COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Football. Is. A. Business.

At the NFL level, this has been and always will be true. So when a player holds out, it’s about business.

But for a game full of the toughest guys in the world, isn’t great to know how sensitive they can get about business?

The Chargers today released a statement which says, basically, they doubt Joey Bosa will be able to contribute much to the team because he’s still holding out. Other players are getting the reps Bosa would have been taking at camp, so therefore the Chargers will play those guys now.

I bet Bosa’s agent, and Joey himself, are likely shaking in their shoes now and will sprint to camp to play for whatever they’re offering.

Nope. Joey was the 3^rd pick in the draft because he’s a better player than what the Chargers currently have at that position. He is. And while he would have benefited from additional practice through training camp, when he shows up he’s still going to be their best player. He will play and basically learn on-the-job.

But I love the public relations play from San Diego there, to try to rally public support despite their inability to sign a player in an NFL salary cap system designed to keep these types of rookie holdouts from happening. They even released a statement spelling out all the things they’ve offered Bosa, supporting their shock and awe that Bosa would turn it down. The largest initial signing bonus payment for any player in the past two drafts is among the highlights touted in the statement.

According to a few published reports here is the holdup: Bosa’s refusing to sign his deal over a deferred signing bonus and something called “offset language” – that prevents a team from paying the rest of a contract if the player gets cut by the team before the deal ends.

So the Chargers have decided to try and make a public enemy of the player they just decided to make a massive part of their future. GREAT idea guys!  Maybe this is why the Chargers regularly have their home games fall victim to local TV blackouts.

Should Bosa be in camp? Sure he should. To holdout this long over contract minutiae seems ridiculous, especially when the rookie wage system has been re-designed to avoid this. Joey should be in camp now.

But the Chargers’ handling of this is absurd IMO. To try to make your future star player look like a selfish fool before he ever suits up in a game? Dumb.

Bosa will be there soon, but it’ll be a long time before those fences get mended.

Maybe Eli Manning had it right after all.