What’s next for Chargers, Bosa?

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As the lava from Wednesday’s unexpected eruption between the Chargers and unsigned defensive end Joey Bosa continues to flow (sorry, Pompeii), the question becomes whether the two sides will find a way to work together before the player’s rookie season is buried in ash.

The two most obvious possibilities go like this: The team caves or the player caves. After Wednesday, that’s far less likely, because a solution that allows each side to save face is now critical, especially from Bosa’s perspective.

With the Chargers firing the first shot via a public statement that vows to reduce dollars and following it up with ownership calling Bosa’s position “absolutely asinine” on the record, the team will need to find a way to undo the slap in the face as part of a compromise.

Compromise continues to be the key word. This gets done when both sides are willing to compromise and resolve their differences.

Some have suggested that the player at some point may decide to take the team’s best offer, and that he will instruct his agents to do so. That’s not expected to happen; the players and his family are upset regarding the way that Bosa has been treated, and Wednesday’s tactics will do nothing to cure that.

So will he really skip the season? Maybe he will.

61 responses to “What’s next for Chargers, Bosa?

  1. The Chargers have handled the situation incredibly poorly, and I don’t think Bosa’s demands, compared to other top 5 contracts since the new CBA, are out of line.

    But, he has no leverage. Sitting out a year isn’t a real option. I’m expecting him to show up for the first game.

  2. Not his fault. I think Spanos might be perhaps the worst owner in the history of football. And to double down and make inflammatory statements about his character? This isn’t ending well.

  3. Remember how the Chargers thought they were so clever by sending out smokescreens about how they were going to pick a whole bunch of other players, and the post-draft backslapping on their part about how nobody knew they were going to pick Bosa?

    Remember how that was completely pointless anyway, because the Rams and Eagles had both traded up and it was obvious that Goff/Wentz were going 1/2 so the Chargers didn’t have to avoid the guy they wanted (in fact, it made sense to entertain various prospects including Bosa, if they wanted to maximize interest in the pick)?

    Bet they’re feeling really clever now.

  4. To the Bolts management: keep doing what you’ve been doing as establishing those team precedents have really worked well for us….

    – The rest of the AFC West

  5. If the Chargers continue to be cheap… I hope he does sit the year and re-enter . He might lose money up front but he will make it up by not having to deal with the chargers in the future.

  6. If I were Bosa, I would take their offer and then work as hard as I possibly can to become a great player. Then I would leave the first chance I got to be a free agent and I would tell everyone that the reason was because of the pitiful way the Chargers handled this rookie contract.

  7. If what the chargers are claiming is true, and they did offer to pay 85% of his signing bonus immediately, then Bosa and his agent should have compromised and accepted the deal. That being said, the chargers also need to find a way to compromise. I don’t understand how revoking the deal, and publicly stating that the next contract offer will be even lower, will help this situation in any way. I mean, how does an NFL team even get into a situation like this with a top 5 draft pick in this era? The rookie wage scale pretty much sets the dollar amount for each draft position. All these teams have to do is work out relatively minor details, and get the players to sign on the dotted line.

    If I’m Bosa, I might seriously think about sitting out the season and going back into next years draft. Why would he even want to play for the chargers after the way they’ve handled this?

  8. I think Bosa realized in OTAs and Minicamp that he was getting easily manhandled, having to take on the double team that allows the ILBs to roam. He undoubtedly wanted to run free on the edge to rack up Sacks and probably saw this as a danger to his stats and therefore future earnings potential. Knowing this, his failure to report to camp until the last minute comes with a built-in excuse for his probable failure in his Rookie year. The kid fears that he can’t play the DE in a 3-4 and is using this tactic as an excuse.

    If only the Chargers had grabbed DeForest Buckner, instead…

  9. Well… it’s pretty hard to believe that a young man turns down ~ 20 million dollars guaranteed. Yet, it’s starting to look like that’s the outcome here.

    Given that as the 1st non-QB pick, he was as you’ve said the best football player in the draft, in their eyes, it’s pretty shocking.

    #SuckitSpanos

  10. Has anyone stopped to consider that maybe this isn’t about money for Bosa and maybe he just really, really doesn’t want to play for SD???

    Can’t say I blame him… SD is a beautiful place to live but that team is owned and run by clowns…

  11. Why isn’t a trade to another team an option? I would think several teams would give up at least a first and player/pick for Bosa. If Bosa decides not to sign a deal, it may not be for as much as the 3 pick but the Chargers will definitely lose out in the fact that they would not get their first rounder from this year back…

  12. Let him sit out a year and enter next years’ draft where he will go in the 3rd round and make 3rd round money. He must have the same agent that Dish Network has negotiating with Tribune Broadcasting.

  13. Who’s driving the Klown Kar in San Diego anyway?

    It’s obvious that Bosa has no interest in being part of this pathetic organization as it is currently constructed….and frankly, I don’t blame him.

  14. “Stupid is as stupid does.” ~Forrest Gump

    Bosa was dumb/greedy enough to listen to dumber/greedier agents…wanted payday faster. Even if he signed today, gonna be an ugly locker room for him.

  15. That Klown Car is headed for LA. The majority of SD voters have seen enough of the Charger’s circus and will not pay for a new stadium.

  16. Regardless of who is right or wrong, the Chargers shouldn’t be negotiating through the media.

  17. There is no reason for Bosa to reward the Spanos’s disrespect. Perhaps Bosa does not care if he is selected later next year. That is his choice, and no one else’s business.

  18. Stupid spanos. If you’re not going to pay your 3rd overall pick the same as last year’s 3rd overall pick, just trade your pick away to another team who is willing. We have the rookie wage scale for a reason. Just because you were picking in the 10-20 since the rookie wage scale was implemented doesn’t mean you can lowball bosa into a deal that is worse.

    Chargers….bosa didn’t cause you to draft in the top 3. That’s your own damn fault and you should have to pay. Just like the other teams picking in the top 3. You’re not f’ing special!

  19. A) There was a deadline to trade draft picks that has passed.

    B) The rookie-wage is set, meaning Bosa is going to get $x regardless; they are arguing over semantics…

    C) The argument over offset has to do with the fact that the money is guaranteed regardless. So if they cut him after Year-3, they still pay him for Year-4. They want to be reimbursed for Year-4 if he happens to go down the street and sign with another team – in other words, no double-dipping for Bosa.

    D) The argument over the signing bonus is weird. Frankly, I never knew they split the payment before this incident, but I think he would have gotten enough regardless that it isn’t worth making such a big deal over.

    Spanos may be cheap (even though he’s not the one doing the negotiating), but it’s not like there isn’t evil on both sides here.

  20. “I’m blown away,” Spanos said. “At all costs I wanted to avoid going down this road. They made it overly clear we had no other option. . . . It’s absolutely asinine. He would have gotten more cash in this calendar year than anyone except Carson Wentz.”

    ——

    Buuuut, we initially offered 60% and tried to lowball the crap out of him!

  21. Skip the season. When one organization continues to have more problems and worse problems than any other organization it is time to consider how much happier you will be next year with any other team.

    Next year players will start making it known that they don’t want to play for the Chargers before the draft. And it wont be a snot nosed dorky little brother of a real QB, it will be all players with a backbone.

    Signed
    Long Time Bolts Fan

  22. ctiggs says:
    Aug 25, 2016 11:33 AM
    I wish we could welcome him back at THE Ohio State.
    ==========
    You must live in some weird, shattered reality where you feel compelled to quote Harbaugh’s “Whose got it better than us?” now that he’s your most bitter rival at Michigan. And how are you a niner and OSU fan? Bandwagon much?

  23. You can’t trade someone you haven’t signed. Also, no team is going to have that kind of cash in the rookie wage pool to ink a deal of that value.

  24. Bosa would likely not miss the season. Most players would either sign st the last possible date to not miss any game checks, or take the entire guaranteed bonus and sign week 10 to accrue a year towards free agency.

  25. RegisHawk, your posting is fair on the situation as it was, but what SD did yesterday was drop a nuclear bomb. There is no way to say one camp is not more right than the other anymore… whatever it was, it’s WAAAAAAAY more toxic now thanks to SD.

  26. THX 138 says:
    Aug 25, 2016 11:36 AM
    Let him sit out and re enter in 2017. I hope it costs Bosa plenty as he is a fool.

    ————

    Yeah…..he can re-enter and San Diego can select him once again!

  27. Enough blaming the Spanos family already, sure they’ve made numerous blunders in the past however NOT THIS TIME!
    Bosa is wrong, hope he doesn’t play this year, good luck making up the lost 15M, its the price you pay for stupidity, he’s getting terrible advice from those around him and should hire Drew Rosenhaus asap who would solve his problem.

  28. Bosa’s choices are simply.

    Give in because it seems like the team won’t, or wait out the season and reenter the draft.

    The problem is after sitting a year, he’ll fall likely to the 3rd or 4th round, 2nd if he’s really really luck and some team takes a flier on him.

    It will cost him millions that he would have gotten as a high first round pick.

    What’s he going to do if he passes on this year, hold out again next year demanding first round money when he’s drafted far lower? Which the rookie scale will not allow?

  29. The Chargers are employing the Obama style of compromise. Which goes something like, “take the deal I want, and maybe, just maybe, at some point in the future, I might possibly consider what you want, and if you don’t take my offer, you are trying to destroy the world”. Considering the NFL just employed the same strategy to victory in the Brady fiasco, why would the Chargers (an extension of 345 Park Ave) not force Bosa’s hand?

  30. .
    @sindiegosage


    If only the Chargers had grabbed DeForest Buckner, instead…”

    Ageed, edge rushers are always a crap shoot. You gotta take a more traditional, low risk player at #3. Buckner reminds me of a young Richard Seymour who was a disruptive force with his big body and long reach.
    .

  31. greg3117 says:
    Aug 25, 2016 12:17 PM

    You can’t trade someone you haven’t signed. Also, no team is going to have that kind of cash in the rookie wage pool to ink a deal of that value.
    ==============

    Half right. No team has the money left to pay him out of their rookie pool. But the Chargers absolutely can trade the “rights” to an unsigned player, he doesn’t have to be under contract.

  32. “Stupid is as stupid does.” ~Forrest Gump

    Bosa was dumb/greedy enough to listen to dumber/greedier agents…wanted payday faster. Even if he signed today, gonna be an ugly locker room for him.

    —————-

    Lol, nah. Consider Philip River is doing fine after a long holdout with the Chargers, all players understand the business side.

  33. …”snot nosed dorky little brother” has more SB trophies and SB MVP’s than your entire dysfunctional franchise put together.

    Signed
    Lifetime Big Blue fan

  34. I think Spanos showed just how big of a tool he was with his comments yesterday. Something tells me their chances of signing any free agents just plummeted after his temper tantrum yesterday which included only the part of the story he wanted to tell while making it look like it was all the player’s fault. From everything I’ve read, Bosa and his agents have negotiated in good faith and been willing to give and take. Spanos wants everything. His comment about how they are paying him more than any recent draft picks is so disingenuous since they haven’t had a high pick since the rookie wage scale was introduced. I wouldn’t blame Bosa for sitting out the season seeing how Spanos has handled the “negotiations.” Whatever happens, I’m sure he’d end up with a better team in the long run. It would be even better if he ended up in the AFC West and had two chances every year to take out his wrath on the Chargers.

  35. Before the Chargers were offering roughly 8 million now and the remaining 8 later. It was clear the Chargers had to do better, in relation to picks two and four.

    Now, Chargers offered to pay 14.5 million of his bonus by December, with the remaining 2.5 in March. Bosa is still saying no, he wants all 17 by December (or no offsets).

    Holy barking bow-bows, Batman, THIS is what’s holding them up. Three months. Three **** months.

  36. not a chargers fan but how are they in the wrong? they are offering a guy who has proved nothing millions of dollars just to sign his name and he refuses so that makes them the bad guys? he wants it all and good for him but why should the team assume all the risk. he could suffer an injury right after he signs the deal and he gets his money but what does the team get? sit out the year and see what happens next, if he does I hope he falls in the draft and the chargers take him again and see how he likes the offer they give him then.

  37. Bosa should take the money. If he doesn’t play this year, and re-enters the draft, it’s a guarantee he won’t be drafted anywhere NEAR where he was drafted, thus, leaving money on the table….gets even worse for him if he slips to the 2nd round…

  38. I_Just_Like_Typing_Comments_That_Wont_Get_Published says:
    Aug 25, 2016 12:34 PM
    greg3117 says:
    Aug 25, 2016 12:17 PM

    You can’t trade someone you haven’t signed. Also, no team is going to have that kind of cash in the rookie wage pool to ink a deal of that value.
    ==============

    Half right. No team has the money left to pay him out of their rookie pool. But the Chargers absolutely can trade the “rights” to an unsigned player, he doesn’t have to be under contract.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Actually, wrong. There is a deadline (that has since passed) where the Chargers could have traded Bosa.

    But to do so

    1. They had to sign him first and

    2. The other team had to have room under the rookie cap to take on his contract

    Since the no one had cap room, and they hadn’t signed him – he wasn’t able to be traded before the deadline.

    Now that the deadline has passed he has 2 options:

    1. Agree to a contract offered by the Chargers

    2. Sit out the entire season, and re-enter the draft next year – knowing that you will get picked lower, and you will lose one year of salary, and sign a lower contract.

    Chargers can not trade his rights after the season either.

  39. sdffa11 says:
    Aug 25, 2016 12:05 PM

    Stupid spanos. If you’re not going to pay your 3rd overall pick the same as last year’s 3rd overall pick, just trade your pick away to another team who is willing. We have the rookie wage scale for a reason. Just because you were picking in the 10-20 since the rookie wage scale was implemented doesn’t mean you can lowball bosa into a deal that is worse.

    ===============

    Umm – you do know the pay, signing bonus, etc, are fine – and that isn’t the issue.

    Bosa (and his idiot agents he’s listening to) doesn’t want offset language so he can double dip if he sucks and SD cuts him before the end of the contract.

    ALL of the signing bonus money he’ll still get (split between this year and next)…

    But Bosa wants to be able to double dip.

    I say “too damn bad” – offset language should be worked into every rookie contract….far too many of them suck once in the NFL.

  40. I cant imagine anyone wanting to sign with the Chargers in the future unless they have zero offers elsewhere. Its going to hurt their ability to contend if all their good players wont resign, and nobody is interested in moving there. They will end up like a sort of scout team where rookies go to learn the NFL game and then leave.

  41. The problem he likely sees, with the way the Chargers have handled the situation… If he signs the contract just to have the money, he’s stuck with them for 5yrs if he plays well. If he sits and re-enters the draft, even if he goes out of the 1st rd, he gets out of a bitter relationship and can be a free agent sooner than later to get the big payday.

    Or he could bust and be out of the league in 3yrs. haha

  42. Bosa is taking the long view. He doesn’t want to play for the chargers. He doesn’t fit their system, so after disappointing for 3-4 years he won’t have as much earning potential as a free agent when he can REALLY cash in.

    His father played in the NFL. If he managed his money properly and turned his playing days in a decent post-football career, then their family is not hurting for money. He doesn’t need to sign to feed his family.

    Despite all of that, he wanted the significant g bonus all this year because deferring payment until next year keeps him in a higher tax bracket than he would be in with just his lower base salary. On top of that, receiving his signing bonus this year allows his money to grow longer with interest.

    And at this point, the relationship seems beyond repair. Even if he is drafted lower next year, it will hopefully be to a team where he fits better and can make a huge payday in free agency. I hope it’s to a different afcw team so he can destroy the chargers twice a year and make them look all the more ridiculous.

  43. 17 out of SD’s 28 first round picks since Spanos purchased the franchise have held out due to rookie contract disputes. Take that stat for what you will.

  44. Bosa is a chicken. He just wants to wait until the PEDs clear his system and the check from the OSU boosters clears.

    After that he will sign, he will play sparingly and probably get hurt. Then he will disappear into the bust hall of fame.

  45. See the pattern here?
    The Chargers haven’t been able to make a deal with the city regarding a stadium.
    The Chargers couldn’t make a deal with Kroenke to play in Los Angeles.
    The Chargers can’t make a deal with their top draft pick.

  46. Look in reality neither side is correct, yet they both want to be. In the long term Bosa has more to lose than the Chargers, but at this point he might be ok playing for less next year when re-drafted. Of course it’d be funny in a sick way if the Chargers spite drafted him again in 2017.

  47. The Spanos family has run this once great organization into the ground ! Complete failure, please, please sell the team Dean !

    Bozo is not smart to take the $19 million guaranteed smh ! Offset language in or out boo hoo. All the signing bonus up front? What do you have a coke habit? You’re a 20 year old, no nothing kid ! It’s too late to sign moron, go home and wait until next year.

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