I don't look at this as a big request from the team at all. The fact some teams treated a few top of the first round draft picks differently than others in the first round doesn't obligate the Charges to do the same.

From the players' perspective, there is an artificial line somewhere in the first round; if you were picked before that line you get all of your bonus immediately, and if you were picked after, some of your bonus is paid later. What good reason is there to treat some differently, and where should the line be drawn? Why shouldn't all rookie signing bonuses be paid on the same schedule?

Probably an issue for the next CBA, definitive agreement on payment of rookie signing bonuses.