Houston Bates suffered a torn ACL late in the 2016 campaign. He was initially listed as one of four players on the PUP list to start training camp. Due to the severity of his injury, he failed his physical, and the Redskins had no choice other than to free up his roster spot for 2017. A return in 2018 will not be ruled out for Bates, but he certainly has an uphill battle ahead of him.
Bates was a serviceable special teams contributor in his time with the Redskins, but when asked to contribute on defense as an edge rusher, he too often proved to lack the adequate size, speed, and athleticism for the role.