A Chiefs fan’s guide to the NFL Draft: The Safeties
Jessie Bates – Wake Forest – 6’1″ – 200 pounds
Before I even say a word about Jessie Bates, let me put in a preemptive strike before Justin Reid fans flood the comment section. I love Justin Reid. I think he’d be perfect for the Chiefs. I like him so much I simply don’t think there’s any way he makes it to the Chiefs. If they were to trade up for him I would love the idea of him as a Chief. However, because I think the Chiefs have several positions to address, I think they would be better off saving the draft picks they would have to use to trade up and stay put—especially if they could land someone like Jessie Bates from Wake Forest.
Bates has the length, speed, and game tape to be a prime candidate to play free safety next to Eric Berry. Bates had a good 4.5 second 40-yard dash time at the NFL combine and, perhaps just as important, he was among the best safety times in both the three cone drill and the 20 yard shuttle showing the agility and change of direction needed to stick with guys in coverage and react to what he sees on the field. While he’s NOT a physically dominant safety I think he might be one of (if not the best) pure coverage free safeties in this draft. It’s not that he’s not a willing tackler, he is. He just isn’t a physically powerful stopper like a lot of the other safeties in this class are. I just love his coverage upside.
Here is Bates reading the route of an approaching receiver. He reacts fast enough and has enough closing speed to break to the outside and get the pass deflection.
Jessie Bates has some abnormal man coverage skills for most college safeties. Shows a nice fluid backpedal and quickly transitions on the corner route to get underneath the WR. Shows the ability to track the ball over his shoulder to deflect the pass pic.twitter.com/zrYjcOvzyp
— Matt Lane (@Matty_KCSN) March 14, 2018
Here’s another example of Bates having the reaction skills, closing speed, and reach to break up what would have been an easy touchdown in the red zone.
#WakeForest Safety Jessie Bates showing range and ball tracking to break up the would be touchdown #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/ZyU52NLEGR
— Brian Johannes (@Draft_Brian) March 17, 2018
Bates would make a great compliment to Eric Berry and if the Chiefs are going to enter the season with some question marks at cornerback it would be great to have a safety on the back end like Bates to help pick up some of the slack. I won’t be shocked if he is already off the board when the Chiefs pick, but if he’s there I think he’d be a great second round pick.
There is one other safety I like in the second round for the Chiefs.