OXNARD, Calif. -- Somehow Joey Bosa-to-the-Dallas Cowboys has become a thing.
With Bosa and the San Diego Chargers still at a contract impasse as training camp rolls on, some have tried to concoct a way in which the Cowboys acquire the Ohio State defensive end.
The Cowboys do have a pass-rushing need. They have had it the entire offseason and haven’t really filled it, unless you count signing Benson Mayowa in free agency and adding Charles Tapper in the draft as attempts to address it.
Some have wondered if the Cowboys would be willing to give up next year’s No. 1 pick, guard Ron Leary or some other combination of picks to get Bosa.
It’s all fantasy talk.
The Cowboys liked Bosa; he was the fourth-rated player on their board according to the fine folks at Blogging the Boys, who were able to piece together the rankings thanks to social media. There were pre-draft whispers that Bosa wasn’t a favorite of defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli, but if he was fourth on the board, then you would think he would have been a Cowboy had Ezekiel Elliott been selected before the Cowboys' pick.
The marriage of Bosa and the Chargers hasn’t gotten off to the greatest of starts. He is only first-rounder this year who hasn't signed, and he has remained unsigned the longest of anyone since the inception of the new rookie wage system. His mother went to Facebook and said she regretted that the family didn’t "pull an Eli" and force a trade the way Eli Manning did in 2004, when he was traded to the Giants on draft night after being selected first overall. The Chargers' unofficial depth chart came out Monday and had Bosa listed as the third-team defensive end.
Oh, and San Diego has a stadium referendum on the ballot, so they could use as much good publicity as possible.
But there is simply no way Bosa can end up with the Cowboys in 2016. The Cowboys have a few thousand dollars left in rookie pool money. He wouldn’t fit. And he wouldn’t accept less. If he doesn’t want to play for the Chargers, the only real option is sitting out the season and entering next year’s draft.
The irony of it all is that the Cowboys might be playing a part in Bosa’s holdout because of their deal with Elliott.
The running back, who was a teammate of Bosa's at Ohio State, signed a four-year, fully guaranteed deal worth $24.956 million. He also received a signing bonus of $16.350 million.
The Cowboys have offset language in Elliott’s deal that would allow them to get out of the guarantee in the future if they cut the running back and he signs elsewhere. Also, a percentage of Elliott’s signing bonus is deferred to March 2017.
Bosa does not want offset language, and he does not want a large percentage of bonus money deferred to 2017, so he's sitting out camp.
But he can’t be a Cowboy.