, three interceptions and just 19 catches allowed on 35 targets.

In short, Bates was the definition of elite and was always zipping around the defense trying to put out as many fires as possible. He should only get better as the unit around him improves, too.

Inevitable extension talks are going to be critical for the future of the Bengals to say the least.

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Bengals’ Jessie Bates named defensive player of the year honorable mention at PFF

Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates has earned some more recognition for his play.

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Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates finished behind only Aaron Donald and T.J. Watt in Defensive Player of the Year honors at Pro Football Focus.

PFF unveiled the honors this week, where Bates landed as an honorable mention as DPOTY behind Watt of the Steelers and Donald of the Los Angeles Rams.

Bates also landed as an honorable mention in the “best coverage defender” category behind Xavien Howard of the Miami Dolphins and Jaire Alexander of the Green Bay Packers.

It’s a nice nod for Bates, who was a borderline ridiculous Pro Bowl snub and was only named a second-team All-Pro. He had a gigantic breakout season in 2020, picking off three passes, recording 87 tackles and only letting up 19 receptions on 35 targets, making him the highest-graded safety at PFF with a 90.1 grade.

Snubs and other details aside, Bates probably won’t complain about the mentions here. Nor should the Bengals, who might work with their star defender on an extension this offseason.

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Bengals’ Jessie Bates named 2nd-team All-Pro

Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates was named a second team All-Pro.

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Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates will have to settle for second-team All-Pro honors this year after an elite breakout season.

The Associated Press announced the voting results for All-Pro teams on Friday and Bates was snubbed from the first team in favor of Tyrann Mathieu, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Budda Baker.

It’s a major snub for Bates, who was the highest-graded safety in the NFL at Pro Football Focus at 90.1. He amassed 109 total tackles with 15 passes defensed, only allowing a 54.3 completion percentage. Mathieu, for comparison’s sake, graded at 64.1 with 62 total tackles, nine passes defensed and a 62.7 completion percentage allowed.

Bates will have to wait another year for a shot at a first-team snub and was also a Pro Bowl snub.

The full breakdown of safety voting by the 50 media members:

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Don’t let Bengals’ lost season overshadow Jessie Bates’ elite breakout year

The Cincinnati Bengals have a special player with safety Jessie Bates.

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Lost in the muck of another two-win season for the Cincinnati Bengals is the standout play of safety Jessie Bates.

After struggling at times in 2019 but flashing some of that immense upside, Bates has fully broken out in a massive way this year.

In fact, he’s playing like one of the best outright safeties in football. He’s picked off three passes, has 88 total tackles and has 10 pass breakups and has allowed a 54.3 completion percentage when targeted, plus has a staggering 91.3 grade at Pro Football Focus.

And any time Bates gets in front of the mic, it’s a showcase for what a leader he is. Just look at his recent comments, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:

“The thing I like about what we’re doing is we just continue to fight. Just continue to challenge the guys in the huddle. We give up a big play, they’re down there on the goal line and I just continue to preach ‘We cannot give up a touchdown. We cannot give up a touchdown.’ And we held our own. I think we held a team to 19 points in back-to-back weeks. It doesn’t happen a lot in the NFL. Not moral victories or anything like that, but I like the energy that we played with on defense today.”

PFF provided some important context for just how well Bates continues to play:

In lost seasons like this, it’s important for a franchise to get developmental players some run and find leaders and producers like Bates.

Cincinnati has lucked out in a big way with Bates and now the attention has to turn to this offseason, where he’ll likely seek an extension with just one year remaining on his rookie deal.

There, it will be critical to the rebuild — no matter what happens with the coaching staff — that the Bengals lock up a defensive cornerstone all 31 teams would love to have.

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Zac Taylor sought out Tyler Boyd, Jessie Bates as leaders right after Joe Burrow’s injury

The Cincinnati Bengals have some well-known young leaders in the locker room.

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The Cincinnati Bengals have some key foundational building blocks on the field — and in the locker room — with Tyler Boyd and Jessie Bates.

This was already becoming apparent based on how Bates and Boyd have led the team this year, either setting the tone in interviews or by the effort on the field.

But it became even clearer last weekend after Joe Burrow went down with his injury. That Sunday night, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor sought them out specifically, as he told Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:

ZT: I thought it was important. Those are two of your guys on each side of the ball that have done things the right way this year. They’ve got the right mindset and they’ve totally bought in to what we’re doing here and they see the big picture of what we’re moving towards and they believe in it. Just challenging them to keep leading this locker room.

No wonder, right? Boyd has been the No. 1 wideout for a few years now. And from a leadership example, he was one of the first players to publicly speak out against the actions of Carlos Dunlap.

And Bates has played like the best outright safety in football this year, grading at a 91.0 at Pro Football Focus. It wasn’t too long ago he was warning of personnel changes if guys didn’t step up.

While there are rumblings of a toxic locker room culture Bengals players have denied — and Dunlap and his Seahawks head coach have hinted at the same — it’s clear the next generation of locker room leaders like Bates and Boyd are rocks to build around in good times and bad.

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NFL fines Bengals S Jessie Bates for hit on Titans’ Adam Humphries

The NFL fined Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates.

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The NFL has fined Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates $20,000 for a hit on Tennessee Titans wide receiver Adam Humphries that occurred during Cincinnati’s 31-20 in Week 8.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported the news.

Bates hit Humphries while trying to contest a pass from Ryan Tannehill and the wideout remained down on the field, though eventually waved off the stretcher and walked off under his own power. Humphries suffered a concussion on the hit.

While the play looked like the too-fast-to-call type, the NFL has made its ruling and word went out Saturday alongside leaguewide fine news from games played the week prior.

Bates and the Bengals are currently on bye before playing the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 10.

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