Card: Classic 1993
Acquired: In Person 1993, Dallas Cowboys training camp

I got Patrick’s autograph his rookie season with the Raiders when he was drafted by the then Los Angeles Raiders as a Junior in the first round of the 1993 Draft. A member of  Texas A&M with Kevin Smith and the “Wrecking Crew”, Bates was a hard hitting specimen coming out of college and from the #1 college defense.

In his first season Patrick was not allowed to start, (something that would get his ire) but would post an interception and 16 tackles. The coaches then kept playing with the lineup in 1994 when he started 9 games, recovering 2 fumbles and made 53 tackles. Bates was miserable however, (claiming it was because of he was unsatisfied with first contract, and how things were done in the organization,) and quit after the 1995 preseason, sitting out the entire season. It was reported the Cowboys and Falcons really wanted him, and so during the 1996 draft, the Raiders traded Bates to the Atlanta Falcons. He’d last one season there before a bizarre incident where he was charged with assaulting his pregnant girlfriend, kidnapping his child, and pistol whipping the mother of the baby, got him cut by the team.  Afterwards he tried a comeback in 1998 with of all teams – the Raiders, but it was short lived as he failed the physical because of a fractured dislocation of the elbow.

Patrick did have a difficult life, losing both his parents and his grandmother and a brother before he was 21, but he tried to own up to it, and was thankful for his foster family who raised him. He got homesick after he lost his grandmother and transferred from UCLA to Texas A&M to be closer to his family.  Unfortunately Patrick Bates goes down as another in a long line of drafting disasters by the Silver and Black organization and harshly in 2008 was ranked # 37 on ESPN’s greatest draft busts. At last glance, in 2006  he was living in the Houston area and was a fan of the Houston Texans, approving of the team’s signing of Gary Kubiak as head coach- however at this time where he is remains to be seen. As a fan I really wish for Patrick’s well being and the best.

Games 18    Tac  106    Sac 0     Fum 3
Int 1     Yds 0     Avg -.-      Td 0       Lg 0