The Chargers officially made the decision to release star pass rusher Joey Bosa after a nine year career with the team. Bosa had signed a massive five year, $135 million contract extension with the Chargers back in 2020 which reset the EDGE market for the league, but availability became a concern a few years into the contract, with Bosa playing in just 14 games across the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Bosa was a clear cut candidate in 2024 but the cap charges were high and he and the Chargers agreed to a band aid contract that reduced his salary by $7 million. Bosa played in 14 games but appeared in under 50% of the defensive snaps.

Bosa’s salary cap number exploded this year to $36.47 million. Since this was the final season of his contract the dead money was not as much of an issue. Bosa will carry a dead money charge of $11.111 million this year which will mean the Chargers save $25.36 million in both cash and cap.

Bosa is a big name and can possibly be an effective pass rusher if healthy. His career has run similar to JJ Watt’s and Watt was able to find a team on a two year contract after being released. Watt continued to have injury issues in his first year on that contract but closed out his career with a season before retiring.

With the release of Bosa the Chargers should be 3rd in the NFL with about $90 million in cap room.