Buffalo Bills reportedly match Bears’ offer sheet for Ryan Bates
The Buffalo Bills reportedly will be bringing back one of the key parts of their offensive line at the end of last season
One of the big outstanding questions for the Buffalo Bills this offseason was whether or not they would be able to bring back Ryan Bates. He was a restricted free agent and with the Bills offering him a tender, they would have the opportunity to match any contract he might receive.
Last week, this scenario played itself out as Bates would sign an offer sheet with the Chicago Bears. The Buffalo Bills would have five days to match that or Bates would end up joining the Bears.
However, it would appear that Bates is on his way back to Western New York as NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport tweeted that the Bills have decided to match that contract. According to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, the Bears had offered a four-year deal worth $17 million with nearly $9 million guaranteed the first two years.
The 4-year contract for Ryan Bates - the offer sheet he signed with the #Bears - is for $17 million and the first two years (about $8.8M) are fully guaranteed from what I am told.
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) March 28, 2022
Should the Buffalo Bills have matched the contract?
There is no question that down the stretch, Ryan Bates played great for an offensive line that didn’t always look good during the season. The Bills were dealing with a number of injuries at the time and Bates would end up starting the final three regular season games and the two playoff games.
However, a four-year contract with an average salary of $4.25 million seems like a big contract for a player with four career regular season starts and six career starts in total. This average salary ranks 27th among guards in the NFL, according to Spotrac.
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The guard spot was a position of need for Buffalo and maybe Bates is a player who just needed a chance and can build off the strong finish last year. However, the contract he signed with Chicago, which the Bills agreed to match, makes it clear that there is not going to be a competition at the position and Ryan Bates is securely in place as a starter for this team.