Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates is quietly one of the NFL’s best.
It feels like only a matter of time before Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates is a household name.
After a slight dip in play last year on a struggling unit, Bates is playing at a league-best level through the first eight games of 2020.
So much so, he’s been named one of the NFL’s most underrated defensive players by Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar:
Bates was a great under-the-radar player in his rookie year of 2018, but his effectiveness didn’t show through in 2019 thanks to a series of defensive game plans that did not, to put it kindly, best feature the talents of the players involved. But Bates is back on his game this season — he’s allowed just 10 catches on 20 targets for 86 yards, 51 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, two interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 22.1. This is especially impressive given Cincinnati’s below-average pass rush.
We often write that the rangy Bates is all over the field and he is, especially now that things have marginally improved around him and the scheme is starting to come together.
To add more context, Bates finished last year with a Pro Football grade of 61.2.
Tennessee Titans wide receiver Adam Humphries took a bad blow to the head during a play near the end of the first half of the game against the Cincinnati Bengals and was carted off the field.
Humphries made what appeared to be a sensational catch, but safety Jessie Bates delivered a big blow to the wideout’s head, which should have been flagged as an illegal hit on a defenseless receiver but was missed by the officials.
Upon review, Humphries’ catch was overturned and ruled incomplete, adding insult to injury after the officials didn’t flag Bates for an illegal hit.
After the play, Humphries was down on the field for awhile, but was ultimately able to get up on his own, which was great news. While he was carted off the field, Humphries did not need a stretcher. He has been ruled out for the rest of the game.
Bengals safety Jessie Bates needs to watch more film.
At this point, anyone who doesn’t give credit to Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill for his success and still thinks he’s just a guy who benefits from running back Derrick Henry only isn’t watching Titans games.
And based on this quote from Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates, he’s one of those people.
When asked about Tannehill on Wednesday, Bates gave all the credit for the signal-caller’s success to his running back (h/t Cory Curtis of WKRN).
“I think Derrick Henry has had a lot of 100-yard games this year and that kind of helps out Ryan a lot,” Bates said. “Ryan doesn’t really do a lot of things that are like wow that pop out on film, I just think that he does a really good job of getting the ball out to the checkdown and not making mistakes, so when you’re running the ball like that it’s hard to make mistakes besides fumbling the football. They’ve done a really good job with that.”
Henry has posted three 100-yard games this season and the Titans have won all three. In fact, Tennessee is undefeated in the Derrick Henry era when he rushes for over 100 yards.
However, Henry has failed to reach the century mark in two of the Titans’ five wins this season and Tannehill has completed 75 percent of his passes for 434 passing yards and eight total touchdowns to zero picks, while also adding a combined 54 rushing yards in those games.
Even in the win over the Texans where Henry rushed for 212 yards, Tannehill had to drive the Titans 76 yards down the field with under two minutes remaining in regulation just to force the game into overtime.
Oh, and he also threw for a season-high 366 yards and four touchdowns in that game.
Dating back to Week 7 of last season when Tannehill became the starter, the Titans are 4-3 in games that Henry doesn’t rush for 100 yards. Not great, but not a losing record, either.
The comment about checkdowns is laughable, also. Tannehill led the NFL in yards gained per pass attempt (9.6), adjusted yards gained per pass attempt (10.2), and yards per completion (13.6) in 2019. You don’t accomplish that by just being a checkdown Charlie.
With inconsistent play and well-known tendencies, QB Lamar Jackson either needs to step up or the Baltimore Ravens will start losing games
Though the Baltimore Ravens picked up another win, beating the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 5, the offense was far from the unit we all saw last season. After a 2019 campaign that broke records and earned quarterback Lamar Jackson an MVP award, Baltimore’s offense has been far more inconsistent in the early part of the 2020 NFL season.
One of the reasons might just be who Jackson turns to first when throwing the football. Astute fans might recognize that wide receiver Marquise Brown and tight end Mark Andrews lead the way in all receiving categories for the Ravens, and by a pretty wide margin. Brown leads everyone on Baltimore’s roster in targets (36), receptions (22), and receiving yards (319) while Andrews tops the charts with five touchdown catches, coming in at a close second in every other receiving category.
Unfortunately, Ravens fans aren’t the only people taking notice of where the ball is going. Following the game, Bengals safety Jessie Bates III and linebacker Logan Wilson both noted it’s the Brown and Andrews show through the air. Though both admitted Cincinnati’s defense didn’t do enough to completely shut both passing targets down, Wilson pointed to a far different second half for Jackson when they were able to slow Andrews and Brown down.
“It’s just as simple as not letting him get the ball,” Bates said about Andrews after Sunday’s game. “We know where Lamar wants to go: either ’15’ [Marquise Brown] or ’89’ [Mark Andrews]. It showed up today as well. That’s all he was really throwing to, was ’15’ or ’89.'”
“He’s Lamar’s go-to target,” Wilson said when asked about shutting Andrews down in the second half. “I think everyone knows that, especially in the red zone. So, we needed to adjust to that, knowing where he’s going to be, Lamar is going to be looking for him. Like I said, I think we adjusted to that in the second half.”
Both Bengals defenders have a solid point and the evidence backs them up. Jackson went 8-of-13 for 76 yards, and two touchdowns in the first quarter (one play into the second quarter really). But things slowed down quickly for Baltimore’s passing attack once Cincinnati was better able to lock up Andrews and Brown beyond that.
After going 6-of-9 for 56 yards and a touchdown in the first half, Andrews didn’t receive a single target in the second half. Brown caught 5-of-7 targets for 42 yards and a touchdown in the first half. But things dramatically switched up in the second half where Brown was targeted just three times, catching two passes for 35 yards, including one catch-and-run that went for 30 of those yards. Meanwhile, after going 16-of-28 for 137 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception in the first half, Jackson went 3-of-9 for 43 yards in the second half.
On the day, Jackson completed just 19 of his 37 targets (51.4%) for 180 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. While those stats might not seem awful, Jackson’s 4.86 yards-per-attempt for the game is the third-lowest of his 27 career starts. And anyone watching Sunday’s game likely noticed the Bengals could have easily come down with another two or three interceptions if defenders could catch a ball thrown right into their chest.
It’s not as simple as Jackson just pinpointing two receivers, however. Something many young quarterbacks struggle with at the beginning of their careers is throwing outside the numbers. Outside passes have to have a lot more touch, the timing is even more important, and it’s typically where the best defensive backs are going to be.
Bates was on top of that tendency as well. When asked how Cincinnati’s defense tried to force Jackson to throw outside the numbers, Bates said the gameplan was to load up the middle of the field “where all their completions come from.” Taking a quick look at Jackson’s passing chart for the game only proves Bates’ point, with every deep shot and a majority of the outside throws falling to the turf.
If you’re an opposing defensive coordinator, it seems as though Bates and Wilson just drew up your gameplan against Baltimore until Jackson steps up his game and can beat it.
It might not be fair to put all the blame on Jackson here. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman is also partly responsible, as are the other receiving targets who have struggled to get open, and the rushing attack that has been just average this season. It’s also worth noting that with a condensed offseason and no preseason games due to the coronavirus pandemic, Jackson and this offense are still clearly working on things like timing and chemistry.
But at the same time, Jackson is the Ravens’ franchise quarterback and is fresh off an MVP season. We all know he can play better football than this but it’s up to him to actually do it. In Week 5, Jackson missed a few wide-open receivers, instead, trying to target his favorites or looking for a deep ball that wasn’t within a country mile of his intended target. Whether it’s a knee injury that is hampering him more than anyone is letting on, or a desire to try and prove his toughest critics wrong, Jackson isn’t playing smart or consistent football right now.
The Ravens got lucky the last two weeks and they’ll face another relatively easy opponent in Week 6 in the 1-3-1 Philadelphia Eagles. But with a schedule that quickly gets tougher following that, Jackson has very few weeks to either improve as a passer or get smarter about where he’s throwing the ball, or Baltimore could start chalking up losses.
The Cincinnati Bengals have a rising star with safety Jessie Bates.
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Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates is one of those players the team is going to have to start thinking about setting big money aside for an extension at a later date.
Bates has always had massive potential but needed a combination of growth and better surroundings around him to really blossom.
It appears he’s getting both.
Bates has been one of the NFL’s highest-graded safeties through four weeks, and he put an exclamation mark on that trend in Week 4, posting another grade of 86.5 and moving into first place outright at Pro Football Focus:
#Bengals safety Jessie Bates earned an 86.5 @PFF grade for his excellent play vs the Jaguars.
Bates is currently @PFF’s highest-graded safety (87.2 overall) with at least 50 snaps on the season 🔒
Bates was all over the field against Jacksonville, leading the team in tackles with 10, one of those going for a loss, plus two passes defensed.
There are still plenty of problems to point at for the Bengals defense. Bates is far from one of them as he puts on a show before likely seeking a long-term extension because his current deal expires after the 2021 season.
Cincinnati Bengals defenders aren’t happy about the team’s Week 2 performance.
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Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates isn’t thrilled with how his unit performed during the team’s Week 2 loss to the Cleveland Browns.
In fact, he opened up Thursday about how the post-game chat with the team went and hinted the approach the locker room is taking if things don’t change.
“The talk that we had after that game wasn’t pretty. If we don’t figure it out, some people won’t be here,” Bates said, according to ESPN’s Ben Baby.
And it’s hard to blame Bates for being so candid. His defense coughed up 35 points, highlighted by 215 rushing yards and three scores on a 6.1 average for Browns rushers.
The Bengals could easily make some excuses. It went down on a short week thanks to a Thursday game. Nick Chubb is one of the NFL’s best. Geno Atkins and Mike Daniels were missing from the heart of the defensive line.
But accountability has been a big theme for the Bengals this offseason as the overhauled roster got an influx of leaders. Bates isn’t one of those new guys, but he is a leader expected to set the tone.
The task doesn’t get much easier for Bates and his defense in Week 3 on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles. We’ll see if the unit can improve, but Joe Burrow has already stressed a sense of urgency for his team as they seek out their first win of the season.
Cincinnati Bengals safety Shawn Williams is a big believer in Jessie Bates.
When it comes to on-the-rise Cincinnati Bengals players, it’s a little easy to overlook safety Jessie Bates.
Bates sits sandwiched between the end of a dead era and a complete roster overhaul and last year — like most on the Cincinnati defense — he struggled to adapt.
But veteran safety Shawn Williams isn’t one of those guys who has overlooked Bates, as he told Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:
“…It’s like Jessie. He should be considered one of the elite, but it’s not that way when you’re not on a winning team and not playing in prime-time games.
He’s got a lot of upside. He’s just starting to scratch the surface because he’s so young. He’s doing everything on raw talent. Once he actually learns as he grows he should be really good.”
Williams, heart and soul of the secondary for a long time now, would know best.
And the proof has been all over the film. Bates was one of those guys who struggled in a new scheme a year ago but seemed to improve as the season progressed. Prior to that, even as a rookie, he showed signs of being that ballhawking safety the Bengals drafted him to be.
These comments come on the heels of Bates hiring a new agent as he gets ready to push for a second contract. He’s clearly on the right trajectory and the combination of his improving and the unit around him doing the same could mean he has a massive 2020.
Bengals safety Jessie Bates has new representation.
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Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates has elected to hire new representation.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Bates will go with David Mulugheta of Athletes First. No shocker here — as ESPN’s Adam Schefter pointed out last month, Athletes First repped the most first and second-round selections of any agency during the draft at eight and 11, respectively. That list includes wideout Tee Higgins, Cincinnati’s pick at the top of Round 2.
And calling Bates a rising star is fair enough. The 2018 second-round pick has drummed up 211 total tackles, six interceptions and 16 passes defensed since entering the league and as a rookie posted a career-high grade of 79.9 at PFF.
Bates’ current rookie deal expires after the 2021 season but he’ll be in the extension discussion this time next offseason.
