The strong decays of the $P$-wave $\Sigma_b$, $\Xi_b'$ and $\Omega_b$ baryons are investigated with a constituent quark model in the $j$-$j$ coupling scheme. The results show that the newly observed $\Sigma_b(6097)$ and $\Xi_b(6227)$ states by the LHCb collaboration can be assigned as the $\lambda$-mode $P$-wave singly bottom baryons. Given the heavy quark symmetry, both the $\Sigma_b(6097)$ and $\Xi_b(6227)$ states favor the light spin $j=2$ states with spin-parity numbers $J^P=3/2^-$ or $J^P=5/2^-$. More $P$-wave singly bottom baryons are most likely to be observed in future experiments for their relatively narrow width.