Eagles

Feed Us Jessie Bates Speculation and Rumors

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: May 19th, 2022 · 11:11 AM EDT

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Eyeball emoji right here:

Jessie Bates, who won't show up for Bengals training camp due to contract issues, seems to "like" the Eagles offense 👀

It means nothing, it means nothing, it means nothing…#Eagles (h/t @eric_DREAMS) pic.twitter.com/OGjrIsrj8e

— Thomas R. Petersen (@thomasrp93) May 19, 2022

Surely Howie Roseman is done for the offseason right? The Eagles don’t have any cap space. They can’t pull off a Jessie Bates move because the Bengals slapped him with the franchise tag just under $13 million.

Right?

Well according to the NFLPA report, the Birds have $10.8 million in cap room before James Bradberry’s deal is factored in. We need to see what that looks like on paper because we don’t have an exact 2022 number and need to know what’s there on the back end (void years). Howie Roseman could certainly clear a few extra million to get Bates in this year, though for this kind of deal they’d have to have an extension agreed upon for the next however many years.

Safety is the only remaining position of need for the Birds, who have Anthony Harris and Marcus Epps back there. Bates is a 25 years old, an All-Pro who had a couple of interceptions in the postseason last year. He’s a fantastic player who would command a quality return going in the opposite direction, but the Birds do have draft picks and are currently overstocked on the offensive line, which the Bengals do need to address. If Cincy has any interest in an Andre Dillard or Isaac Seumalo + a pick, something like this might work out. It’s not a pipe dream.

If Howie trades for Jessie Bates he gets a statue at the Linc.