Los Angeles Chargers

Will Joey Bosa sit out the entire 2016 season?

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:28 p.m. ET

Dieter Kurtenbach

Twelve days in and there’s no end in sight.

Joey Bosa, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, is still holding out of San Diego Chargers training camp — a byproduct of failed contract negotiations between him and the team.

Wednesday marks the 12th day of the holdout, making the Bosa impasse the longest by a rookie since the NFL’s new collective bargaining agreement went into place.

There has reportedly been no contact between the Chargers and Bosa’s camp since July 28. The Chargers can’t trade him and Bosa can’t sign with another team — if the Ohio State product is going to play this year, it’s going to be in San Diego. But that begs the question:

Will Joey Bosa sit out the entire 2016 season?

It seems a ridiculous question — the disagreement between the player and team is petty at worst and penny-ante at best — but given the lack of movement from either side, we have to take the question into serious consideration.

Why is this happening? Doesn’t the NFL have set salaries for rookies?

Yes, it does.

This is happening because — above all else — the Chargers are cheap.

The Chargers want to break up Bosa’s signing bonus, worth an estimated $17 million, and also include offset language in the contract.

The push to have both a split signing bonus and offset language in the contract is unprecedented for a No. 3 pick under the new CBA.

Bosa’s rookie contract, worth $25 million, is guaranteed — the Chargers can’t get around paying that — but the team’s push to break with precedent is bizarre. The Chargers claim that they are maintaining their franchise's precedent — but that precedent has never needed to apply to the No. 3 overall pick.

Still, the Chargers have all the leverage, unless Bosa, refusing to budge on principle, holds out all the way until draft day 2017, when he could then be selected by any team but the Chargers.

There seems a slim chance that Bosa will pass up $25 million and re-enter next year’s draft, but then again there seemed to be little chance that he would hold out for 12 days (and counting) to start his NFL career.

Even if the Chargers get what they want — the offset language or the delayed signing bonus payout or both — will it be worth the cost? If the Chargers have another high pick down the line, players will be doing their best to avoid being picked by them. They’ll pull the “Eli Manning” Bosa’s mother alluded to in her Facebook post blasting the team.

As for their current draft pick, the player and the franchise are starting off on historically bad terms, and given the current nature of the negotiations, it’s hard to imagine the two sides ever being fully amicable.

And with that being the case, perhaps Bosa — valuing principle over cash — opts to continue his holdout into 2017.