Bills match Bears Offer Sheet for Ryan Bates, 4 yr deal

[White Linen]

Beane likes having no holes going into the draft.   The man executes. 

[NewEra]

7 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Guess Kromer sees him as a fit.

This.  I’m just so happy that we have a RG other than Ford and won’t think about burning a 1st on OG.  
 

I’m really shocked, but really happy that they think that much of him.  Kromer must have liked what he saw.  
 

Wonder how much it is. 

[No_Matter_What]

Not possible. I heard from a reliable poster here that he is a Bear!

 

Really curious about the terms.

 

If it is 4 years this will be a recurring thread theme one way or another.

 

Welcome Ryan "Rick" Bates, new Bills legend!

[pennstate10]

11 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

Be interested to see the details ans whether we have restructured any other deals to make it work.

I have no inside knowledge, but I’d heard Bears front loaded the contract to make it tough to match. So I was guessing a cap hit in 2022 of $6 million or so. Bills would need to restructure contracts to clear this much space. 
 

really glad Bills matched. Besides being a big PSU fan, I was really pleased with Bills OL play at end of year. So keeping 4/5 of the line intact seems like a strong move. 

[jkeerie]

19 minutes ago, nato7412 said:

 

I really believe this was the plan all along...to sign Bates to a long term deal, but let the market determine the dollar figure.  

[Bobby Hooks]

I bet they knew they’d match right away, but wanted to make the Bears wait to address the position for trying to snag our guys. 

[Mike in Horseheads]

They could only afford this because of the PSLs. 

[Shaw66]

1 minute ago, HappyDays said:

Phew. This makes OL less of an immediate need. Just add a vet CB and we can go into the draft with zero pressing needs.

And it doesn't even have to be before the draft.   There always seem to be CBs with experience around.   

 

But they still need a corner in the draft.  They always take a late-round guy, but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the Bills package their first and another pick or two to move up a bit in round one and take a corner.  

[nucci]

19 minutes ago, Process said:

Surprised at 4 years. But that's awesome news. 

Bates probably wouldn't sign a 1 or 2 year offer sheet

[GunnerBill]

1 minute ago, pennstate10 said:

I have no inside knowledge, but I’d heard Bears front loaded the contract to make it tough to match. So I was guessing a cap hit in 2022 of $6 million or so. Bills would need to restructure contracts to clear this much space. 
 

really glad Bills matched. Besides being a big PSU fan, I was really pleased with Bills OL play at end of year. So keeping 4/5 of the line intact seems like a strong move. 

 

I'd heard potentially as much as $7-8m in 2022!

[njbuff]

[Success]

I see some trades on draft day - we have too many picks for this year.

 

Either move up if there is a CB they really like, or accumulate some picks in future drafts.  I can't remember ever feeling like we had so few holes heading into a draft.

 

[pennstate10]

8 minutes ago, essential said:

Bates himself stated he considered his natural position is LG.  Saffold is going to be starting at LB and I think he's likely a better run blocker, but hopefully Bates is as effective at RG as he was at LG.

Bates played all OL positions except center at PSU. I’m thinking he plays RG  equally well as LG. May not want to disrupt the “chemistry” between Bates  and Dawkins. 

[HappyDays]

1 minute ago, Shaw66 said:

And it doesn't even have to be before the draft.   There always seem to be CBs with experience around.   

 

But they still need a corner in the draft.  They always take a late-round guy, but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the Bills package their first and another pick or two to move up a bit in round one and take a corner.  

 

At this point I'd be surprised if our 1st round pick is anything other than CB or WR. That seems to be where the need will match the value.

[billybrew1]

This is great news! I sure hope Bates can live up to this contract. He’s young enough that’s for sure. So, what we were seeing last December andJanuary was real, that I’d, he was very good.  And Bates can play RG well too I imagine….I hope RG is his best position and we have a great starting OL now. I don’t know if Beane wanted someone else to negotiate Bates contract or was trying to get away with something? 
Congratulations, Ryan Bates!

 

You’re a Buffalo Bills thru and thru now.

[Charles Romes]

19 minutes ago, Dablitzkrieg said:

So we are drafting 7 CB's... perfect 

Jauron, is that you?

[NewEra]

2 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I'd heard potentially as much as $7-8m in 2022!

What a **** move by the bears

[PetermansRedemption]

Cutting Ford will pay for 1.6 million of this at least. 

[Herc11]

24 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

So we all agree, the last off season puzzle piece now in place…we take the punter with our pick at #25! 👍

Hopefully we'll leave the round 1 kickers to the Jets and Raiders 😂😂

[HappyDays]

I think I remember hearing that $2.5 million is already accounted for with Bates because of the tender we gave him. So whatever Bates' cap hit is this year, subtract $2.5 million and that will be the actual new money taken off our salary cap.