Bosa joins Charger teammates, says 'no bad blood' among them
— -- SAN DIEGO - Just being one of the guys -- that's one of the things Joey Bosa missed during the 31 days he remained unsigned due to a contract impasse with the San Diego Chargers.
And after signing a four-year deal on Monday, a day later Bosa was out on the field working with his teammates, including posing for photo with some of his fellow defensive linemen for a long row of cameras on hand to watch his first appearance on the field since June at Chargers Park. Veteran defensive tackle Brandon Mebane hatched the idea of the impromptu photo shoot to help loosen things up for Bosa.
"It means a lot that they're all welcoming me back with open arms like that," Bosa. "They all understand the business of the NFL and why I wasn't here. So there's no bad blood between anyone of us, and they're just excited to have me out here, and I'm excited to be out here."
Bosa missed over a month and three preseason games during a contentious contract stalemate that included haggling over the payment of Bosa's $17 million signing bonus and whether the contract would include offset language. He eventually signed Monday and Bosa said he's could play in the opener on Sept. 11 at the Kansas City Chiefs.
Bosa and the rest of the Chargers worked out in just helmets, jerseys and shorts, as the team prepares for San Diego's final preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers in two days.
"We're just happy to have him out here," defensive lineman Corey Liuget said. "And I just look forward to working with the guy."
Bosa likely will not play against San Francisco. Chargers head coach Mike McCoy said he'll take a wait-and-see approach on determining if the Ohio State product will play in the regular-season opener on the road against the Chiefs.
The Chargers have just one padded practice in the next two weeks to get Bosa ready for the season opener. But so far, McCoy liked what he saw from his rookie, first-round pick in Tuesday's practice.
"He looked as we expected," McCoy said. "He was in shape and ready to roll. He looked the way he did when he left."
Bosa said he'll spend some extra time with defensive line coach Giff Smith on Tuesday and throughout the week getting up to speed on the playbook in general, and specifically San Diego's plans for him defensively.
"It's was nice actually, getting to run some plays," Bosa said. "It's just going to take a little bit of time to get back into a rhythm of things and get all of the plays.
"I still haven't put pads on, so I'm sure that's going to be the hardest thing to get adjusted to."
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