Phil Bates (born September 20, 1989) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL). He was most recently a member of the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

of the

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. He was signed by the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2012. With the Seahawks, he won Super Bowl XLVIII against the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

College career

Bates played

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

and wide receiver from 2007 to 2008. He then transferred to

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

, where he played from 2009 to 2011. He finished his career with 457 passing yards, five passing

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

, 738 rushing yards, three rushing touchdowns, 270 receiving yards, and one receiving touchdown.

Professional career

Seattle Seahawks

Bates was signed by the

after going

undrafted In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in the

2012 NFL Draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

. On September 1, 2014, Bates was waived. He was signed to the Seahawks practice squad on September 9, 2014.

Cleveland Browns

On October 30, 2014, the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

signed Bates to their practice squad. On December 27, 2014, Bates was called up from the Browns practice squad to their active roster for their season finale against the Baltimore Ravens after Josh Gordon was suspended by the team after failing to attend a team walk-through. He was released by the Browns on May 11, 2015.

Dallas Cowboys

Bates was signed by the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

on August 20, 2015. He was released by the Cowboys on September 1, 2015.

Toronto Argonauts

Bates joined the

of the

in the second half of the

2015 CFL season The 2015 CFL season was the 62nd season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 58th Canadian Football League season. The Edmonton Eskimos won the 103rd Grey Cup on November 29, defeating the Ottawa Redblacks 26–20 in Winnipeg ...

. Besides seeing playing time late in the season, he also played in the East Division semi-final loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on November 15, 2015. Bates played in only five of the Argos first 14 games, catching three passes for 20 yards with one touchdown. Following a Week 15 loss the Argos, the front office decided to release four of their wide receivers on the same day including Phil Bates. Reports suggest the four wide receivers were not committed to the Argos and had been a source of division in the locker room for some time.

References

External links

Toronto Argonauts bioSeattle Seahawks bioIowa State Cyclones bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Phil 1989 births Living people Players of American football from Omaha, Nebraska American football wide receivers American football quarterbacks Canadian football wide receivers Iowa State Cyclones football players Ohio Bobcats football players Seattle Seahawks players Cleveland Browns players Toronto Argonauts players Omaha North High School alumni 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople