2022 NFL salary cap: What will Ryan Bates command on the open market?

The Buffalo Bills inserted Ryan Bates into the lineup late in the 2021 regular season and didn’t look back, benching their other guards when healthy and allowing the former UDFA to continue justifying his spot in the starting lineup. Now Bates is a Restricted Free Agent, and the Bills have some decisions to make.

An RFA tender at his original round wouldn’t net any draft pick compensation for Buffalo, but they would get the chance to match the deal. In order to even get that, they would need to tender him at a one-year, $2.433 million contract. If Buffalo wanted a draft pick for him, they would need to offer him nearly $4 million in salary for 2022 and receive a second-round pick if he…