Chargers should still try to bring Joey Bosa back, right?

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It was easy to write off a Joey Bosa return as an option for the Los Angeles Chargers. 

Bosa, after all, got cut as a cap-savings move by the team one year after taking a pay cut to stay around. When he entered free agency, his brother Nick Bosa and the San Francisco 49ers were right there as a top option. Others such as the Miami Dolphins came up in rumors, too. 

But maybe it’s not that simple. According to The Athletic’s Michael Silver, while the 49ers and Dolphins have made offers, Bosa would make “less than $10 million in 2025 in either scenario.”

Not that money is everything, but that’s far down from the reported $15 million price tag already mentioned. 

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At some point, the Chargers might want to put feelers out there if they haven’t already. They entered the tampering window with more than $90 million to spend, so one lump sum to keep a franchise great in town and the pass-rush rotation strong feels like a no-brainer. 

And for Bosa, finally getting to test free agency and finding a muted market could always lead to a return. If the numbers are similar and he wants to contend, are the 49ers and Dolphins ahead of Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers? Will the lure of playing elsewhere trump the hassle of a move, new coaches and everything else?

A Bosa return wouldn’t stop the Chargers from adding to the depth chart via the draft while thinking about the future. But he is coming off a 14-game season, the most he’s appeared in since 2021, so that and his steady play over the season’s second half shouldn’t go unnoticed. 

In the end, maybe the free-agent market shows both Bosa and the Chargers that a split doesn’t make sense. The last San Diego Charger returning would be a fun development, all things considered. 

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