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The Chargers need to quit being dumb and sign Joey Bosa

The Chargers are arguing over something that there’s no need to argue about. They’re just being cheap.

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The Chargers should quit being dumb and sign Joey Bosa. San Diego’s first-round pick still doesn’t have a contract, despite the fact that rookie contracts are painfully easy to do now. Why? Because the Chargers are being cheap over the offset language.

Offsets in a contract allow the team to get out of paying a player all of the guaranteed money in their deal if they release him. The money paid by whatever team would sign him in that situation offsets what he’s owed by the Chargers. This was a stumbling block for the Titans and Marcus Mariota last year, and it happens for a player or two every year, even with the rookie salary scale on a slot-based system. (Here’s a really good primer on how offsets became such an issue in rookie contracts).

John Gennaro from Bolts from the Blue spoke with Shawne Merriman about the situation this week.

It’s incredibly dumb for the Chargers, a team that’s already gone to great lengths to alienate its fans with the relocation drama. If a team releases a top draft pick before the end of their rookie contract, the money owed to that player is the least of their problems. Which is what makes arguing over the offsets so pointless to begin with. The Chargers look petty, more dedicated to potentially saving a few million dollars than actually building a winning team.

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