- The Chargers have cut offensive tackle Zeth Ramsay, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. Ramsey signed with the Chargers in April as an undrafted free agent from Colorado Mesa.
In April, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell endorsed the idea of keeping the Chargers in San Diego and said the Super Bowl will return to the city if an initiative for a downtown stadium goes through. However, the prospect of hosting a Super Bowl isn’t nearly as enticing as it sounds and might not be much of an incentive to the city of San Diego, according to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link).
It costs a community anywhere from $50MM to $60MM in public and private funds to land a Super Bowl, a source told Cole, who adds that San Diego doesn’t have that type of money to bid on the game once – let alone on a regular basis. Thus, dangling the carrot of hosting the Super Bowl in front of the city won’t necessarily galvanize it to build a stadium, which would put the Chargers in further jeopardy of relocating after the upcoming season.
The Chargers, of course, could have bolted (no pun intended) with the Rams for Los Angeles during the winter, but they chose to give San Diego one more shot at a stadium agreement. The clock on a deal is ticking, though, as the Chargers’ chance to head to LA will expire on Jan. 15, 2017.
The Goodell-led NFL is willing to chip in $300MM ($100MM more than its usual policy) to help San Diego construct a stadium, and the Chargers’ plan calls for a combined $650MM to come from the team and the league, with an additional $350MM stemming from a 4 percent hike in the local hotel tax. That would add up to $1 billion, the amount necessary to build the stadium, though it remains to be seen if the city is receptive to the idea.
- Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com believes that the Chargers, ideally, would like to bring Manti Te’o back on a multi-year deal when his contract expires after the 2016 season. However, the linebacker will have to prove that he can stay healthy. The 25-year-old missed 13 games in his first three years because of various foot and ankle ailments. In 2015, the Notre Dame product emerged as a team leader on defense and finished with a team-high 83 tackles. If he can stay on the field, the Chargers would like to have him and Denzel Perryman as their main players at inside linebacker.
The Chargers had to build their offensive line by piecemeal in previous years, but they have some stability now thanks to the presence of Matt Slauson, Michael Gehlken of U-T San Diego writes. Slauson will now hold down the center position after the team was faced with multiple injuries there, including the knee injury of third-round selection Max Tuerk. And while Slauson may have more starts at guard than center, he’s doing just fine as Philip Rivers’ batterymate.
The Chargers‘ inked Slauson to a two-year deal this spring on a deal which carries a $3MM base. The veteran can earn another $1.25MM in bonuses and escalators via playing time.
- The Chargers should experiment with versatile rookie Joey Bosa, Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com writes. Bosa is making a transition to a new position as a 3-4 defensive end, and also has been spotted as an edge and interior rusher in passing situations in practice. Beyond that, however, there’s a case to be made that Bosa could be tried out as a 3-4 outside linebacker. “See if he can play 3-4 outside linebacker. You might be surprised,” ESPN NFL analyst Matt Bowen said. “I’m not saying he’s going to be Von Miller, or a guy with that type of high-level athleticism that can drop, or run with a running back down the field or cover a tight end down the field. But it’s a perfect time to experiment with that.”
- The Chargers placed safety Matt Daniels on the injured reserve list with a leg injury, Eric Williams of ESPN.com tweets. Daniels appeared in only one game for San Diego last season. Former Michigan linebacker James Ross has been signed to fill Daniel’s void, a source tells Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link).
- Chargers GM Tom Telesco spent the offseason hoping to be in position to select Joey Bosa but didn’t think his team would be in position to do so until after the Browns-Eagles trade gave the quarterback-seeking Eagles the No. 2 pick. “Watching Joey play in the Fiesta Bowl, I left there thinking if he does declare, and if he is there at number three, we’ve got to take him,” Telesco told Ricky Henne of Chargers.com. “… [Football operations president John Spanos] got the text and told us about the trade, and we all high-fived in the room after that one because we knew if we stayed here and picked, we got him.” The Ohio State defensive end who finished his three-year career with 51 tackles for loss intrigued Telesco dating back to his 2013 freshman season, when the then-new Chargers GM traveled to an Ohio State-Purdue game.
- To the amazement of Spanos, Bosa’s standing within the organization did not make its way toward pre-draft speculation, with the Chargers linked to Jalen Ramsey, Laremy Tunsil or Ronnie Stanley. “We would look around at each other and say, ‘Man, I can’t believe no one knows,'” Spanos said. “… Sometimes when you hear rumors, you can piece together where it came from. In the specific case of the Ronnie Stanley rumor, I have no clue where that came from. So I was really amused, and I didn’t feel a need to set the record straight. I just sat back and enjoyed the false speculation.”
Everyone gets excited about rookies, but it’s not fair to compare Chargers newcomer Joey Bosa to superstar J.J. Watt, Tom Krasovic of U-T San Diego writes. Bosa, who was ranked as the top player in the entire draft by some outlets, should provide the Bolts with an instant boost and a long-term staple in the front seven. Still, no NFL neophyte should be expected to keep pace with a four-time Pro Bowler and the league’s most feared defensive force, Krasovic argues.
- The Chargers‘ two-year contract with center Matt Slauson carries a $3MM base, Michael Gehlken of U-T San Diego tweets. The veteran can earn another $1.25MM in bonuses and escalators via playing time.
The Chargers claimed Zach Mettenberger off waivers on Tuesday, but two other teams also tried to land the quarterback. The Giants and the Bengals also put in claims, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets, but the Chargers had higher priority on the waiver wire. 
The Giants’ depth chart at quarterback has gone largely untouched for the last few years with Ryan Nassib backing up Eli Manning. Had the Giants successfully claimed him, Mettenberger could have competed with B.J. Daniels for the No. 3 spot on the team’s depth chart. The Giants’ real motive in making a play for Mettenberger could have been to give themselves insurance in case they did not re-sign Nassib following his contract year in 2016. Mettenberger potentially could have allowed the Giants to entertain trade options for Nassib as well.
The Bengals also appear to be pretty set at quarterback with Andy Dalton as starter and A.J. McCarron – a capable backup – slotted in as his understudy. McCarron completed 66.4% of his passes last season, throwing six touchdown passes compared to two interceptions in three starts in relief of Andy Dalton. Teams inquired on the Alabama product over the offseason and while head coach Marvin Lewis said that he was not interested in trading him, owner Mike Brown did not rule it out. It’s possible that the Bengals were curious to see if Mettenberger could have performed well enough over the summer to make them comfortable enough to move McCarron. Or, maybe they were only looking to put some additional competition for the No. 3 spot alongside with Keith Wenning and undrafted rookie Joe Licata.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Jets receiver Eric Decker told SiriusXM NFL on Tuesday afternoon that, right now, the Jets “have to move on without” free agent quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. However, as a guest on NFL Total Access on Tuesday evening, he expressed confidence that the Jets and Fitzpatrick will ultimately get a deal done, writes Dan Hanzus of NFL.com.
“Something is going to happen. It might be before training camp, the day or two before, but I believe that he’ll be back on the team come this fall,” Decker said, though he did acknowledge that the two sides “are so far off” from each other when it comes to the quarterback’s dollar value.
In other NFL news…
- It looks as if Colts quarterback Andrew Luck‘s injury-plagued 2015 campaign is behind him. The four-year veteran is participating in Colts workouts with “no limitations,” he said Tuesday (via Mike Wells of ESPN.com). After appearing in all of the Colts’ games during his first three seasons, Luck missed nine contests last year with injuries to his kidney, ribs and shoulder, and experienced a precipitous statistical decline while on the field. Now, Luck “looks really good,” according to head coach Chuck Pagano. As of late April, the Colts were focusing on an extension for Luck, whose deal expires at the end of the upcoming season. It’s likely a new contract for the 26-year-old would make him one of the league’s highest-paid players.
- Chargers defensive tackle Brandon Mebane, who signed with the Bolts in free agency, spoke effusively about the team’s defensive personnel Monday (per Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune). “I was telling guys, there’s more talent on this defense than in Seattle. If you look at the draft, you’ve got four first-round draft picks. You’ve got five second-round draft picks, all total on defense. In Seattle, we only had two first rounders and one second rounder. Everybody else was pretty much down in the draft or undrafted.” Mebane is quite familiar with the Seahawks’ defense, of course, having spent the first nine years of his career in Seattle. Regardless of draft pedigree, however, the Seahawks has been among the NFL’s defensive elite over the past several years, whereas the Chargers’ stop unit was toward the bottom of the league in all notable categories last season. With Mebane and third overall pick Joey Bosa now aboard, at least some improvement should be in order this year.
- Chip Kelly understood Jarryd Hayne‘s decision to retire in light of a potential Olympic rugby opportunity, Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. On the subject of Hayne, the NFL’s drug-testing protocol may keep him out of the Olympics despite American football having no presence in the Games. Prospective Olympic athletes must be in a World Anti-Doping Agency-compliant pool for at least six months, Jamie Marcuson of the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The NFL does not fall under the WADA umbrella, and former Australian Anti-Doping Agency chief Richard Ings told Marcuson that Hayne has “no chance” of playing for his native Fiji this August as a result. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wonders if Hayne’s exit strategy stemmed instead from the fact he didn’t have much of a chance to make the 49ers‘ 53-man roster.
- Titans safety Rashad Johnson told SiriusXM (Twitter link) that the Cardinals expressed some interest in having him back, but did not make an offer.
Zach Links contributed to this post.