Rookie progress report: John Bates
Checking in with how Washington's rookie tight end John Bates is developing.
One of the few bright spots from Washington’s terrible loss to the Cowboys on Sunday was rookie tight end John Bates. His stats might not necessarily stand out, he had just two catches but did gain 45 yards and a touchdown on those two catches. But he wasn’t necessarily drafted to be a hugely impactful receiver at tight end. He was drafted with developing his blocking potential in mind. With injuries to the tight end position, Bates has been forced into more action lately and is starting to show signs of positive development.
Many of his best blocks came on passing plays. Bates wouldn’t often just block a defender straight up in pass protection, but he’d stay in to help on play-action passes and can be used as a blocker in space.
On this play, Washington uses what is effectively a play-action bootleg, but from the shotgun. The team fakes a run to the left with Bates peeling off to the right in the flat and receiver Dax Milne sifting back across the line behind him. The ball gets thrown to Milne with Bates already in the flat. Bates immediately turns his mind to blocking and engages with the linebacker that followed him to the flat. Bates drives the linebacker backwards and creates a path for Milne to follow on his way to a 14-yard gain.
It was a strong block by Bates, who drove the linebacker back significantly and enabled Milne to pick up a first down because of the block. Bates was at his most effective as a blocker when used in pass protection on play-action passes.
On this play, Bates motions from the left of the formation to the right. He then identifies the defensive end as his block on the edge. Washington fakes the run and then Taylor Heinicke drops back to pass. Bates initially shoves the defensive end outside as the defender transitions to his pass rush. Bates then slides back and ensures he gets his hands back on the defender. It’s not a perfect block, but a tight end wouldn’t be expected to perfectly stonewall a defensive end on a pass rush. However, Bates is able to do enough to force the defender wide and then run him beyond the quarterback without any pressure surrendered. That is all a team could ask of a tight end in that situation.
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