Cloudy Future Between Bengals and Star Defender
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The Cleveland Browns could have one less defender to worry about when playing the Cincinnati Bengals in the not-so-distant future. Safety Jessie Bates future with the Bengals is now a bit cloudy, as he has no intentions of playing under the franchise tag, per Tyler Dragon of USA Today.
Bates was placed under the franchise tag in March and is scheduled to make $12.91 million this coming season if he is to play under the tag. Rightfully so, Bates wants a long-term deal. Football is a violent sport and guaranteed money is everything. To many players, the risk is not worth the reward when it comes to playing under the tag.
At this time, Bates plans to skip OTA’s and training camp until he receives a new deal. If a new deal is not reached, he’ll simply sit out until he’s a free agent, at least that is where it is trending.
Last season, Bates was very important down the stretch run. The star safety had two interceptions in the playoffs, as the Bengals made a Super Bowl run.
It will be interesting to see where this goes, perhaps the Bengals strike a deal with the 25-year-old. Cincinnati has to think about paying Joe Burrow, and Tee Higgins before too long. There will come a day when Ja’Marr Chase wants to be paid as well.
Brandon Little is a writer for Sports Illustrated’s Browns Digest website and you can follow him on Twitter here. You can follow Browns Digest on Twitter as well here.
