The Los Angeles Chargers have had plenty of ups and downs with their 2016 first-round selection, Joey Bosa. Whether it was the contract holdout before he played a snap for the team, the 12.5 sack season, or the plethora of unfortunate injuries Bosa is forever in the minds of Chargers fans.
With Bosa’s 2024 season being underwhelming due to the theme that has echoed throughout his entire career, injuries, he finds himself in a tricky situation with the Chargers likely cutting him due to his immense cap hit.
Longest-Tenured Chargers Player Likely to Be Cut
The Big-Four
Coming into the 2024 season, Bosa was one of the “big four” contracts on the Chargers. He had the highest cap hit among the four and was coming off a season where he was very efficient but only played nine games, and only five games played from the season before.
His case to be cut was arguably the most definite of the four, as the other three candidates were the other star EDGE rusher, Khalil Mack, Chargers legend, Keenan Allen, and playmaker, Mike Williams.
Williams found himself cut as he was coming off an injury and was a clean, easy cut for the Chargers that allowed them to save plenty of cap space. However, cutting him disallowed the Chargers from having a true “X” receive for their offense. The Chargers cut him before the season.
Mack was an easy candidate to stick around, as he was coming off a career season and showed age plays no factor in his play. He stuck around for the season and is now a free agent. He is rumored to re-sign with the Chargers during this off-season.
Then came Allen, who was also coming off a career season and was the longest-tenured Charger who will also be inducted in the ring of honor one day. He was cut to save more cap.
This leaves us with Bosa not being cut and the fact that General Manager, Joe Hortiz and the Chargers decided to cut Allen over Bosa, and this led to a major outrage amongst Chargers fans. To Bosa’s credit, he took a pay cut to stay with the team and was looked at to be a good “addition” in 2024. But his time has come.
Hard Goodbye
Simply put, the Chargers can take all of the cap space they can get. While they have the fifth most cap space in the NFL currently, they can jump to third place with a cut of Joey Bosa.
Allocating those resources to re-sign stars like Mack, Poona Ford and Elijah Molden would give the Chargers a much more well-rounded roster, whilst filling much-needed roster spots.
Speaking of roster spots, the Chargers have 45 players on contract and will need 45 more spots filled to fulfill the 90-man roster requirements. Signing players takes cap space, and having an extra 25 million will greatly help that cause.
So whether it is making the “Chargers 2.0” roster as Head Coach Jim Harbaugh put it, or spending big dollars on good veteran receivers, the cut of Joey Bosa is something that needs to happen.
Main Photo: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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