FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Jessie Bates III is a rule breaker, and it kind of drives Kirk Cousins nuts.
“Jessie’s unique in the calculated risks he’ll take or the aggressiveness he’ll play with at times,” the Atlanta Falcons’ offensive leader said of his counterpart on defense. “He’s going to break rules, and he kind of gets in your head a little bit because of that. He had that effect sometimes in training camp, going against him, that, ‘OK, a normal safety would do this, but I don’t know that he’s going to do that. How do I factor that into my plan here?’”
Cousins, the Falcons’ quarterback, is talking about on-field rules and how Bates manipulates them to his advantage, but there’s an off-the-field, unwritten rule that Bates’ teammates think he should also break this year — the one that says safeties are no longer part of the NFL Defensive Player of the Year conversation.
It’s not so much a rule as a reality. Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu is the last safety to be named Defensive Player of the Year, and that was in 2010. Since then, only two safeties have finished in the top seven of the voting — Earl Thomas (third in 2013) and Landon Collins (third in 2016).
Polamalu was a rule breaker, says Cousins, and so was Baltimore great Ed Reed (the 2004 DPOY). Cousins faced both in his rookie season, studying film on Polamalu as Robert Griffin III’s backup and then throwing two passes, including a touchdown, in Washington’s 31-28 win over the Ravens in 2012.
“Jessie reminds me of the Polamalus or the Ed Reeds where you say, ‘He’s not supposed to be there, you know?’ The rules that say he’s not. This is a fast game, I’ve got to go off those (offensive) rules. I’m not going to see all 11 all the time, and then suddenly he’s there and you think, ‘Oh, that was — that’s really smart.’ Not many safeties do that because of the risky nature of it, but when you’ve done enough film study and you know football well enough and you feel like you can do it, those are the guys that really can keep you up at night a little bit. I remember my rookie year, Kyle Shanahan talking about Ed Reed and how it’s like, ‘This guy’s just different, he’s just going to be.’”
Bates is different, too, has been since college, said Falcons wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud III. They met annually at Clemson (McCloud) or Wake Forest (Bates).
“You have to be intentional about things you do when you are playing him because he’s very strategic in how he plays,” McCloud said. “He might play one play on one drive one way just to set something up for the next. Same thing we do offensively. We might run a curl just to run a curl and pump later on, but he does it defensively and he does it very well.”
He does it so well that his teammates are hoping award voters notice at the end of the season. Safety Justin Simmons, who joined the Falcons this offseason as a free agent and has made two Pro Bowls at the position, got the conversation started two weeks ago with a social media post after Bates forced a critical fumble in Atlanta’s 36-30 win over Tampa Bay.
Jessie is playing at DPOY level right now. Want to make sure what he did on Thursday night isn’t being swept under the rug because of that outstanding ending from Red and the O.
He’s him.
Still ain’t letting him beat me in INTs this year lol 🤝🏼😂
— Justin Simmons (@jsimms1119) October 5, 2024
“The (game-tying) field goal wouldn’t have necessarily happened if Jessie doesn’t get the punch out,” Simmons said. “There was an exchange there where we saved three points. That was a game-saving play, and I just think it was important to note.”
The 4-2 Falcons will have to keep winning and Bates will have to make more momentum-swinging plays to be a serious candidate, but his trajectory at the moment warrants the conversation, Simmons said.
Bates is third on the Falcons in tackles with 43 and has added one interception (which ended Philadelphia’s final drive in Atlanta’s “Monday Night Football” win in Week 2), three passes defended and two forced fumbles.
“I don’t know how they do their little deal when they’re giving out awards and stuff, but Jessie is playing his ass off,” Falcons safety Richie Grant said. “If he stays on this track, he’ll have a pretty good argument to get that award.”
NFL awards voting often turns on more than just one season’s work, Falcons linebacker Nate Landman said, and Bates checks that box.
“Most guys don’t win it just having one good year,” Landman said. “You have to look at the whole body of work and build up to your best year. That’s what you have to do with Jessie. He single-handedly won games for us last year. He’s doing that again this year.”
Bates signed a four-year, $64 million free-agency contract in the 2023 offseason. In his first year in Atlanta, he had a team-high 132 tackles, a career-high six interceptions, 11 passes defended and three forced fumbles and ranked third among all defensive backs in splash plays, according to TruMedia’s tracking.
“I’ve played defensive back and I’ve coached defensive backs and defense for a long time, and Jessie Bates is No. 1 in terms of one of the best safeties I’ve ever been around,” Falcons first-year defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake said. “When I first took this job and was watching film from last year, I’m like, ‘How did he find the angle to go get that ball? How did he do that?’ Now get into the workings of what they were calling last year and talking about how he went about it, I was like, ‘OK, that’s stuff that only he could do and maybe a rare few people.’ It’s endless, the traits that he possesses and then the work ethic that he has. … I can just keep going. Every week I’m watching film and I have to go, ‘Wow, I haven’t seen that before.’ This is incredible stuff that he’s putting on tape.”
The Bengals, who drafted Bates in the second round in 2018 and employed him through the 2022 season, certainly miss him. In Bates’ final two seasons in Cincinnati, the Bengals were seventh in the NFL in defensive expected points added (4.1 per 100 snaps), 10th in scoring defense (21.2 ppg allowed) and 11th in defensive success rate (59 percent). In the two seasons since, they are 29th in EPA (minus-2.9 per 100 snaps), 24th in scoring defense (23.3 ppg allowed) and 31st in defensive success rate (54.8 percent).
“He has a special knack for finding the ball which is really what it’s about, offense, defense, special teams, it’s all about the ball,” Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said. “That doesn’t happen by accident, so that type of effort has to be recognized, but at the same time, things like awards and stuff like that, I think Jessie will tell you all the stuff will take care of itself.”
Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt, the 2021 Defensive Player of the Year, is the frontrunner for the award again this year. Watt leads the NFL in defensive splash plays, a number that includes his 4 1/2 sacks and three forced fumbles.
Former Falcons head coach and current Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith compared Watt to Bates after Pittsburgh’s 18-10 win over Atlanta in Week 1 of this season. Smith said he didn’t call any throws to the middle of the field for his quarterback because he was so worried about Bates making a game-changing play.
The coach, a devotee of thriller novels, described his thinking this way: “Don’t let their best player wreck the game. I don’t know why more people don’t know about (Bates), but he’s arguably one of the top players in the league. Sometimes it’s just very practical. Our Jason Bourne, T.J. Watt, wrecked the game. Theirs didn’t, and that’s kind of what the story of the game really was.”
Defensive linemen and outside linebackers who essentially play on the line of scrimmage have dominated the DPOY award of late, winning it in nine of the last 10 seasons.
“The way it is now, it seems to always be a D-end,” Bates conceded. “I feel like if you’re a safety and you’re going to win Defensive Player of the Year, you have to have all the stat lines. You have to have the D-line stat line, you got to have the DB stat line and the linebacker stat line.”
Bates, who has yet to record a sack with the Falcons, is tied for 48th among defensive backs in splash plays this season, according to TruMedia. Teammate Mike Hughes has more (12).
JESSIE BATES III SEALS THE IMPROBABLE FALCONS WIN. #ATLvsPHI pic.twitter.com/ukPLS3LjT8
— NFL (@NFL) September 17, 2024
That doesn’t tell the story of his value, though, according to his teammates. Hence, Simmons’ subtle suggestion that people should be paying attention.
“He’s got the cleanest eyes. As an instinctual player, I always think that’s what separates players,” Landman said. “His instincts are next level. I don’t think you see another guy playing with those instincts, feeling things. Obviously it’s in his preparation, but there’s some stuff you can’t coach, you can’t see in a film room that he’s just got, and you wouldn’t know it if you weren’t on the field.”
Bates calls making the critical but often unnoticed defensive contributions “the life of a safety.”
“You’re the quarterback of the defense,” he said. “You’re helping guys get lined up, but all that stuff doesn’t really show up on the stat line. I can make a call and get us in a better situation and the corner makes a play. When it is your turn to make that play, you have to make it.”
The Seahawks (3-3), who visit Atlanta on Sunday, are an unfamiliar opponent for Bates. He has played them only once, a 21-20 Seattle win over Cincinnati in 2019. The Seahawks should give Bates plenty of opportunities to add to his award candidacy this year. Seattle has passed more times (251) than any other team this season.
“It’s pretty cool to see people recognize (my play), but at the end of the day I just want to win,” Bates said. “People can be hyping you up and hyping you up and then one game can humble you in this league and the next thing you know you’re the worst safety ever. I’ve been on both ends of that. The goal is just being that same player every time.”
(Top photo: Bob Donnan / Imagn Images)
