We know how Joey Bosa's representatives feel about the rookie's contract impasse and, after the most informative statement sent out by a team about a player contract in league history Wednesday, we know exactly how the Chargers feel.
But where does the rest of the league fit in?
"At the end of the day, this is what you love to do -- you love to play this game," Colts linebacker D'Qwell Jackson said Thursday on NFL Network's Good Morning Football. "We get compensated very well, so at some point you have to talk to your agent, talk to the powers that be and like 'I want to play football, do whatever you can to get me into camp.' You need to show up to camp.
"We all know you can't flip a switch and, 'OK, I'm going to get 10 sacks or I'm going to get this many tackles.' You have to actually build a rapport with your teammates, build a rapport with your coaches. And understand this game plays at a different speed. It takes a different type of conditioning to get yourself prepared week-in and week-out. So, there's a ton that goes into it."
While Jackson isn't one of Bosa's future teammates (unless Bosa re-enters the draft next year and is picked up by Indianapolis, of course), he represents an interesting third party in this war between Bosa and the Chargers. There is the perception in your own locker room, there is what you tell yourself at the end of the night and there is the respect and admiration of your peers around the league.
This battle is fascinating because there are ardent supporters on both sides. There are NFL players who -- privately, more than anything -- are rooting for Bosa because they too have been scorned during contract negotiations in the past. There are the love of the game players like Jackson who feel like the money is good enough. Then, there is every player on the Chargers and every player who might be drafted by the Chargers in the future. The team has held firm to their precedent on offset language to this point and don't sound like they are changing their minds anytime soon. Bosa represented their best chance to see it end.
