The Chargers are preparing as if No. 3 overall Joey Bosa won’t be with the club when the regular season begins, according to Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com. San Diego opens the season against the division rival Chiefs on September 11.
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“We’ll have a plan for him whenever he’s here,” head coach Mike McCoy said of Bosa. “We’ve talked about it over time, from the very beginning of camp. So we’ve got a plan for when he’s in the building. But I’m very pleased with the other 89 guys in camp at this point in time.”
According to Williams, second-year pro Darius Philon figures to see the most snaps in place of Bosa. Philon, a 2015 sixth-round pick, appeared in eight games for the Bolts last year, playing on about 14% of the club’s defensive plays. McCoy also praised the performance of backup Tenny Palepoi, while Zamir Carlis, who was signed two weeks ago, could also factor into a rotation.
The Chargers, who began talking with Bosa’s camp again last week, have been insistent on Bosa accepting offset language in his deal that would take them off the hook in the event that he would be released before the scheduled conclusion of the deal. The Bolts are also pushing for part of Bosa’s signing bonus to be deferred. Bosa’s reps say that they will not accept both of those terms, particularly since four of the players to go in the top 10 of this year’s draft will receive most or all of their signing bonuses in 2016.
In order for Bosa to agree to offset language, agent Todd France reportedly wants the Chargers to pay all ~$17MM) of his bonus this year. San Diego, meanwhile, would rather wait until next March to dole out a “significant portion” of the bonus. At last check, the Chargers want to give Bosa roughly 61 percent of his signing bonus during this calendar year, which is the same payout schedule the Cowboys agreed to with fourth overall selection Ezekiel Elliott, who was Bosa’s teammate at Ohio State and went one pick after him.
Photo courtesy of Pro Football Rumors on Instagram.
I don’t get the issue. He wants more then what everyone else got and all he wants is the money to blow now? Sounds like a burnout in a few years player to me. If I’m the Chargers I just don’t sign him. Don’t they get one pick higher next year? I’d rather have the 4th pick next year who wants to be on the team then this bum. Next year he’ll drop to like 23 and get all of his 5 million dollar signing bonus.
They don’t get anything if he doesn’t sign. That’s baseball you are thinking of. But he won’t make up this years lost salary in a contract next year. Not to mention his potential FA year would get pushed back a year. Not really sure Bosa has much of a leg to stand on. He stands to lose more long term than the Chargers.
I believe I read that Bosa comes from a family that is well off/wealthy so I don’t think money is the real issue. Then again, I think most people would take 61% of $17M ($10.37M over the remainder of 2016) and be more than glad to have the rest in March.
I can see why he/his family/his agent would say money isn’t an issue, but the main issues in this contract all point to money. He wants either (A) all of his signing bonus up front or (B) be able to double dip and get paid by two teams if the Chargers cut him (offset language). So while his side might say that money isn’t the issue, its very hard to believe that considering the issues involve money.
Whats happening here is the chargers and some other NFL teams are testing the waters here and the players assoc. should be applauding Mr Bosa. These owners are real slave pricks. Its not bad enough they already have a history of screwing over players, but now you want toscrew a kid out of what they worked dam hard for in college and by the way was d fence player of the year in 2014 and a beast last year, but they say no give a few issues are way to save just in case. Cmon now, the chargers are trying to fanagle the issues pure and simple. Usually the side that goes public is the side trying to screw over the other