What if Joey Bosa Pulled an Eli Manning?
The more I read about the holdout war between Joey Bosa and the Chargers the more it seems obvious that maybe Eli Manning and Archie Manning were right to tell San Diego to go screw itself. This is a team that has had more rookie holdouts in the past decade than any other. Despite the fact that Eli scorned a different front office, maybe the problem isn’t the front office but those who control it. Dean Spanos hasn’t proved to be the greatest of owners in the past few seasons, maybe the problems have been long festering.
I hope Bosa wins the holdout. Whether that is getting the Chargers to cave or skipping the season and re-entering the draft, I hope he wins. The players do not have enough rights in this league and they deserve more, and I’d like to see a team give way to pave the way for more player rights in the future. What’s so damning about this situation is that it feels like there’s no reason the Chargers shouldn’t be caving. They want to stick on team friendly provisions (That they get to recoup possible losses if Bosa leaves before the contract is up, and paying him his signing bonus later, over time). Bosa is willing to accept one of those two concessions, but not both, and the Chargers are taking their ball and going home about it. What the hell, Chargers?
This kind of cheapness towards a #3 overall pick seems pretty indicative of how the Chargers have treated the city of SD in regards to the stadium and also kind of explains why they got screwed out of LA. Spanos is cheap. I don’t see why they can’t just give Bosa the signing bonus now, that seems pretty reasonable. It seems really reasonable. The Chargers are arguing precedent or something about it, but precedent doesn’t mean Bosa should just cave to giving in chances at making what money he can. “Tradition” has always been an excuse to keep the status quo for the people who benefit most from it. Bosa is your #3 overall pick, considered by many the top choice in the draft (he might have gone first if QBs weren’t so important). Pay the man. He’s not asking for the moon.
In the meantime we need someone to get these players a better union rep and actually help them in the next CBA so cheap jerks like the Chargers organization can’t screw over players so easily.
Below his derpy exterior, Eli is a genius who knew exactly what he was doing back in 2004.
That or he was just following instructions from Peyton and Archie. Peyton in particular would’ve had insight, he was friends with Ryan Leaf, and despite Leaf’s issues he trusted him when he said that the Chargers were a poorly run franchise.
For a rookie, all they have to do is sign the contract which is determined by draft position, correct?
O-H!
For rookies in the top half of the first round, the amount of money is guaranteed, as is the signing bonus. What’s holding up the deal is the schedule of the signing bonus payment, and offset language. The Chargers want to spread out the signing bonus over the duration of the deal, and Bosa wants it in an up front lump sum.
Offset language refers to what happens if Bosa ends up getting cut and playing for another team. If there is offset language in the contract, the Chargers would only be on the hook for the difference between what he would be owed if he were still on the team and what the new team is paying him. Without that language, Bosa would be paid for his entire San Diego contract even if cut, AND he’d be paid by his new team. Since the adoption of the new CBA, no third overall pick has had offset language in his contract.
Thanks for clearing that up! Makes more sense now
I-O!
Bosa is getting paid big bucks to play a GAME. He should take what San Diego offers him. Is Spanos cheap, yes; but that doesn’t mean you get special treatment when it comes to your contract [same reason I hate Eli, want to murder John Elway(+how he screwed arena) and am not a big fan of Bo Jackson)]. When a team picks you in the NFL Draft, you are chosen to play for that team and should stay with that team until your first contract is up or the team cuts/trades you.
Bosa’s playing a game, yes, a very, very dangerous game. A game that can really screw you over later in life. A game that literally cuts your life short. I can see why he wants the money. Football is a sport where you gotta get as much money as possible and get the hell out. Bosa knows he has the talent to get the money he deserves, so if he has to holdout to get it, he’ll do just that.
As for Bo Jackson. I think he shunned Tampa Bay because of more personal reasons. Apparently they did end his college baseball career early. Bo was a baseball player anyway.
Counterpoint: fuck you, pay the man.
No, he’s signing a contract that determines his compensation for doing a job – no more, no less. He is not obligated in any way to accept whatever the heck the franchise is offering him – and in this particular case, their demands are both unreasonable and unprecedented.
When a team picks you for the NFL Draft, you are given the option to sign their deal, or not. They should use little leverage they have to negotiate the best possible deal available to them.
Gotta disagree with this. Even though I think that athletes from the big-name sports are overpaid in-general, I don’t blame Bosa at all for strong-arming the Chargers. He has a very unique, rare skillset that he has been honing since he was a little kid. He has every ounce of leverage, and every reason to want to be compensated handsomely, especially given the health issues, both physical and mental, inherent in the game. What he’s asking for isn’t some record-setting deal either, it’s 100% in-line with precedent for his situation. Plus he might never be in this situation again, for all we know he tears both his ACLs in the next three years and retires. If this could be my only chance to set myself and my family up for life, and one of the very real risks of this contract’s requirements is dementia in my fifties, I’d use as much leverage as possible.
Again, I think athletes are paid too much, but that’s the system’s fault, not Joey’s. No reason he shouldn’t be allowed to benefit from it too.
And if he does get hurt, even on a rookie contract he’s set for life and has more money than any of us will ever see in our lifetimes. I always love the excuses people make when millionaires argue with multi-millionaires. The systems fault? Tell me that when every other contract out there ends up with the player wanting to be the highest paid player out there or they consider it some sort of insult.
“‘Tradition’ has always been an excuse to keep the status quo for the people who benefit most from it.”
You mean, like how LA taxpayers will pay for the Inglewood stadium and get priced out of it at the same time because that’s how the NFL has traditionally operated as recent as the 1990s?
It’s like a pre-nup
While I believe players have rights and that He should stand for himself, he does play a game. A game that could make him set for life. He entered the draft knowing he could be drafted to play in many places he may not want to be. He could have been exposed to any number of bad situations. He knew those risks and he took them.
For the most part, he lost. His best play is to sign the current deal, play it out, and walk. That makes him look good for making the most of a bad situation. Instead of being a dick, holding out, costing the team (which by the way, football just happens to be), and earning himself more money and respect down the road.
In the real world, I don’t hold out and not go to work because I don’t like something. I keep my mouth shut, do my job, and get rewarded later for a job well done. That is, generally, how things are suppose to work. Dude needs to man up, or go home and stay there.
In the real world, working for one company does not prevent you from quitting and working for a competitor should you be unsatisfied with your compensation.
Fair point. However, quitting because you don’t want to do a job over “offset language” could have serious repercussions. That’s my problem with this. He’s labeling himself as a potential locker room problem and a diva over something relatively stupid. In his position, he’s viewed as a role model. The example he sets by doing this is “Hey kids, do what you want if you don’t get your way”. Attitudes like that hurt everyone more than they could ever help us as a singular individual.
Except Bosa isn’t asking for something unusual – he either gets the offset, OR his signing bonus is paid up front. That’s the standard contract for a Top-5 draft pick; it’s the Chargers that are demanding the unusual condition that the signing bonus is both deferred and there’s an offset.
Pretty well you guys are on point .. But the chargers are holding onto the fact that Ezekiel Elliot who was drafted #4 overall by cowboys, isn’t gettin his bonus upfront. It will be paid over two years. As well as he has offset language in his contract. This isn’t a common occurrence for top 10 picks over the past 10 years but it happens! Joey bosa is being a baby, bottom line .. The money in the contract is fully guaranteed. Play football. He will always be labeled as a diva from any dressing room he enters.
In the real world, people do do things very similar to what Bosa is doing, they’re called labor strikes. In addition, it’s unfitting to compare professional athletes to your average joe. An average joe can be replaced rather easily because there are many people qualified to do the job. The Chargers can’t exactly replace Bosa with another rookie worthy of the #3 pick. He is their only option, and that is his leverage.
I also think there is another interpretation to the example he sets for kids. Yeah it could be “Do what you want if you don’t get your way,” but it could also be “If you truly think you are being treated unfairly, take a stand to demand change and don’t just given in because they’re telling you to.”
Pretty well you guys are on point .. But the chargers are holding onto the fact that Ezekiel Elliot who was drafted #4 overall by cowboys, isn’t gettin his bonus upfront. It will be paid over two years. As well as he has offset language in his contract. This isn’t a common occurrence for top 10 picks over the past 10 years but it happens! Joey bosa is being a baby, bottom line .. The money in the contract is fully guaranteed. Play football. He will always be labeled as a diva from any dressing room he enters.
The problem with this line of thinking ‘just a game’ is that while, yes, it is a game, it is also one that could impair him for life on any given play – so getting paid up front, could be the only paycheck he takes home, ever! Yes this is a bit exaggerated but the point stands that football players are playing a game but should be compensated for the risks they are taking with their bodies
The fight for the new Cleveland begins with San Diego in a commanding lead.
“The more I read about the holdout war between Joey Bosa and the Chargers the more it seems obvious that maybe Eli Manning and Archie Manning were right to tell San Diego to go screw itself.” My folks were season ticket holders in SD for more than 10 years and were seated right in front of the section with the wives/GFs and family of the players. They’d tell you the bottom line is Spanos is a cheap SOB who isn’t committed to winning which is the primary reason why Manning did what he did. They’d also tell you the stadium is a garbage dump that’s about to collapse so, hey, there’s that.
I was just thinking the other day that we should trade for him, send JPP and a pick or two for Bosa.
WHY WOULD YOU TURN MY BABY INTO A BIG NOSED ELI MANNING?!!??!!!????
yeah, you never go full Eli!
BECAUSE ELI MANNING IS A GOOBER SINCE HE JOINED NEW YORK, YOU SEE