Chargers Needlessly Poisoning Relationship with Joey Bosa in Contract Standoff

Fifteen weeks have passed since the San Diego Chargers drafted Ohio State defensive lineman Joey Bosa.

Still, he is not in camp as the two sides squabble over how his signing bonus will be paid out and how much money the Chargers would get back should Bosa eventually be cut and sign with another team. 

Inside the Bosa camp, there is true hope that this entire contract mess can be fixed. There is also, however, another emotion just as palpable: anger.

The contract dispute between the Chargers and their top draft pick, the third overall selection, can still be resolved sooner than later. It could happen tomorrow. It could happen in a week.

But for now, inside parts of the Bosa camp, there is a great deal of resentment, anger and disgust with how the Chargers are handling their first-round pick, according to a person close to the player. There is always frustration in holdouts. Yet this feels different. It feels slightly more personal.

The feeling I'm getting from the source close to Bosa is that the Chargers are flexing their muscles unnecessarily, and they are poisoning their relationship with Bosa for no good reason other than because they can do it.

"There is a bitterness that I'm not sure will ever go away," said the source.

At issue is Bosa's $17 million signing bonus, a sum his camp would like paid out this year, according to Andrew Brandt of The MMQB. San Diego would like to pay half in 2016 and the remaining half in March of next year, when the NFL's new fiscal year begins. Further, the Chargers would like to ensure themselves some financial relief, should they part with Bosa and he latches onto another team, by including offset language in the contract.

As a result, the Chargers' cheapness and refusal to bend in any way may cost them the long-term loyalty of a valued draft pick.

The Bosa camp officially will deny this, but I can say for certain that Bosa's frustration is growing exponentially.

Chris Carlson/Associated Press

Tom Telesco, the team's general manager, spoke up for his side on the Loose Cannons program on XTRA 1360:

"

Well, there has to be [a compromise] at some point. It’s important to us, we drafted him for a reason, we want him here. There’s no two people here that want him here more than me and Coach [Mike] McCoy. He’s someone we took for a reason; we took him to help this football team. We have to get it done some way, somehow. There’s just a hurdle we just can’t get over that’s hindering negotiations right now. No one wants it done more than we do.

"

I'm sure Bosa would disagree with that statement.

There's a caveat here. Contract talks get heated, and feelings get hurt, and then time passes and those hurt feelings get compartmentalized. They go away, especially if winning comes and more contracts follow. So it's likely that all of this will pass in the long run. But there is intense frustration now.

The problem for Bosa, and this is a biggie, is that Bosa has few options. Play for the Chargers or sit out the season. That's pretty much it. The Chargers aren't trading him. The two sides are stuck with each other.

There's a reason rookie holdouts remain a rarity. They are a relic from the 1980s, when first-year players actually had power. Now, because of the changes to the collective bargaining agreement, rookies have none. Not a lick.

It does sound odd to say that Bosa is taking a moral stand (my words—not his). But he is. The union gave in too easily on rookie deals, allowing them to be capped and leaving players with almost no bargaining power. Yet rookies are at risk of developing CTE, too, you know. And players are retiring earlier than ever before.

So while Bosa should get every penny he can, and his holdout is morally right (I use those words purposefully), it's also mostly futile.

Bosa has no chance of winning this stare down. The Chargers won't budge because they don't have to. They can just sit back and wait for him to crumble. And he will. It's inevitable.

Kena Krutsinger/Getty Images

This is perhaps why Bosa's mom, on Aug. 7, said on Facebook she wished her son had "pulled an Eli Manning." Mentioning the words "Eli Manning" in relationship to the Chargers is like mentioning "Donald Trump" in Hillary Clinton's strategy sessions. Manning forced his way out of San Diego to New York, where he has won two Super Bowls, while the Chargers won the right to watch Manning's brother win division titles and championships.

The way the Chargers are handling Bosa is curious at best. It makes no sense to have your top pick hold out over some "nonimperative bulls--t" as one NFC team executive said. Forcing a protracted holdout of a top pick because of offset language in case things don't work out, to me, is the kind of stuff losing franchises do. It's just not worth it. But Chargers gonna Charger.

The franchise has a history of this, however. LaDainian Tomlinson started his career with a holdout. So did Philip Rivers.

You could say this is the system that the players' union agreed to when the last CBA was negotiated in 2011, and you would be correct, but Bosa didn't, and that has left him with no alternative that doesn't involve Canada (though the weather in Saskatchewan is indeed wonderful this time of year).

What's next? I'm told this entire mess could end any day or take weeks, even months. That's not very specific, but neither side is ready to give an inch. Yes, that could change, but for the moment, this looks like a potentially long fight.

Gregory Bull/Associated Press

Tight end Antonio Gates told Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune that Bosa needs to be "a man" and just get the deal done. Easy for Gates to say.

I think being "a man"—whatever that phrase truly means—is not letting a team bully you.

There's a chance this turns really nasty. And though it may be a small chance, if it does, the Chargers only have themselves to blame.

Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @mikefreemanNFL.