{"id":861716,"date":"2026-04-08T22:38:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T22:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/861716\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T22:38:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T22:38:20","slug":"rival-coach-rubs-salt-on-a-wound-bengals-fans-are-still-trying-to-heal-from-thanks-to-cincinnatis-brutal-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/861716\/","title":{"rendered":"Rival coach rubs salt on a wound Bengals fans are still trying to heal from thanks to Cincinnati’s brutal mistake"},"content":{"rendered":"

Atlanta Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski now has Jessie Bates III on his team, and he remembers very clearly how tough it was to call plays against the Cincinnati Bengals when Bates was with his original team.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Feb
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFeb 24, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Atlanta Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski speaks at the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9 Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Cincinnati Bengals have spent most of the last three years trying to replace safety Jessie Bates III. <\/p>\n

First it was Nick Scott and Dax Hill. Then came along Geno Stone and Jordan Battle. Now Bryan Cook and Kyle Dugger have each entered the fray. So much investment has been made to help replace a key figure from Cincinnati\u2019s playoff teams from the start of the decade.<\/p>\n

One former AFC North head coach surely doesn\u2019t miss those days of going up against him, and now he\u2019s got Bates on his new team.<\/p>\n

Kevin Stefanski reminds Bengals fans of who they once had to root for <\/p>\n

Atlanta Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski held the same title with the Cleveland Browns from 2020-25. He witnessed the peak years of Bates making plays for the Bengals, and knows he\u2019s still doing it entering his ninth year in the NFL.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a playcaller, called plays against Jessie Bates when he was there in Cincinnati, he\u2019s a pain in the butt,\u201d Stefanski told ESPN\u2019s Kevin Clark. \u201cHe\u2019s ball aware, he can make plays from that backend, game-changing plays.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stefanski questioned whether or not Bates is an under-the-radar player, to which Clark chimed in a reminder of how fans of his former team feel.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly not in Cincinnati,\u201d Clark said. \u201cBecause Bengals fans are still complaining about letting him walk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark is not wrong, and Bengals fans cannot be blamed. <\/p>\n

Bates\u2019 departure has had its consequences <\/p>\n

Letting Bates walk was a mistake the moment it was deemed inevitable. Cincinnati franchise-tagged the former second-round pick in the 2022 offseason after failing to reach a long-term contract. Both sides tried again later in the year but were at an impasse. <\/p>\n

Bates officially left in the 2023 offseason, and the Bengals\u2019 defense has been struggling ever since. They rank 29th in EPA\/play allowed and 31st in success rate allowed over the last three years. Their struggles at the safety position have been well-documented, and further supported by the numerous additions made to compensate for Bates\u2019 departure. <\/p>\n

Stefanski will get to coach Bates for at least one year. The four-year, $64 million contract Bates signed with Atlanta upon leaving Cincinnati expires next offseason. He will also play against the Bengals sometime during the 2026 regular season, potentially in Madrid. <\/p>\n

Hopefully by then, Cincy\u2019s safety issues are officially a thing of the past, and the scars of Bates leaving are healed. You can draft the Bengals a safety with the A to Z Sports NFL Mock Draft Simulator<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Cincinnati\t\t<\/p>\n

Cincinnati Bengals News<\/p>\n

The Cincinnati Bengals\u2019 plans are becoming more and more clear as the 2026 NFL Draft gets closer. Here\u2019s what I think they\u2019re focusing on with three weeks to go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Atlanta Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski now has Jessie Bates III on his team, and he remembers very…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861717,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[4955,228,227,256,2296,7,6,71731],"class_list":{"0":"post-861716","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-bengals","10":"tag-cincinnati","11":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","12":"tag-cincinnatibengals","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-rueben-bain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116371490836207288","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}