The more I read about the holdout war between Joey Bosa and the Chargers the more it seems obvious that maybe Eli Manning and Archie Manning were right to tell San Diego to go screw itself. This is a team that has had more rookie holdouts in the past decade than any other. Despite the fact that Eli scorned a different front office, maybe the problem isn’t the front office but those who control it. Dean Spanos hasn’t proved to be the greatest of owners in the past few seasons, maybe the problems have been long festering.

I hope Bosa wins the holdout. Whether that is getting the Chargers to cave or skipping the season and re-entering the draft, I hope he wins. The players do not have enough rights in this league and they deserve more, and I’d like to see a team give way to pave the way for more player rights in the future. What’s so damning about this situation is that it feels like there’s no reason the Chargers shouldn’t be caving. They want to stick on team friendly provisions (That they get to recoup possible losses if Bosa leaves before the contract is up, and paying him his signing bonus later, over time). Bosa is willing to accept one of those two concessions, but not both, and the Chargers are taking their ball and going home about it. What the hell, Chargers?

This kind of cheapness towards a #3 overall pick seems pretty indicative of how the Chargers have treated the city of SD in regards to the stadium and also kind of explains why they got screwed out of LA. Spanos is cheap. I don’t see why they can’t just give Bosa the signing bonus now, that seems pretty reasonable. It seems really reasonable. The Chargers are arguing precedent or something about it, but precedent doesn’t mean Bosa should just cave to giving in chances at making what money he can. “Tradition” has always been an excuse to keep the status quo for the people who benefit most from it. Bosa is your #3 overall pick, considered by many the top choice in the draft (he might have gone first if QBs weren’t so important). Pay the man. He’s not asking for the moon.

In the meantime we need someone to get these players a better union rep and actually help them in the next CBA so cheap jerks like the Chargers organization can’t screw over players so easily.