Orchard Park, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Buffalo Bills have agreed to trade offensive lineman Ryan Bates to the Chicago Bears for a firth-round pick in next month's NFL Draft, the teams announced on Monday night.
The trade will become official once the new league year begins on March 13.
Bates is a versatile lineman, and has been the Bills' backup at several positions over his five years with the team.
The 27-year-old has played 73 games for the Bills, starting 19 of them. He’s mainly an interior swingman, but able to play all five positions in a pinch.
That versatility always hurt his chances to be a starter since the team loved him being able to come off the bench for anyone, if needed.
Bates’ salary cap number was schedule to be $5.44 million in 2024, a steep price for a player who only played 35 total snaps last year because the group stayed so healthy. However, he was also a terrific insurance policy.
The Bears had actually tried to acquire Bates during the 2022 offseason by signing him to a four-year offer sheet worth $17 million that the Bills matched.
Due to restructuring of his contract, the Bills will only clear $1.4 million of salary cap space with the move. They'll take on a little over $4 million of dead cap money.
The team also has Alec Anderson on the roster, a 24-year-old who is very similar to Bates as far as versatility. He will cost less than $1 million on the salary cap in 2024.
