Chicago Bears (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
During the first 10 days of NFL free agency, the Chicago Bears have made a decent amount of moves.
The only reservations from Bears fans, however, is the fact that none of them have been deemed as “major.” So far, Ryan Poles has brought in mostly mid-tier free agents at various positions, and a few which will come in and start.
One of those starters comes on the offensive line, in former Green Bay Packers center Lucas Patrick. The Bears still have a couple of vacancies up front, though, and one of the possibilities comes in Buffalo Bills restricted free agent guard Ryan Bates.
Over the past 48 hours, Bates has met with the Bears, Minnesota Vikings and New England Patriots. Thursday morning, though, we received some good news courtesy of The Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs.
Sounds like Ryan Bates intends to sign an offer sheet from the #Bears. When he does, #Bills will have 5 days to match the contract. He also visited #Patriots and #Vikings. Bates is a restricted free agent.
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) March 24, 2022
After signing an offer sheet with the Chicago Bears, free agent guard Ryan Bates will wait to see if it’s matched by the Buffalo Bills.
Bates is signing an offer sheet with the Bears, and if Chicago hopes to make it a finalized transaction, they better hope the Bills do not match.
At the moment, the Bills could do a simple restructure with quarterback Josh Allen and even move on from linebacker Tyler Matakevich to create roughly $6.5 million needed to absorb Bates’ salary (per The Athletic).
However, per the same report, the Bills would be unlikely to create more than that $6.5 million. If the Bears offer more of a front-loaded deal and a decent signing bonus, chances are that Bates is in Chicago when it’s all said and done.
Should the Bears actually finalize a deal with Bates, they would then have four starters across their offensive line. Bates is only 25 years old and an ascending player in this league. Bills fans have raved about wanting to see more of him each and every week, as he has continually improved since coming in as an undrafted free agent back in 2019.
Chicago has Teven Jenkins locked into a starting role, along with Cody Whitehair and Patrick. Bates makes that four, of course, and gives the Bears a whole lot of breathing room as they prepare for the 2022 NFL Draft.
For the fans who have been highly critical of Poles over the past week and a half, this is a move that could put them at ease. It’s been somewhat difficult to sit back and wait as Poles stays patient, but this could have been all part of the plan to begin with.