The Chargers and defensive end Joey Bosa finally found a middle ground. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t much. For Bosa and the Chargers, it was everything.
Per a league source with knowledge of the situation, the kicker came from the team’s willingness to apply language that makes it easier for Bosa to earn $6.5 million in guaranteed training-camp roster bonuses. Specifically, he gets the training-camp roster bonuses if he’s on any type of “active” list, including the non-football injury or non-football illness list.
Training-camp roster bonuses have become an alternative to the removal of offset language from a player’s guaranteed money at the top of the draft. Multiple players, however, have language in their contracts that allow the roster bonuses to not be paid if the player is on the NFI list. For example, Dolphins defensive end Dion Jordan lost $1.7 million this year because of a knee injury that caused him to land on the non-football injury list. Other players have a similar term in their contracts.
Bosa doesn’t, which ensures he’ll get the training-camp roster bonuses unless he’s on a “reserve” list when the money comes due.
Also, the Chargers altered the payout schedule of the signing bonus in 2016. He still gets 85 percent this year and 15 percent next year, but Bosa gets more of the 85 percent up front. Although the specifics aren’t yet known, Bosa gets a greater percentage of the bonus payout this year than the last four No. 1 overall picks did.
Finally, the Chargers didn’t take a penny off the table, despite last week’s vow to do so.
So the deal is done and Bosa is a Charger and we’ll all soon forget the holdout ever happened. Until the next time a Chargers player holds out and the long list of other Chargers is rattled off, with Bosa’s name as the most recent. Other than, you know, the next guy holding out.