Holdout Joey Bosa Won't Be Showing Up To Camp For the San Diego Chargers

Joey Bosa and the San Diego Chargers continue to be at an impasse over the language of his rookie contract, and the 21-year-old will not be reporting to training camp on Friday.

Bosa is just one of two first-rounders from the 2016 NFL Draft yet to sign his contract. The other is Joshua Garnett, who went 28th to the San Francisco Giants. Both players are represented by the same agency, CAA.

The two sides are reportedly at odds over offset language in Bosa’s contract and the earlier payment of signing bonus money. The Chargers and Bosa’s representatives apparently can’t see eye-to-eye on the deferred signing bonus payment according to ESPN.

The Chargers typically prefer to spread signing bonus money over the length of rookie contracts. Bosa’s camp wants more of that money paid up front. The offset language debate happens every year across the league. San Diego always insists on including offset language that allows the team to only pay the portion of a cut player’s contract not covered by his next team. It’s a simple protection most teams insist on.

The Chargers made Bosa the third pick in this year’s draft, with the hope that he would make a big impact on their woeful defense immediately. At some point the two sides must come to an agreement, because Bosa definitely needs time to adjust to the speed and strength of opponents in the NFL, while the franchise needs his talent on the field.

The offset language discussion is likely moot if the Chargers truly believe Bosa is a great player and a good citizen. If that’s the case there’s almost no chance he doesn’t spend the life of his rookie contract in San Diego. The deferred bonus money is a stickier situation that could be much harder to resolve.

The bottom line here is that the Chargers need Bosa and Bosa needs the Chargers. Both sides need to budge on this and make a deal happen. A holdout hurts everyone in this situation.