The contract stalemate between the San Diego Chargers and first round pick Joey Bosa is getting worse, and there is no sign of a resolution. The Chargers issued a press release on Wednesday effectively saying they’ve reached a point where they are going to start decreasing the total value in their offer.
Statement from the San Diego Chargers on defensive end Joey Bosa. pic.twitter.com/BayBGeN22x
— San Diego Chargers (@Chargers) August 24, 2016
Until now, the primary issues revolved around signing bonus money and offset language. The Chargers wanted there to be offset language in the deal, and they wanted to defer payment of a sizable chunk of his signing bonus to next year. For those who don’t know, inclusion of offset language means if a player is released and signs elsewhere, that amount offsets whatever guaranteed money the original team owed. If there is no offset language, a player gets that guaranteed money, and he gets whatever new money he signs for elsewhere.
The Chargers have pushed for both of those, citing their team precedent. Bosa’s camp has countered by saying they would do one or the other, not both, citing precedent for top ten picks in the draft. Neither side has budged, and there is no indication either will. We have passed the deadline for the team to trade his rights. The team has I believe 11 weeks into the regular season to work out a deal, after which they cannot attempt to sign him until after the season. If Bosa does not sign between now and the 2017 NFL Draft, he goes back into the draft, the Chargers lose out on their No. 3 pick from this year, and cannot draft him again.
Some fans are going to come down on Bosa, in part because some fans are always inclined to side with the team in a holdout. However, the Chargers are looking pretty bad in all this. They have their own precedents, but they’re going against precedent for top draft picks. And given the control they hold over him over the next five years, it’s pretty weak what they’re doing.
From all indications, financially Bosa is in a position where he can sit out the season and go back in next year. That is not always the case with rookies, but he could be one example where he can fight this thing out to the end. I would have liked to see what kind of challenge he would present to the 49ers next week, and what he could do for an awful Chargers defense, but odds seem to be increasing that we won’t see any of that.