The Chargers and defensive end Joey Bosa traded proposals on Thursday, July 28. Since then, the team has opened training camp and practiced for a week. Since then, the Chargers and the third overall pick in the 2016 draft have engaged in no further talks.
By far, it’s the longest rookie holdout since the 2011 labor deal dramatically simplified the process. For the Chargers and Bosa, however, the simplicity is part of the problem.
With only a small handful of issues on which team and player can haggle, the Chargers and Bosa are at odds on all of them. They have no way to find a middle ground because there are no other issues on which they can compromise.
As it stands, the Chargers want offset language attached to Bosa’s fully-guaranteed deal, and they want to defer a large chunk of his signing bonus into March 2017. Bosa wants either no offset language or full payment of the bonus in 2016.
With their positions defined, there’s really nothing to talk about, no gray area into which the two sides can slide in order to find a solution that allows each to feel like it won.
With the deadline for trading Bosa coming in only two days and no indication that the Chargers are considering that option, the question soon will be whether the Chargers and Bosa will get something done before the start of the regular season. If not, they’ll have until the Tuesday after Week 10 before Bosa can’t play at all in 2016.
Surely, it’ll never get to that point. Then again, who would have ever imagined it would get to this point?