NFL general managers are “laughing” at the Chargers’ handling of the Joey Bosa contract situation, reports Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report, who says that nearly every source agrees than San Diego is to blame for the current mess of negotiations. “If Joey Bosa ended his dispute tomorrow, he would barely get something from his rookie year,” said one GM. “But it won’t end tomorrow. It could be weeks. So effectively, the Chargers threw away the rookie year of their own high draft pick.” Another GM estimated a 20-30% chance that Bosa could sit out the entire year and re-enter the draft in 2017, and a source close to Bosa told Freeman the chance of that scenario coming to fruition “is slim but growing every day.”
Let’s check out some more reaction to the Bosa squabble:
- The Chargers are preparing as though they’ll begin the regular season without Bosa, a sentiment that head coach Mike McCoy confirms, according to Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link). “We’re going to win with whoever we have,” McCoy told reporters today, and general manager Tom Telesco echoed that statement, per Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com. “There’s not really much you can do about it,” said Telesco, although Williams argues that San Diego will likely pick up a few extra defenders in the coming weeks, either through free agency or the waiver process.
- The dispute is a bad look for both the Chargers and Bosa, opines Peter Schrager of FOX Sports (all Twitter links). The stalemate hurts the organization as it tries to build a new stadium in San Diego, but it also affects Bosa’s agency, CAA, as other agencies could use this situation to poach clients. At least one NFL executive expressed shock to Schrager that the friction was still ongoing: “Is THIS the hill you want to die on?”
- The NFLPA has contacted Bosa and his camp, according to Tom Pelissero of USA Today, but a grievance is considered a “last resort,” says union spokesperson George Atallah. As Pelissero writes, San Diego would be able to decrease their offer and still fall within the contract requirements outlined by the CBA, meaning that Bosa could only argue that the club had refused to negotiate in good faith.
- As evidenced by the Chargers’ statement on Wednesday, Bosa has seemingly agreed to a large deferral of his signing bonus — but that deferral isn’t quite significant enough for the team, writes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
- In case you missed the rest of the drama earlier this week, Chargers president John Spanos called Bosa’ holdout “absolutely asinine,” while Bosa’s agent accused the club of “manipulating facts.”
Real lunacy from both sides. I get that Bosa’s family is financially stable (to say the least) so he can afford to throw away a year of his career, but also, he’s financially stable so why is he throwing away a year of his career over money?! And not HOW MUCH he’s getting, but simply WHEN he gets it? As for the offsets, let’s be real. You’re a top 5 pick, you ain’t getting cut before the contract runs out. No matter how bad you may suck you’ll either be kept around or get traded because “potential”.
Most of the points apply to the Chargers as well. Chances are you’ll never have to cut the guy (making offset language irrelevant) and you’re paying all of the bonus money within the next 12 months anyway. Plus you only need to do ONE of those two things! You’re really going to pick a guy in the top 5 and let him miss a full season over such petty crap?
He’s s grown man. There’s no guarantee he can, or wants to, suckle on his family’s financial teat.
“We’re going to win with whoever we have.” You sure this isn’t a typo?
Bozo will make around 12 million dollars this season between his salary and 60% of his signing bonus, with the other 40% paid in March 2017. That’s around 18 million dollars in less than a year from being drafted. How does that make the Charger’s organization the villain?
Because they’re a joke of an organization. If the other GM’s are laughing at you, you’re probably not right.
Dude – other GM’s are laughing because Chargers knew who they were going to select at #3 and they failed to negotiate a contract with him. Foolish idea. That’s why other teams GM’s are laughing!
Because the Chargers will make significantly more than that especially once they move to LA and they made a deal. The only party in an NFL player contract who has to live up to their end of the bargain are the players.
So the team doesn’t have to live up to their end by paying him? Might want to let the owners know this.
Drew Brees Couldn’t wait to leave, Eli Manning refused to play there. They drafted Ryan Leaf. I’d say there is a pattern of incompetence that has caused them to be a laughing stock and fostered a culture of losing.
Culture of losing? One bad year doesn’t equate to a culture of losing. There are a handful of teams that moniker applies to but the Chargers aren’t one of them. The Spanos family are boobs but the team has generally been at least average.
Brees wanted to stay with the Chargers, they were uncertain of his shoulder injury and they had Rivers on the roster. The Chargers didn’t want Eli they always wanted Rivers, they drafted Eli as a bargaining chip (it worked) and drafting Leaf was a mistake, but every GM in the league had Peyton and Leaf 1 and 2 on their draft boards, so they would have made the same mistake. The article says everyone is laughing, but he sites 3 unnamed GM’s that doesn’t equate to everyone.
At this point I wonder how much of this is Bosa or his agent wanting to holdout. Their has to be a point where he just fires CAA and signs the deal. I wonder how much CAA would make between the Chargers offer and Bosa’s agent counter.
When things all started, I was completely in the Chargers corner. Now however, as the season approaches, it is asinine on the Chargers part to go ahead and waste the 3rd overall on a guy they won’t have long term. Sure, this guy might sign the deal, play it out, but when FA comes he’s long gone because of the damage done. Horrible management of resources. The team should just sign him, they’re just being petty at this point.
Hmmm. So what’s J.J. Watt up to??
Please encourage Bosa to continue his fatuous holdout. It’s more entertaining than most NFL games. Hang tough, Joey!
It’s been said before but worth mentioning again that the first and second picks were already essentially set. So they should have had some idea what he would agree to. Nobody is winning this deal that’s for sure. I would’ve caved especially if I’m the Chargers. What they are squabbling over is peanuts in comparison really. You hope you don’t get many high draft picks because when you don’t it’s because you’re successful but when you do you better not miss. They might “win” but they’ve missed out on valuable time he needs to develop and help the team in the immediate future. If he becomes a cornerstone guy for the team what happens when you try to lock up his prime years? Maybe they can repair the relationship but it’s gone past the quiet holdout stage to public war. Bad deal and embarrassing