Nick Bosa won't be uniting with his brother Joey Bosa at any point soon
By Peter Panacy
There was some modest hope the Chargers would part ways with Joey Bosa, allowing him to somehow join forces with Nick Bosa of the 49ers.
The Los Angeles Chargers are going through some pretty massive changes amid their new era under former San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh.
Chief among the needs on their to-do list, the Bolts had to get underneath the 2024 salary cap. With plenty of high-profile, expensive players eating up cap space, it was perfectly feasible to assume a number of them would become cap casualties.
Including four-time Pro Bowl defensive end Joey Bosa.
Despite dealing with serious injuries the last two seasons, when healthy, Bosa has been one of the better pass-rushers in the league over the last few years, and he still managed 6.5 sacks and eight quarterback hits over just nine games played in 2023.
So, if LA suddenly made Bosa available, either via a trade or by an outright cap-saving release, the Niners had to pounce, right? They needed another pass-rusher, and the thought of pairing Joey Bosa with his younger brother, All-Pro defensive end Nick Bosa, was more than enticing.
Heck, even the Bosa family matriarch pleaded with San Francisco to go out and add Joey.
Well, it's not going to happen. Not at any point soon, at least.
Chargers block any reasonable attempt for 49ers to land Joey Bosa
A day after the 2024 NFL new year began on March 13, ESPN's Adam Schefter (via ESPN's Kris Rhim) reported that Los Angeles was restructuring the older Bosa's contract to ensure he'd remain with the Chargers this year:
"The Los Angeles Chargers and outside linebacker Joey Bosa agreed to a restructured contract, sources told Adam Schefter Thursday.
Bosa had two years remaining on a five-year, $135 million contract extension he signed in 2020. He was viewed as a potential cut or trade candidate for the salary cap-strapped Chargers this offseason, but the restructure keeps him in Los Angeles."
Related story: 49ers free agency tracker 2024: Signings, departures and live updates
The precise details of the restructure aren't known just yet, but doing something like this is a common tool for teams to get under the cap now while deferring payouts by way of void years onto the back end of a contract, essentially "kicking the can" down the road, in terms of money owed.
Both Bosa brothers have made it known they'd like to play with each other on the same team at some point within their careers, but it doesn't look as if that'll happen this year or even in the immediate future.
At least they're both playing in the same state still, though.