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

[RoyBatty is alive]

Nice Job, it might be helpful to include Ryan Bates in the title!

[Virgil]

I'm confused, do we suck again or not? 

 

Seriously though, I'm surprised that was the best deal the Bears could think of to scare us away.  Bates proved to be a solid starter and that will be an absolute bargain for us. 

 

Thanks Chicago

[Slippery Rubber Mats]

2 minutes ago, billsbackto81 said:

True.

How many teams were looking at the limited tape on Bates telling themselves, "we gotta get this guy!"

😂

 

4. Bears, Vikings, Patriots, and of course, the Bills

[Virgil]

1 minute ago, Tom Donahoe, GM said:

 

4. Bears, Vikings, Patriots, and of course, the Bills

 

Exactly.  He received a lot of attention for an under the radar guy.  He didn't just start, he performed at a position of need for quite a few teams

[Bills92]

BBB said a priority was protecting JA17 this offseason.  This one definitely checks the box.   JA definitely had a rapport with Bates and without any proof, I wonder if not starting Bates most of the season was more of a Dabs decision vs. McBeane decision..   Just a thoery.

 

Go Bills!

[Doc]

3 minutes ago, NewEra said:

7-8M is pretty nuts for a guy like Bates. He’s started 5 games and didn’t grade out very well.

 

It's $4.25M a year for 4 years.

 

3 minutes ago, Magox said:

If they did before the tender then they would have offered him a contract.

 

Their hand was forced once the Bears offered him one.  With that said, I still think it ends up being a really good value signing because I believe Bates will be our long-term starter.

 

Bates/his agent(s) probably came to the Bills with an ask higher than what the 2nd round tender was so Beane had him find his true market value.  He got it and matched.

[Yobogoya!]

Seems like a fair deal for a guy with a limited body of work but who has shown upside and really helped our line get it's s--- together to end the year. 

 

When this whole ordeal started I thought it was foolish not to just give him the 2nd round tender and be done with it, but if the Bills wanted to keep Bates long term but weren't sure of his market value, letting him test FA with the security blanket of a first-refusal tender makes the most sense. It's a "player friendly" thing to do as well, which counts for some of these guys as well. 

[Warcodered]

14 minutes ago, Magox said:

 Because if you’ve been a career backup all your pro life and now you are being offered a 3-4 year contract with millions on the table, you become very tempted to take the deal.

The 8.8 million guaranteed would definitely be huge, I mean we just saw the guy that had been ahead of him get signed for only a 1 year deal after having an injury.

[Blainorama5]

1 hour 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! 👍

Only as long as he's an "elite" holder....  😉

[JGMcD2]

10 minutes ago, WotAGuy said:

Third grade reading comprehension would tell you I was asking for others’ input on the issue. 

After you questioned the move…

 

The way you phrased your comment was implying the move was bad. 

[Simon Says]

WHEW 

[Simstim]

Most pleased with this. Good deal and OL now decent enough and as importantly, locked in.

 

Just CB(s) to deal with now.

[NewEra]

1 minute ago, Doc said:

 

It's $4.25M a year for 4 years.

 

 

Bates/his agent(s) probably came to the Bills with an ask higher than what the 2nd round tender was so Beane had him find his true market value.  He got it and matched.

I know… the 7-8M cap hit this year was the talking point.  
 

I agree, it’s not a lot if he turns out to be a solid starter and I like the deal.  But for a guy with 5 careers starts, 8.8M gtd is a nice grab.  This was the best deal Bates could’ve gotten imo.  The offer came from a bad team with a bad OL.  Those teams overpay for everyone. No one else offered more

[Simon Says]

WHEW.  I wonder how they plan to use him. Right guard or is Saffold willing to move there?

[2020 Our Year For Sure]

24 minutes ago, MrEpsYtown said:

Definitely not. If they give him the 2nd round tender he signs it and he has a great year, now he’s a free agent next year at 26 years old and getting paid. This was the only way to get this type of deal done. He was playing with fire, but now we have a guy locked up with huge upside entering his prime. 

Could this have been a contributing factor to the hesitancy to play him all year in 2021? Keep other teams guessing at good he can play with consistency, keep his contract reasonable so we could match. 

 

Baseball teams make a similar move often, not calling a hot prospect up until late enough in the year that they can have an extra year of control. It still allowed the Bills to have Bates in there for the postseason run.

[Logic]

1 hour ago, DapperCam said:

So we have...

Dawkins - Saffold - Morse - ? - Brown

And the question mark could be Ford, Bates, or Boettger?

I'm guessing the plan is for Bates to replace Saffold next year.

Based on the contract he just signed, Ryan Bates will be one of the starting five.

The Bills didn't lock him in at $8M+ guaranteed over two years just to have him on the bench.

The starting line is Dawkins - Saffold - Morse - Bates - Brown.

I assume they'll draft a youngster to groom behind Saffold, or to groom at RG if the plan is to switch Bates back to LG next year. Either way, make no mistake, Ryan Bates is getting paid starter money and will be one of the starting five.

[foreboding]

14 minutes ago, Rochesterfan said:

 

Yes, but the key to the deal was always AAV.  The Bills are up against it, but they still have moves to free up money if they want.

 

I think the Bills would of found a way to match even if it had been 8 million this year (rather than 1st 2 years) - they would of just had to do more moving this year of contracts.

 

The only way the Bears win out in this is if the offer had been at an AAV that put Bates close to where Williams was 8-10 AAV for limited work.  

 

A deal with huge upfront costs hurts the Bills a bit, but gives them flexibility later in the contract.

 

 

Everyone keeps talking about how this deal restricts flexibility. Why can't the bills structure the upfront ans a bonus and then get the average even over 4 years?

[MJS]

So glad they got this done. There were a lot of fans here saying it was fine if we lost him, and I did not agree at all. I wanted him back. Beane's commitment to keep him confirms my own thoughts about him. He is a solid player and can develop into a good starter.

[Doc]

1 minute ago, NewEra said:

I know… the 7-8M cap hit this year was the talking point.  
 

I agree, it’s not a lot if he turns out to be a solid starter and I like the deal.  But for a guy with 5 careers starts, 8.8M gtd is a nice grab.  This was the best deal Bates could’ve gotten imo.  The offer came from a bad team with a bad OL.  Those teams overpay for everyone. No one else offered more

What I read is $8.8M guaranteed over the first 2 seasons, not just this season.

[Rochesterfan]

Just now, foreboding said:

Everyone keeps talking about how this deal restricts flexibility. Why can't the bills structure the upfront ans a bonus and then get the average even over 4 years?

 

They have to match the exact deal that the Bears offered.  
 

They cannot just match money - it is the terms as laid out by the Bears.