The headline of the latest item regarding Chargers defensive end Joey Bosa in the San Diego Union-Tribune calls his contractual situation a “holdout,” but there’s nothing from which he’s currently holding out. The Chargers, like all teams, remain in the dead spot between the offseason program and training camp, and the fact that Bosa’s contract is missing his signature doesn’t mean he’s missing anything.
Still, the non-holdout becomes a holdout if training camp opens and Bosa hasn’t signed. Michael Gehlken of the Union-Tribune writes that Bosa was in San Diego for a Saturday autograph-signing session, but that the third overall pick in the draft declined to speak to the media. According to his representatives, Bosa won’t be talking until he signs his rookie deal.
So why hasn’t he signed his rookie deal? Bosa reportedly has dug in on the topic of offsets and cash flow, two of the only items that can still be negotiated under the rookie wage scale adopted five years ago. With the four-year rookie deals now fully guaranteed at the top of the draft, some players want to keep all the money in the event they’re cut, and also to pocket whatever they make elsewhere. The teams want credit for money made elsewhere during the balance of the four years, as an offset.
Cash flow quietly has become nearly as important, with agents pushing for signing bonus money to be paid out sooner and teams trying to hold some of it for upwards of a year.
For Bosa, the problem is believed to be both. And with the Chargers needing to start the season strong in order to enhance their chances of winning an election on which a new stadium in San Diego is hinging, the thinking apparently is that the team will blink before Bosa does.
Given the circumstances, the team should consider blinking. Far bigger issues are at play than the manner in which the mess will be mopped up if Bosa is a bust. The Chargers need Bosa in the fold, and they should consider giving him what he wants a cost of doing business in one of the most critical seasons this specific business has ever faced.