With a $12.36 million bonus due next Wednesday and the Chargers unwilling to fork over the cash, the team that made Joey Bosa the third overall pick in the 2016 draft has released him.
So what’s next?
As a vested veteran, he immediately becomes a free agent. He can sign with any team, at any time. And we’re picking up early indications that there could be a “frenzy” for the five-time Pro Bowler’s services.
His most recent Pro Bowl comes less with a caveat and more with a double take. Bosa appeared in 14 games last year, with nine starts. He had 5.0 sacks. And yet he landed in Orlando, again.
In nine NFL seasons, Bosa has missed games due to injury in all but two years. And with 14 fewer career regular-season starts (93) than appearances (107), it means that, beyond the games he missed, Bosa had nearly a full season of games during which he wasn’t full go.
But pass rushers remain valuable commodities in the NFL. The Super Bowl reconfirmed that, while a great pass rush alone won’t get a team to the championship game, a great pass rush can help win it — convincingly.
Bosa has already been linked to his younger brother’s team, the 49ers. But Joey can go wherever he wants. He can take less and chase a ring. He can take whatever it takes to play with Nick. Or Joey can take top dollar from the highest bidder and hope for the best.
It appears there will be no shortage of interest. While his early arrival on the free-agent market wasn’t completely unexpected, Joey Bosa gives a nice jolt to a cycle in which the cupboard (when it comes to game-changing players) was and is largely bare.
