Los Angeles Chargers Rumors & News - Pro Football Rumors

Chargers Release James Jones

August 29th, 2016 at 8:16pm CST by Dallas Robinson

8:16pm: The Chargers have confirmed the move.

7:25pm: For the second year in a row, James Jones will be without a team as final cutdowns approach, as the veteran wide receiver has been released by the Chargers, a source tells Annie Heilbrun (Twitter link).

Jones, 32, sat on the free agent market until earlier this month, when he agreed to a one-year, minimum salary benefit deal with San Diego after fellow receiver Stevie Johnson was lost for the season. However, given that he signed so late in camp, Jones was never able to get comfortable with the Chargers’ offense, tweets Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Moreover, Jones figured to play behind Keenan Allen, Travis Benjamin, Tyrell Williams, and possibly Dontrelle Inman on San Diego’s depth chart.

Jones led the Packers in 2015 with 890 receiving yards off of 50 receptions. He also led Green Bay’s wide receivers with eight touchdowns. That was a different stat line than 2014, a year in which he corralled a career-high 73 receptions for just 666 yards and six touchdowns for the Raiders.

In other Chargers news, the club has claimed running back Gus Johnson off waivers from the Falcons, according to James Palmer of NFL.com (on Twitter).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Chargers Move Roster To 83

August 29th, 2016 at 8:12pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Chargers have dropped their roster to 83 players, as the club announced several roster moves on top of the already-reported release of James Jones and waiver claim of running back Gus Johnson. San Diego will still need to make eight cuts before 3pm Tuesday.

Placed on reserve/PUP:

C Chris Watt

Waived:

WR Torrence Allen
C Bruce Johnson
CB Michael Lee
LB Zach Hodges
DT Bruce Gaston
CB Greg Ducre

Watt, a former third-round pick, will miss the first six weeks of the season before being eligible to return to the field. The 26-year-old has started eight games during his first two years in the league, but with free agent signee Matt Slauson poised to start at center, Watt will merely serve as depth unless an injury strikes.

Chargers Sign Joey Bosa

August 29th, 2016 at 2:13pm CST by Zachary Links

Finally – the Joey Bosa saga is over. The Chargers announced that they have inked their first-round pick to a contract with just a couple of weeks to go before the season opener. Bosa now has 13 days to prepare for Week 1 against the Chiefs.

The Chargers gave Bosa the largest upfront signing bonus in club history, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. The two sides compromised on cash flow in years 2, 3, and 4 while the Chargers got the offset language they were seeking. The Chargers and Joey Bosa agreed to a four-year, $25.8M contract, a source tells NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter). He gets a $17MM signing bonus and it is all fully guaranteed.

“We look forward to having Joey join us and getting him prepared as quickly as possible for the 2016 season,” said GM Tom Telesco in a press release.

The Chargers selected Bosa with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2016 draft. The Ohio State product was widely projected to be a top 10 pick in this year’s draft, but few pundits saw the Chargers pouncing on him at No. 3. While teams traded into the top two picks to select quarterbacks, the Bolts were more than happy to stay put and grab Bosa. Although it is common for the first two or three teams on the board to discuss contract quirks with prospective picks, the Bolts apparently did not do that with Bosa or his CAA reps.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Chargers RB Branden Oliver Tears Achilles

August 28th, 2016 at 3:25pm CST by Dallas Robinson

3:25pm: Chargers head coach Mike McCoy confimed to reporters, including Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter links), that Oliver does have a torn Achilles and will miss the year.

2:59pm: The Chargers announced that running back Branden Oliver left today’s preseason game with an Achilles injury, and following initial tests, it appears that Oliver did indeed tear his Achilles, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). While Rapoport cautions that Oliver will undergo more tests, Oliver would clearly miss the 2016 season if the Achilles is torn.

Oliver, who also ended the 2015 campaign on injured reserve, was set to return as San Diego’s third running back behind Melvin Gordon and Danny Woodhead. Serving in that role last season, Oliver rushed 31 times for 108 yards, and added 112 yards via 13 receptions. Additionally, Oliver was once again scheduled to act as the Chargers’ primary kick returner — he averaged 24.6 yards per return last year.

Oliver’s injury would seem to solidify a roster spot for 2015 undrafted free agent Dreamius Smith, who spent most of last season on the Chargers’ practice squad but did see one game of regular season action. Kenneth Farrow, the only other running back on San Diego’s squad, could now see an opening to make the club, while the Chargers also boast two fullbacks — Derek Watt and Chris Swain.

San Diego could look to claim a back off waivers in the coming days as other clubs trim their rosters, or it could venture into the free agent market. Joique Bell, Ahmad Bradshaw, Zac Stacy, Pierre Thomas, and former Charger Donald Brown are all available, as is Karlos Williams, whom I recently listed as a fit for the Chargers.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Danny Woodhead Not Focused On Contract

August 28th, 2016 at 11:30am CST by Rory Parks

Danny Woodhead is entering the final year of the two-year extension he signed with the Chargers in 2014, and he would like to remain with the club long-term, as Michael Gehlken of The San Diego Union-Tribune writes. However, contract talks between team and player prior to training camp were unproductive, with the Chargers determining it was not in position to extend Woodhead for a variety of cited factors, including cash committed to other contracts this year. Woodhead, though, will not publicly comment on his contract situation, and simply indicated a desire to focus on the 2016 season.

Reaction To Joey Bosa, Chargers Dispute

August 26th, 2016 at 8:00pm CST by Dallas Robinson

NFL general managers are “laughing” at the Chargers’ handling of the Joey Bosa contract situation, reports Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report, who says that nearly every source agrees than San Diego is to blame for the current mess of negotiations. “If Joey Bosa ended his dispute tomorrow, he would barely get something from his rookie year,” said one GM. “But it won’t end tomorrow. It could be weeks. So effectively, the Chargers threw away the rookie year of their own high draft pick.” Another GM estimated a 20-30% chance that Bosa could sit out the entire year and re-enter the draft in 2017, and a source close to Bosa told Freeman the chance of that scenario coming to fruition “is slim but growing every day.”

Let’s check out some more reaction to the Bosa squabble:

The Chargers are preparing as though they’ll begin the regular season without Bosa, a sentiment that head coach Mike McCoy confirms, according to Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link). “We’re going to win with whoever we have,” McCoy told reporters today, and general manager Tom Telesco echoed that statement, per Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com. “There’s not really much you can do about it,” said Telesco, although Williams argues that San Diego will likely pick up a few extra defenders in the coming weeks, either through free agency or the waiver process.
The dispute is a bad look for both the Chargers and Bosa, opines Peter Schrager of FOX Sports (all Twitter links). The stalemate hurts the organization as it tries to build a new stadium in San Diego, but it also affects Bosa’s agency, CAA, as other agencies could use this situation to poach clients. At least one NFL executive expressed shock to Schrager that the friction was still ongoing: “Is THIS the hill you want to die on?”
The NFLPA has contacted Bosa and his camp, according to Tom Pelissero of USA Today, but a grievance is considered a “last resort,” says union spokesperson George Atallah. As Pelissero writes, San Diego would be able to decrease their offer and still fall within the contract requirements outlined by the CBA, meaning that Bosa could only argue that the club had refused to negotiate in good faith.
As evidenced by the Chargers’ statement on Wednesday, Bosa has seemingly agreed to a large deferral of his signing bonus — but that deferral isn’t quite significant enough for the team, writes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
In case you missed the rest of the drama earlier this week, Chargers president John Spanos called Bosa’ holdout “absolutely asinine,” while Bosa’s agent accused the club of “manipulating facts.”

Chargers Make Two Roster Moves

August 25th, 2016 at 5:20pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The Chargers announced they’ve waived/injured outside linebacker Tyler Marcordes and signed center Bruce Johnson. Marcordes went undrafted out of Georgia this year before signing with the Bolts. Johnson – undrafted from Maine this year – spent three-plus months with the Eagles, who cut him Sunday.

Joey Bosa’s Rep Attacks Chargers

August 24th, 2016 at 7:09pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

First-round holdout Joey Bosa‘s agent, Brian Ayrault, has issued an acerbic response to the Chargers’ Wednesday statement concerning the lack of progress in contract talks between the two sides. Via Adam Schefter of ESPN:

“It is unfortunate the San Diego Chargers have decided to manipulate facts and negotiate in the media. The team surely is not strengthening its relationship with Joey Bosa by taking this stance and making their position public.

We have decided that we will not engage in public negotiations or discuss numbers and/or terms in this negotiation.

We will say, that it is ironic that the team now takes issue with the timing of Joey’s arrival, since the Chargers unilaterally decided to remain silent for the first 14 days of training camp instead of replying in a timely fashion to the proposal we made on the eve of training camp on July 28th.

At this point, all we can do is continue to fight for a fair contract on behalf of our client, as we do for all of our clients. The Chargers can focus on trying to sway public opinion, but our focus will remain on our client and securing a contract for him that is fair and consistent with his draft position.”

We learned earlier Wednesday that the Chargers pulled their latest offer to Bosa off the table after the third overall pick declined it. Chargers president John Spanos later went on to refer to Bosa’s holdout as “absolutely asinine” and implied that neither the defensive end nor his agent have been reasonable in negotiations.

The Bolts and Bosa have been at loggerheads for months over signing bonus distribution and offset language in the 21-year-old rookie’s prospective contract. According to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Chargers’ since-tabled proposal included an 85 percent payout of Bosa’s bonus in Year 1 of the deal. While Ayrault has budged from his insistence that Bosa should receive the entire bonus up front, per Michael Gehlken of the Union-Tribune, the Chargers’ increase from 61 percent to 85 percent wasn’t enough to lead to an agreement.

Photo courtesy of Pro Football Rumors’ Instagram account.

Chargers Transactions: Square, Richardson

August 24th, 2016 at 6:17pm CST by Zachary Links

Chargers defensive tackle Damion Square has been suspended for four games by the NFL for a substance abuse violation, as Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Square was a restricted free agent San Diego initially elected not to tender during the offseason, but the team later re-signed him to a cheaper one-year deal. The 27-year-old played in six games last year and started in one after being promoted from the practice squad in November.
The Chargers have reached an injury settlement with wideout Rico Richardson, per Wilson (Twitter link).

Spanos: Bosa’s Holdout “Absolutely Asinine”

August 24th, 2016 at 5:18pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

With the Chargers and first-round defensive end Joey Bosa embroiled in the ugliest contract dispute the NFL has seen since introducing the rookie wage scale in 2011, team president John Spanos expressed frustration about the situation Wednesday.

“I’m highly, highly disappointed in the path we’ve had to take,” Spanos told Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. “It’s so overly clear we had no choice. It would have been more difficult if I felt they were being reasonable. But when you’re dealing with someone who isn’t reasonable, it makes it easy.”

Spanos’ words came in response to the decision Bosa’s camp made to reject the Chargers’ latest proposal, which was the best one the franchise has put forth in the three-plus months since drafting him third overall.

The Chargers offered to pay the ex-Ohio State star 85 percent of his $17MM signing bonus this year (up from the previous figure of 61 percent), according to Acee, but he turned it down and the club then pulled the proposal off the table Wednesday. Bosa’s agent, Brian Ayrault, is no longer requiring the Chargers to pay the full bonus up front, sources told the Union-Tribune’s Michael Gehlken, though it’s unclear how far he has come down from that demand. Not nearly enough, if you’re to believe Spanos.

“What you do is you compromise,” he stated. “We moved and we moved and we moved. They weren’t moving.”

Notably, this type of dispute isn’t foreign to the Chargers, who were in a similar dust-up with first-round quarterback Philip Rivers in 2014, as Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio writes. Then, on this date 12 years ago, Rivers signed. He remains the Bolts’ signal-caller to this day, of course, proving that a contentious holdout doesn’t have to ruin a relationship between the player and team.

Bosa’s fight with the Chargers goes beyond the payout of a signing bonus, as the 21-year-old and the organization have also been battling over offset language. If a player with offset language in his contract is released midway through the pact, the original team is only on the hook for the difference in salary between the two deals. Without offset language, the player can effectively collect two paychecks. Naturally, there are many agents – including Ayrault – who are disinclined to forfeit that potential earning power.

“I’m blown away. At all costs I wanted to avoid going down this road. They made it overly clear we had no other option,” continued Spanos, who referred to Bosa’s holdout as “absolutely asinine.”

Despite the acrimony between the two sides, they’re stuck with each other through the current season. The Chargers had until Aug. 9 to trade Bosa’s rights, but they opted to retain him. If Bosa doesn’t sign by the Tuesday after Week 10, he won’t be eligible to play at all this season. San Diego would then control Bosa’s rights up to next spring’s draft, at which point another team would be able to select him and try its luck in locking him up.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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