The Los Angeles Chargers today announced the release of edge rusher Joey Bosa on Wednesday night. Bosa was drafted by the Chargers with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2016. Bosa was the Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2016. He played his college football at Ohio State, where he was a starter on the 2014 national championship team. He was named the Big Ten Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2014. Bosa was the last remaining member of the team from the San Diego era.
Bosa was a five-time Pro Bowl player for the Chargers. He set an NFL record by recording 19 sacks in the first 20 games of his career and had 72 career sacks as a member of the Chargers. Bosa’s 72 career sacks in the regular season rank No. 2 in franchise history, second only to Leslie O’Neal who had 105.5 career sacks with the Chargers. Bosa also had 17 forced fumbles for the Chargers in nine seasons. Bosa has struggled with injuries in recent seasons and has missed 23 games in the past three seasons.
Bosa was due a roster bonus of $12.36 million by March 12 and had a salary cap hit of $36.4 million for 2025. By releasing Bosa, the Chargers save $25.36 million against the NFL salary cap, giving them about $90 million in salary cap space, according to OverTheCap.com, which gives them the 3rd most salary cap space of the 32 NFL teams. The Chargers should be very active in free agency in 2025.
The Chargers still need to re-sign nine-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Khalil Mack. They will have 22-year-old linebacker Tuli Tuipulotu returning next season. Tuipulotu led the Chargers with 8.5 sacks in 2024. The 2025 NFL Draft is loaded at edge rusher, so the Chargers should be able to find a replacement for Bosa in the draft.