Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake stood at the podium in the Jimmy Cribb Press Room, his answer already nearing 45 seconds long.
“How long is this?” Lake asked. “I can just keep going. Do you want me to just keep going?”
The question pertained to what makes Falcons safety Jessie Bates III special. Lake finished around a minute after he started speaking, offering a plethora of reasons in support of Bates.
Falcons head coach Raheem Morris needs only one sentence.
“I say it all the time: he’s the Defensive Player of the Year, in my opinion,” Morris said.
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No safety has won the NFL’s top defensive honor since Pittsburgh Steelers great Troy Polamalu in 2010. Earning consideration alone puts Bates into an elite tier.
But after another two-takeaway performance, his second of the season, in last Sunday’s 31-26 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with first place in the NFC South on the line, Bates continues to state his case amongst the sport’s elite layers.
Yet Lake, Atlanta’s first-year defensive play caller hired this spring, only needed a few offseason film sessions to see as much.
“Just watching some plays where I’m like, ‘How did he find the angle to go get that ball? How did he do that?'” Lake said. “And then to get into the workings of what they were calling last year and how he went about it, I was like, ‘Okay, that’s above the neck stuff only he could do and maybe a rare few people.’
“And so, it’s endless, the traits he possesses and the work ethic he has.”
The 27-year-old Bates has five takeaways this season — three forced fumbles and a pair of interceptions — after recording six interceptions in 2023, third-most in the NFL.
But Bates’ production isn’t by happenstance.
Lake said he constantly sees Bates in the film room watching tape in his down time — he has two iPads, one for notes and the other for game footage. When the Falcons are in team meetings, Bates routinely asks quality questions. Bates holds defensive back-specific meetings on Tuesdays, when even coaches aren’t in the building.
“He prepares like a professional, but even more than a professional,” Lake said. “He is top-notch, his preparation and his talent.”
Preparation breeds success. Since entering the league in 2018 as a third-round pick out of Wake Forest, Bates has 22 interceptions, fifth-most among all players.
Bates has also grown proficient at executing the “peanut punch,” an ode to 13-year NFL cornerback Charles Tillman, who forced 44 fumbles during his career. The punch consists of a clean stab at the ball, which has helped Bates force three fumbles this season, tied for the career-high he set last year.
Such ball production is special, said Lake, who played defensive back at Eastern Washington University from 1995-98 and has coached the position for nearly two decades.
Bates’s skill set extends beyond ball skills. Lake added Bates has a nose for the ball, can pull the ball out of the sky, is able to force fumbles and has the command to properly align his teammates if the coaching staff didn’t correctly teach a certain play.
How uniquely special is Bates? Lake said the only other player with a similar skill set who he’s been around is Ronde Barber, who’s in the Hall of Fame.
“Jessie Bates is up there, No. 1, in terms of one of the best safeties I’ve ever been around,” Lake said. “He is extremely smart, extremely ball-aware — an extension of the coaching staff on the field, in terms of how smart he is.
“He’s a special player. Ronde Barber is now enshrined in the Hall of Fame. So, that’s what type of level of play Jessie Bates is playing at right now.”
Lake added he sees things from Bates on film each week that he’s never seen before. It doesn’t hurt that he has plenty of plays to look at.
The 27-year-old Bates has been on the field for every defensive snap the Falcons have played this season. He missed only six snaps last season.
A team captain, Bates has grown as reliable on the field as he is off it — to the extent he’s ascended atop the leadership hierarchy on Atlanta’s defense despite being only 18 months into his Falcons tenure.
“He’s just a playmaker,” cornerback A.J. Terrell told Atlanta Falcons on SI after Week 8. “The leader of our defense. He comes in every day, week in, week out, with the leadership that gets us all right. Make sure we all the on same page. He’s a dog.
“Every week, you’ve always got to circle him on everything on film and make sure you know where he’s at, because he’s always making a play.”
When Lake was asked about Bates after Thursday’s practice, Lake said the two-time All-Pro safety made a pair of impressive plays during that session alone.
By now, it’s merely who Bates is.
Falcons assistant head coach/defense Jerry Gray said Atlanta has a takeaway circuit, encouraging competition and urgency for interceptions and other plays on the ball. But Bates doesn’t need any inspiration.
Why?
He’s chasing game-changing plays.
“He knows, ‘I want to go get the football,'” Gray said. “And if he finds a guy that’s loose with the ball, he’s going to try to get it out every time. Most guys are satisfied with making tackles. He wants to make the big play, and he’s not afraid to go do that.
“It’s a plus for us because he keeps making the plays that we need him to make at the proper time.”
Morris said Bates makes a significant play every week. Some, like his interception and forced fumble against the Buccaneers or game-sealing interception at the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2, are easily illuminated.
Others, such as his pass breakup in the endzone to save four points earlier against Philadelphia or breaking up a pass intended for Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce in Week 3, aren’t as straightforward to spot.
Then, there’s the work done in the dark.
Bates is a valued leader in Atlanta’s locker room, someone who serves as a sounding board for quarterback Kirk Cousins and is a central piece to the team’s player-led culture.
After the Falcons beat Tampa Bay in Week 8, Bates addressed the team, discussing what the Falcons want to do moving forward, how they want to handle their business and what their preparation will look like to accomplish their goals.
Bates, however, hasn’t always been comfortable in these settings with the Falcons. He was a captain for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2021 and was lauded as a high-level leader when he signed a four-year, $64.02 million deal with Atlanta in the spring of 2023, but his voice didn’t immediately translate.
New to the organization at the time, Gray said Bates felt the need to prove he was as good as his contract implied. He quickly proved that, earning NFC Defensive Player of the Week after recording three takeaways against the Carolina Panthers during his first game with the Falcons in Week 1 of 2023.
Bates continued living up to expectations throughout the season and began embracing a larger leadership role in the process. He expects himself to be good, but he’s trying to elevate those around him, be it through communication or merely doing what’s needed of them.
Still not the most talkative, Bates doesn’t seek out attention. However, when he feels the need to speak up, he will.
“When there’s something that needs to go on, he will say his piece,” Gray said. “He’ll talk about, ‘Hey, how are we going to do this? How are we going to do that?'”
And for this — the highlight plays, leadership and multi-screen iPad setup — NFL Defensive Player of the Year buzz for Bates is picking up around Atlanta’s locker room. Just ask Morris.
“I’m a little bit [biased] on that one because I watch him play every single day and every single week and [know] how he studies and how he approaches the game,” Morris said. “But for him to continue to show up in the biggest moments when you’re not playing as well or how you want to play exactly on defense …
“Man, he’s unbelievable. He’s a freak.”
Though not necessarily loud or demonstrative, Bates brings intellect, playmaking and energy that rubs off on his Falcons teammates, said third-year outside linebacker Arnold Ebiketie.
He is, perhaps by definition, the total package — one of a few descriptive terms the Falcons used to describe Bates.
“I would think people now know he’s the best safety in the league,” Cousins said.
Morris went a step further.
“I kid him, mess with him all the time — I say he’s the best defensive player in the National Football League,” Morris said.
The Falcons enter November leading the NFC South despite ranking last in the NFL in sacks with six and spending much of the first half of the season looking for an offensive identity.
At 5-3, Atlanta is still trying to put all the pieces to its personal puzzle together. But as the Falcons find themselves, Bates is steering their proverbial boat down a playoff path that hasn’t been explored in six years.
Extraordinary? Perhaps for some — but to the Falcons, that’s Bates’s expectation.
“He just makes timely plays, and he’s one of those people that just needs the ball, not just wants it,” Morris said. “And he goes out and he finds ways to be productive every single week, and it’s really amazing.”
