Jessie Bates ‘as good as gone’ from Bengals, per insider

For more than a year, it has seemed obvious that 2022 was the last season of Jessie Bates wearing Cincinnati Bengals stripes.

Bates played on the franchise tag last season and had some blunt comments about the reality of his situation in free agency this offseason — as much as he wants to stay with the Bengals, he can’t turn down a massive increase in pay from another team.