Should The San Diego Chargers Let Joey Bosa Sit?

Photo Credit: John Gastaldo / San Diego Union-Tribune

The San Diego Chargers shocked the world when they drafted Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa with the third overall pick. Many draft “experts” assumed that the Dallas Cowboys would draft him with the pick right after. While it was a surprise that the Chargers drafted Bosa, an even bigger surprise is what he’s doing now. Instead of doing his reps as a rookie and learning the ropes, Bosa is sitting out due to a contract disagreement.

Bosa had an impressive college career at Ohio State. He was the number one ranked DE coming out of this year’s draft class and is an immediate impact player for the Chargers. In 2015, Bosa only played in 12 games but registered 5.0 sacks and 23 sack yards along with one interception and 16 tackles for loss. Bosa is extremely talented and could give the Chargers some much-needed defensive help.

However, Bosa sitting on the bench isn’t helping anyone. It doesn’t help the Chargers to learn where Bosa needs improvement or what his strengths are. Even if Bosa is studying their playbook, he isn’t actually learning anything because he’s not doing it. That’s what makes this situation all the more confusing because Bosa’s sitting isn’t actually benefiting either party. It will only make it worse for the Chargers and Bosa.  There was a similar situation last year with Marcus Mariota. Mariota didn’t like his contract, but still participated in team activities. His situation with the Titans turned out fine because he got the contract he wanted and the Titans didn’t have to deal with Mariota not being caught up.

To break it down simply, Bosa wants guaranteed money from the Chargers even if he’s cut. Bosa doesn’t want the offset language but the Chargers do which Ian Rapport explains in his 2012 article, “If there is no offset language, the discarded player receives the guaranteed money from his original team and the full salary from his new team. The original team can’t merely allow the new team to pay the remaining guaranteed money as part of the new deal.”  It’s obvious why the Chargers don’t want offset language.

If Bosa is a flop, they wouldn’t want to keep paying him; they’d want to remove themselves from the situation completely. Bosa obviously believes that he’s good enough to deserve offset language, but that’s just the thing. Bosa is only a rookie so he has no idea what it’s like to play at the NFL level and why San Diego should step in.

Letting Bosa sit is letting him get his way. As a rookie, he should have to realize that just sitting and pouting about it isn’t going to help. He has to be proactive and work to get a deal that he deserves. San Diego has never used offset language in any of their contracts so why does Bosa think he’s different than someone like Phillip Rivers? No matter what your stance on Bosa is, sitting will only harm Bosa in the end and hopefully, he will understand that soon enough.