Standoff over: Chargers announce they've signed Joey Bosa

Joey Bosa won’t be re-entering the 2017 draft after all. His holdout didn’t even last through the fourth preseason game.

The San Diego Chargers announced they’ve signed Bosa, the Ohio State defensive end who was the third pick of this year’s draft, to a four-year contract. That came a week after the holdout included some public angst from both sides, and it looked like Bosa and the team were further apart than ever.

Apparently both sides figured out that they had a lot to lose. Bosa was looking at turning down a lot of money, all over a squabble over offset language and the timing of his signing bonus payments, and the Chargers were getting to the point in which their new star defensive player was going to not have a chance to have an effective rookie season. Bosa’s deal is worth $25.8 million with a $17 million signing bonus, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said.

Bosa still has some challenges ahead of him. Missing the entire preseason (it seems very doubtful he’d play in the fourth preseason game, just three days after he signed) is not good for his development as a rookie. Most likely he’ll be a situational player at best for most of the season. The Chargers and Bosa wasted a lot of valuable practice time on this holdout.

“We look forward to having Joey join us and getting him prepared as quickly as possible for the 2016 season,” general manager Tom Telesco said in the team’s statement.

The public battle over the contract is done. Bosa is now officially a Charger. Finally.