Joey Bosa will be a Charger.

In a week, a month, two.

Training camp begins at the end of July. The season starts the second week of September.

It’s June.


This – Bosa not attending the Chargers’ three-day mandatory minicamp in protest – is a part of business.

The sides will find a medium. Most likely, it will be on the percentage of his approximate $17 million signing bonus that is deferred. Bosa and his representatives likely know that, since it is common knowledge the Chargers simply don’t do contracts without offset language.

Right now, there is an impasse over both issues.

The Chargers apparently want to defer a larger portion of Bosa’s signing bonus than Bosa’s side deems appropriate. As it stands now, Bosa’s agents also are balking at offset language, the contractual component in many contracts that keeps a portion of the money from being guaranteed if a player is released and signs with another team.


We are not getting into he said, he said. It would make your head spin. It would solve nothing. And it doesn’t matter.

1 / 34 San Diego Chargers Keenan Allen signs autographs after a mini camp practice. (K.C. Alfred) 2 / 34 San Diego Chargers fans Donald Inman and son Colt get an autograph from Denzel Perryman after a mini camp practice. (K.C. Alfred) 3 / 34 San Diego Chargers Keenan Allen goes in Snapchat with fans after a mini camp practice. (K.C. Alfred) 4 / 34 San Diego Chargers Jason Verrett signs autographs after a mini camp practice. (K.C. Alfred) 5 / 34 San Diego Chargers running back Melvin Gordon signs autographs during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 6 / 34 San Diego Chargers running back Danny Woodhead signs autographs during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 7 / 34 San Diego Chargers fans Donald Inman and son Colt wait for an autograph after a mini camp practice. (K.C. Alfred) 8 / 34 San Diego Chargers King Dunlap signs autographs after a mini camp practice. (K.C. Alfred) 9 / 34 A San Diego Chargers fan holds up a license plate after a mini camp practice. (K.C. Alfred) 10 / 34 San Diego Chargers running back Melvin Gordon signs autographs during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 11 / 34 San Diego Chargers Philip Rivers drops back during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 12 / 34 San Diego Chargers running back Melvin Gordon signs autographs during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 13 / 34 San Diego Chargers Antonio Gates looks on during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 14 / 34 San Diego Chargers Jason Verrett, left, Brandon Flowers, Casey Hayward and Jahleel Addae look on during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 15 / 34 San Diego Chargers Tyrell Williams gets by Jerry Attaochu, 97, during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 16 / 34 San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers throws a pass during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 17 / 34 San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers calls out a play to Hunter Henry (86) during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 18 / 34 San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates catches a pass during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 19 / 34 San Diego Chargers Melvin Gordon runs a play during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 20 / 34 San Diego Chargers Danny Woodhead gets a drink during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 21 / 34 San Diego Chargers Jason Verrett catches a pass during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 22 / 34 San Diego Chargers fans get a look of drills during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 23 / 34 San Diego Chargers receiver Keenan Allen stretches during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 24 / 34 San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates stretches during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 25 / 34 San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers hands off to Danny Woodhead during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 26 / 34 San Diego Chargers Antonio Gates and Philip Rivers (17) joke during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 27 / 34 San Diego Chargers coach Mike McCoy looks on during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 28 / 34 San Diego Chargers Danny Woodhead lines up during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 29 / 34 San Diego Chargers center Matt Slauson lines up during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 30 / 34 San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers throws a pass during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 31 / 34 San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates lines up during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 32 / 34 San Diego Chargers Brandon Flowers and Jason Verrett (22) joke during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 33 / 34 San Diego Chargers defensive coordinator John Pagano looks on during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred) 34 / 34 San Diego Chargers Denzel Perryman greets Damion Square (71) during mini camp. (K.C. Alfred)

Several league sources, some who decried the Chargers’ penchant for planting their heels in contract negotiations and others who felt the agents were drawing a line that didn’t need to be drawn for the sake of saving face, were virtually unanimous in the opinion this standoff will end before the preseason.

It is noteworthy that Bosa, the third overall pick in April’s draft, is unsigned and not participating this week.


Every other player among the top 19 picks has signed. The collective bargaining agreement that went into effect in 2011 essentially eliminated these rookie impasses by setting a virtual slotting system for draft picks that determined total compensation. The only real negotiation is in each contract’s structure.

And, for all the hand wringing and chest puffing, this is negotiation.

This isn’t about what’s right or fair. Both sides have merit, and life isn’t fair.

This comes down to a precedent the Chargers are not willing to set.


The Chargers are somewhat obstinate on these matters, sure. But they are not arbitrary.

Their major contracts contain offset language. That’s the way it has been for years. Every one of their contracts given first- and second-round picks, every unrestricted free agent, every significant extension under the new CBA has contained the language.

They also defer a portion of signing bonuses.

“We can’t treat him differently than all our other No.1 picks and his other teammates with the same structure,” Chargers general manager Tom Telesco said Tuesday as the rest of the team was beginning its opening minicamp practice. “(It’s) not fair to his teammates to do one contract for him and one for the other 89.”


All that is, is the same old same old from the Chargers, if only stated a little more nicely.

One interesting aspect of this is that A.J. Smith has been gone for going on four years. As much as the former G.M. was perceived as – and loved to play – the bad guy, he wasn’t the lone gunslinger.

Basically, Smith would have stated what Telesco said thusly: “We’re the team. This will be done our way.”

That’s still the case, because Smith wasn’t the one negotiating.


The constant in these matters for well over a decade has been vice president of football administration Ed McGuire. If I had even one-half of one percent of the commissions from all the agents from whom I’ve fielded calls complaining about McGuire’s hardball tactics, I would have stopped listening long ago because I would have retired on the dough.

There is credence in the consistent cacophony. McGuire is a bulldog. He is doing the Spanos family’s bidding. He’s good at it, which even many agents acknowledge.

That is not going to change.

To be fair, they Chargers are not the only team to demand offset language. Not even close, according to several people who deal with teams. Multiple agents (not Bosa’s) did sound a familiar refrain that the Chargers are more rigid than most teams in terms of managing cash flow, i.e., deferring bonus money. (Actually, their word was “cheap,” though it must be remembered that is the perspective of agents.)


This has happened so many times with them. The temptation would be to say too many. But, then, a number of players involved in ugly negotiations with the Chargers end up signing a second contract with the team.

It’s called business. And somehow these things always gets worked out.