The Bills will match RFA offer sheet for Ryan Bates
The Bears offered a contract 4 days ago to restricted free agent Ryan Bates. While the hopes for Bears fans were very high, the Bills have decided to match the offer and they will keep Bates in Buffalo for the next four seasons at least.
With the Bills re-signing another offensive lineman earlier today, all signs pointed towards them letting go of Bates. However, it was not meant to be.
This is one of the toughest blows for the Bears this off-season. Bates is a very promising offensive lineman and he would have fit the scheme here perfectly. There's no two ways about this, it really hurts...
This is very disappointing because the Bears have had really bad luck so far ever since GM Ryan Poles took the reigns of the team. Another example that comes to mind is when star DT Larry Ogunjobi failed his physical test after he agreed to terms with the team. This means that the Bears have lost out on their two biggest free-agent target so far...
GM Ryan Poles will now have to pull a rabbit out of his hat in order to build a solid offensive line to protect young stud QB Justin Fields. Of course, the Bears are most likely in a mini "rebuild", but they still have to do everything in their power to protect Fields. If you want him to be able to develop into the player we think he can become, this is the true priority at the moment. Poles will have to decide if he wants to attack this issue through the draft, through free agency or even both. As we speak, Teven Jenkins and Larry Borom project to play the two offensive tackle positions, though it remains unclear what the exact plans for each player are at this point. We believe Lucas Patrick will play the center position and Cody Whitehair will fill out one of the guard positions. As for the open spot, let's hope Ryan Poles brings in a player because we don't have a legitimate candidate currently on the roster.
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