Photo: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Raquell Williams. Public domain; cropped portrait. License.
Jessie Bates III joined a new franchise on November 9, 2026, when Jacksonville announced a trade for the Atlanta safety, pending a physical. The Jaguars highlighted his record as a playmaker and the character he would bring to their team. His own public explanations of that character have repeatedly led back to his mother, Theresa.
Theresa, identified as Theresa Ladd in an official Falcons player biography and Theresa Trotter in a team feature, raised Bates as a single mother in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He has credited her with shaping his work ethic, organization and willingness to help other families.
Detailed, dependable information about his biological father is not established in the sources reviewed. It would be inaccurate to assign a name or personal history simply because Bates carries the suffix III.
Here is what is documented about his mother’s influence and how it became part of his football career and community work.
Who is Theresa, Jessie Bates’ mother?
Theresa worked multiple jobs while raising her children. In an extended Falcons interview, she and Bates described a household in which keeping track of responsibilities was essential. Her use of a planner helped her manage work, school and sports commitments.
Bates noticed that attention to detail. He later adopted similar habits, using extensive notes and carefully organized preparation in football. The connection he described was practical: the planning he saw at home became a method he could use in his own career.
His mother also remained involved after he entered the NFL. She encouraged him when he fell behind on responsibilities early in his professional life and gave him personalized planners. The gifts connected his adult routines with the example he had watched growing up.
Official sources use both Ladd and Trotter for her surname. Reporting her first name alongside that distinction is more accurate than treating those references as two different mothers.
Bates also made his appreciation permanent through a tattoo of Theresa’s name and birthday on his wrist. In a Falcons feature about his tattoos, he recalled showing it to her after a memorable Wake Forest game in Indiana in 2016. The tribute was a reminder that a successful day on the field rested on years of work at home.
His family support reached beyond one person. Bengals reporting described aunts and grandmothers helping with schoolwork and transportation to practices. That network gave structure to a busy childhood and helps explain why his own community programs pay attention to practical needs as well as special experiences.
What has been confirmed about his father and siblings?
Bates has spoken publicly about being raised in a single-parent household. That is the relevant confirmed circumstance. It does not establish every detail about his father’s life, relationship with the family or reasons for not being the parent who raised him.
Some online family trees provide additional names and sibling counts, but the available accounts are inconsistent. His older sister Aaliyah is named in the Falcons’ reporting. A complete list should not be assembled by merging conflicting biography pages.
The emphasis in Bates’ own account is on Theresa’s presence and example. That can be described without supplying unverified details about relatives who have not made their lives public.
How did his upbringing inspire support for single mothers?
After Cincinnati drafted him in 2018, Bates and Theresa discussed the impact he wanted to have away from football. Their conversations helped produce the JB3 Single Mother’s Initiative, which supports mothers and children through experiences and practical assistance.
When he signed with Atlanta in 2023, Bates announced a plan to donate $1 million over four years to organizations helping single mothers in Atlanta and Fort Wayne. That was a pledge made at that time, rather than a verified claim here that the full amount has already been distributed.
Theresa took part in the programs herself. During a 2022 weekend in Cincinnati, she hosted participating families in the family suite at a Bengals game. Her involvement made the work a shared family project, connecting the mother whose experience inspired it with parents facing similar responsibilities.
He also became a father in 2023, welcoming son Jessie Bates IV. The experience gave him another perspective on Theresa’s responsibilities. He has described wanting to offer his own child the same sense of love and dependable presence.
The move to Jacksonville changes the team on his professional record. His public family account remains centered on the mother whose example shaped his preparation, leadership and service to families with experiences like his own.
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