With Friday's deadline for a long-term deal approaching, Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates III shared his first tweet since March.
"STAY DOWN. STAY GROUNDED. #JustBelieve" Bates tweeted.
The Bengals placed the franchise tag on Bates in March. NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reported late last week that there wasn't a lot of optimism that the Bengals and Bates, 25, will bridge the gap between the tag number of about $13 million and the top of the safety market - in excess of $18 million.
Bates, who has played his first four NFL seasons in Cincinnati, joined Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and cornerback Chidobe Awuzie in Las Vegas last week for UFC 276. All three met Israel Adesanya, who defeated Jared Cannonier in the main event.
Burrow showed support for Bates in June, calling him "exactly the kind of player that I think you want to reward for the work that he's done for the last four years through the ups and the downs."
ESPN's survey of more than 50 league executives, coaches, scouts and players ranked Bates the league's No. 6 overall safety.
Tyler Dragon of USA TODAY Sports reported in May that Bates hadn't signed the one-year contract, and didn't plan to. Dragon reported that Bates had "no intentions" of playing the 2022 season under the franchise tag.
The Enquirer's Kelsey Conway reported in March that the Bengals’ second-round pick in 2018 changed his agent and hired David Mulugheta of Athletes First to handle his extension process.
"There's some interesting conversations that will be coming up here soon," Bates told "NFL Now" in February. "Hopefully I'll still be a part of that there in Cincinnati. But there's just something special about the group - the young guys that we have in there. There's a lot of good things to come there in Cincinnati whether I'm there or not."
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