Written by Michael Gehlkin at San Diego Union Tribune
Joey Bosa is in the building.
At last.
The Chargers signed their No. 3 overall pick Monday morning. He is set to have his first practice with the team today. Bosa had been absent from the club since June, as the team and his agent worked to settle a contract dispute that largely centered on the payout of his signing bonus.
“We came to a fair deal,” Bosa said. “There’s no animosity between any of us, me toward them or them toward me.”
Bosa has a chance now to be on the field Sept. 11 for the season opener at Kansas City. His role, however, could be limited initially as he works himself into football shape. It is possible that Darius Philon will start at left defensive end while Bosa, 21, works in the Chargers’ substitution packages.
The key thing for the Chargers was to get Bosa here first.
A critical development in closing the gap between the two sides was a switch of the agent who led Bosa’s negotiations, sources said. The change came after Chargers President of Football Operations John Spanos went public Wednesday, saying the team had made its best offer and agent Brian Ayrault had turned it down. Spanos vowed the offer would only reduce from there. In the days that followed the hard-line stance, a transfer occurred from Ayrault to Todd France, who also works for CAA and co-represents Bosa. “Good cop, bad cop,” one source called it, referring to CAA’s tactic.
From there, negotiations restarted to some degree.
On Sunday morning, before the team kicked off against the Vikings at 10 a.m. PT, the Chargers and France agreed to a deal largely resembling the “best offer” from last week, a deal featuring 85 percent cash payout of Bosa’s $17-million signing bonus, or about $14.45 million, this calendar year, sources said. The rest will be deferred to March. Improved roster-bonus language for Bosa was a notable difference, a source said, from last week’s offer. As long established, Bosa’s contract features offset language.
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