The Jacksonville Jaguars took care of a big need when they traded for safety Jessie Bates III one day before the November 10 deadline. While the interior defensive line was arguably a more pressing issue, Bates will give the secondary a massive boost.
Sure, Jacksonville had to give up a 2027 second-round pick and a 2028 fifth-round pick in exchange for Bates, but he'll fill the void Eric Murray's season-ending injury left in the secondary.
You could make the case that Jacksonville didn't need to trade for Bates because Antonio Johnson and Rayuan Lane III are in the mix. However, head coach Liam Coen just explained why it was an opportunity the Jags couldn't pass on.
Liam Coen explains why the Jaguars traded for Jessie Bates
Liam Coen met with the local media after the Jessie Bates trade. He stated that the Jags are getting a playmaker and a big locker-room presence, noting that he's heard nothing but good things about the veteran safety.
"Yeah, the playmaker that he is, competed against them twice a year in Atlanta, there in Tampa, so much impact on a game, right?" Coen told reporters in the aftermath of the trade. "He punched out balls against us, critical interceptions, had 14 tackles yesterday. Then the human being and the competitor that we look at thinks that it'll be a really good fit in the locker room, culturally."
Coen continued, "The amount of text messages I've received from people that have been around him, coached him, been in the building with him, all I've heard is that he makes people around him better. Will be an immediate football character, high football character type guy. So that's kind of what made it very appealing."
For context, Coen had to game plan for Bates twice in 2024, when he was the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Later in the exchange, the second-year head coach stated that Jacksonville didn't make the trade to address a need but rather looked at the big picture after losing Eric Murray for the season.
"Yeah, it wasn't quite as much self-scout these few days. It was a little bit more of a big-picture overview kind of thing from that standpoint, so it wasn't necessarily like a coming-to-Jesus moment where you're like, 'Oh, the secondary'; it was more just over the span of the season, and obviously losing Eric, and I think Kaevon and Rayuan, and those guys have filled in really nicely for us, and the opportunity to get, arguably, a top-5 player at this position to continue to help us evolve and ascend was the whole point of it all," Coen said.
A second-round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2018, Bates bolted for the Atlanta Falcons in 2023. Throughout his career, he's appeared in 139 games with the same amount of starts, registering 28 interceptions, 14 forced fumbles, and 74 passes defensed. Along the way, the former Wake Forest Demon Deacon has picked up one Pro Bowl nod and three Second-Team All-Pro designations.
Related: Trade deadline big board: Latest rumors, team needs, potential targets and more
Jessie Bates gives the Jaguars a game-changer on defense
James Gladstone had previously stated that he wasn't going to make a trade just for the sake of adding talent, noting that he was in the team-building business. And based on Liam Coen's remarks, Jessie Bates III checks all the boxes.
While Bates will go through an acclimation period, he'll surely suit up against the Tennessee Titans, even if he's on a snap count. Of course, the Jags don't have to rush him into the field because they have Antonio Johnson and Rayuan Lane at safety, but it would make sense to get Bates involved even if it's a bit.
The truth is that even without Jessie Bates III, the Jaguars were a contender. With him in the fold, their odds of making a deep playoff push and potentially reaching the Super Bowl just went up.
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