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I can’t stop thinking about this tweet:
Am told SD wants to defer "roughly half" of $17M bonus to March, Bosa wants all in 2016. Compromise to deferring "roughly a quarter?" #Bosa
— Andrew Brandt (@AndrewBrandt) August 10, 2016
My initial reaction, like everyone else, was to scoff at the absurdity of it. Half?!? They want him to defer roughly half of his signing bonus?
Joey Bosa’s signing bonus is set to be roughly $17m, and reports have come out that the Chargers are expecting to pay Bosa about $10m in his first season.
Looking at Ezekiel Elliot, who was picked right after Bosa, you can assume that Joey’s first year salary would be somewhere between $500k-1m. Some rough math, paired with Andrew Brandt’s tweet, brings you to a point where the Chargers are asking Bosa to accept $9m now, $1m paid out over the course of the season (weekly), and $7m in March after the season has completed.
That is, very roughly, what we’re dealing with here. All of the money will be paid to Bosa, the question that is being fighting over is “When?”
I have a different question: WHY?
Why are the Chargers asking Bosa to wait? Why not cut him the $16m check now and defer $1m, as Carson Wentz, who was picked right before Bosa, agreed to do with the Philadelphia Eagles.
I thought about it, and talked about it, on today’s Generally Speaking podcast. The only thing I could come up with? The Chargers don’t have $17m right now. Which would be a huge warning sign that this organization is about to go completely off the rails.
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Am I crazy? Knowing that this doesn’t change their salary cap situation at all, can anyone come up with any other reason why the team might want to do this? Tweet at me or comment below and let me know what you think.