One of the biggest priorities for the Cincinnati Bengals this summer would likely be an extension for star safety Jessie Bates.
Ask Bates, though, he’s just focused on the on-field aspect while letting his new agent handle the money talks.
Here’s what he told the media after Tuesday’s OTAs, per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:
“I think a lot of guys focus too much on it, but I feel very comfortable with the change that I made. Obviously, I feel like I’m a core piece in Cincinnati. My family is three hours away, so I would love to be here. My main goal is to take that next level that I keep saying as a leader on this team. The money part of it will come. I just want to win. That’s all I care about is winning. The money part of it will come. Not just for me, but for everybody in this program.”
That would seem to make it all pretty clear: Bates wants to stick in Cincinnati for the long-term.
And the Bengals would be wise to make Bates one of the league’s highest-paid safeties — considering he’s already one of the best at his position.
Thanks to some smooth cap handling despite big spending, there isn’t much of a cap hurdle for the Bengals to leap in order to get this done, either. At his current pacing, Bates is a foundational sort of player for a unit and leader of the locker room the team should want to lock down without any hiccups.
