If the Buffalo Bills want to supercharge their defense — which they should — this is certainly one way to accomplish that by the November 10 NFL trade deadline.
ESPN’s Seth Walder proposed a trade on Saturday morning that would bring the Bills 3-time NFL All-Pro safety Jessie Bates III in exchange for a 2027 3rd-round pick and a 2028 6th-round pick.
To make the trade happen, Walder believes the Bills would likely also need the Falcons to convert the rest of Bates’ 2026 salary into a signing bonus.
“The release of C.J. Gardner-Johnson means there is a perfect opening for Bates — one of the game’s best safeties — in Buffalo’s secondary,” Walder wrote. “But the sneaky reason why this could happen? The Falcons have over $109 million of 2027 cap space (most in the NFL), per OverTheCap.com. So they’re almost guaranteed to be active in free agency, which in turn means there’s a chance they wouldn’t get a compensatory pick for Bates (because signings cancel out departures when compensatory picks are distributed). If the Falcons keep Bates through the deadline, the risk they lose him for nothing is high. Buffalo is in the opposite cap situation, so this would be like a short-term signing. But Bates probably would net them something like a fourth-round compensatory pick in 2028 if he signed elsewhere next offseason, significantly softening how much draft capital Buffalo is giving up in this scenario.”
Jessie Bates III: From ACC to Dominant NFL Safety
Bates, 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, was an All-ACC selection at Wake Forest before the Cincinnati Bengals selected him in the 2nd round (No. 54 overall) of the 2018 NFL Draft.
He spent his 1st 5 seasons with the Bengals, including a Super Bowl appearance in 2021 and playing on a $12.9 million franchise tag in 2022, before signing a 4-year, $64 million free-agent contract with the Falcons in March 2023.
While Bates only has 1 Pro Bowl selection, he’s a 3-time All-Pro, including twice in his 3 seasons with the Falcons. The latest came in 2025, when he had 98 tackles, 3 interceptions, 6 pass deflections and 1 interception returned for a touchdown.
Bates is also 1 of the NFL’s most durable players. In 8 NFL seasons, he’s only missed 2 regular-season games.
Buffalo Bills Cut Starting Safety Before Week 9
The Bills had enough of Gardner-Johnson after two months and cut him immediately after he served a 1-game suspension for spitting on Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers in a Week 7 Bills win.
Cutting a proven starter with a 6-1 record usually means a team has a replacement plan in place — for the Bills, that could mean trading for a player like Bates or Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker.
Bills Trade Pitch Lands $84 Million NFL All-Pro Safety