Quote Originally Posted by Patler View Post
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.
Conversely, I don't see it as much of a request from the player. It's a signing bonus, give it to him when he signs! I don't understand why the Chargers are taking such a hard line on this, do they have cash flow problems? Contract is slotted, can they pull it off the table? Seems to me if they're insisting on offset language and signing bonus deferment, he's got nothing (monetarily) to lose, and he'll get the same now or if he signs the night before the season opens.