$3.3 million is the cost of a 2nd round tender.
$2.2 million is the cost of the tender the Bills gave Bates.
For $1M more, the Bears or Vikings would have had to send the Bills a 2nd round pick to sign him. Which probably wouldn’t happen. So we would have him in 2022 for $3.3M.
Perhaps this is one of the many reasons why he is an NFL gm and I am not, but I find it hard to reconcile that he would want the player on the team at $2.3 million, but not $3.3 million?
The difference is so slight that it doesn’t make sense to me.