Been an interesting thread. Few quick thoughts:
Chargers aren't breaking the CBA obviously. However, they look cheap and petty and that's going to hurt their franchise going forward. There's no better time in the history of the NFL to sign a 3 this cheap and they can't even get it done.
That being said, there's no way Bosa is worried about busting out or being cut. Most of these dudes aren't built like that. My personal opinion is that it's about respect. This is a league of supreme athletes and alpha dogs, he just wants the minimum his slot dictates. Sure, maybe SD pays their rooks all the same but let's be honest, he's the 3 overall and coming in under a relatively new CBA. Comparing him to everyone else on their team is apples and oranges. It's also about respect for his agent Tom Condon, there's no possible way he can take less than the minimum, incentive wise, for his client, whether it's in their right or not, it will hinder his ability and leverage enticing future rookies. That's not something that's going to happen.
SD is within their rights, there's no doubt, but it's a petty and incomprehensible stance to take on a possible franchise player. And I don't mean PR wise, I hate the media anyway, they're full of crap pretty much 100% of the time, but when it comes to rookies and free agents, that's going to be tough. It may even be more difficult to get agents excited about working with SD. It's a very poor move for their franchise. If a player can play he will always find a team, but when a franchise sucks it rarely works in reverse, nobody wants to play there.
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk