If the Chargers hoped to rattle Joey Bosa with last week’s press release outlining how good of a deal it was that he wasn’t taking, it may have worked.
At the very least, it caused his side to make a subtle change.
According to Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Bosa negotiations resumed after the team’s press release last week, with Bosa shifting the negotiations from one of his co-representatives to the other (in this case, from CAA’s Brian Ayrault to CAA’s Todd France). While that’s easy to portray as a “good cop/bad cop” situation, the reality is both agents were already working for Bosa.
Chargers president John Spanos said the offer would only go down, but they were able to reach a compromise yesterday.
“I prefer to keep the details quiet, but I would like to thank Todd France for his professionalism and his help in getting this deal done,” Spanos said.
(All that quote needed was a “no disrespect to Brian Ayrault, but, ...” as the Chargers continue to impress with their public relations savvy.)
With that out of the way, Bosa has to worry about his crash course in football to get ready for the opener, as he hasn’t been around the team since June and has two weeks to catch up. He’s done what he could to stay in condition, saying he wasn’t taking it easy in Florida.
“I didn’t think it was fair to the guys out here if I was enjoying time off, partying, doing this, that or the other while they were working,” Bosa said. “I thought I owed it to them and myself to really give it everything I had. . . . I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in my life.”
He also sort-of apologized for his mom saying she regretted not “pulling an Eli Manning,” in a Facebook post, alluding to the quarterback’s successful effort to get traded by the Chargers in 2004.
“What do you expect a mom to do?” Bosa said. “She loves me. She wants what’s best for me, and she made a dumb decision like I have before, saying something I shouldn’t have on social media. She honestly had no idea it was public; she thought she was sending it to someone else. . . . She’s happy I’m here, and I would never turn down an opportunity to be in this situation.”
And after such a long and needlessly awkward situation, the Chargers are too.
