on march 13, 2018, bates participated at wake forest's pro day and performed the bench press and short shuttle (4.25s). he attended pre-draft visits with multiple teams, including the tennessee titans, pittsburgh steelers, detroit lions, and carolina panthers. at the conclusion of the pre-draft process, bates was projected to a second or third round pick by nfl draft experts and scouts. he was ranked as the third best free safety prospect in the draft by draftscout.com, the fourth best safety in the draft by nfl analyst mike mayock, and was also ranked as the fifth best safety by sports illustrated.