National Football League

Bosa skipping Chargers minicamp due to contract dispute

Published Jun. 14, 2016 8:25 p.m. ET

foxsports

SAN DIEGO (AP) Rookie defensive end Joey Bosa has been a diligent student during workouts the last month.

Now his education is expanding to the business end of the NFL.

Bosa, the third pick in the NFL draft out of Ohio State, is skipping the San Diego Chargers' three-day mandatory minicamp because of a dispute in contract negotiations.

Naturally, coach Mike McCoy and general manager Tom Telesco are disappointed the former Ohio State star is sitting out.

''Without a doubt we're all disappointed he's not here. But our No. 1 focus is the players who are here. Time will work that out,'' McCoy said.

''I think it's important that you get as much work with your teammates,'' McCoy said. ''We're still installing a few things. The majority of the install went in the first 10 days of the OTAs but there's review we're going through and a couple wrinkles we're adding. I've asked offensively and defensively to put in a few little things the other side hasn't seen. It's continuous development and what we want to do in our system, most importantly.''

Telesco said minicamp is ''an opportunity to continue to get better, to learn and be with your teammates. It's not so much about every day practice reps, but everybody is here and this is what we do. But we know there's also a business part of professional football. There's things that have to go on off of the field, and we will keep working on it.''

A person with knowledge of the situation said there were several issues with the structure of the contract. The person spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

The minicamp opened Tuesday and will run through Thursday.

Veteran defensive end Corey Liuget said he's not disappointed Bosa's not here.

''Whatever's going on is between him and ownership and management, and I'm pretty sure they'll figure something out and he'll be out here soon,'' Liuget said. ''He's one of the hardest-working rookies we have right now. At the end of the day, I know once he gets out here he'll make up for it. He's very humble. He's very calm, cool, collected. He just works his tail off. He's getter better every day.''

Fellow rookie Joshua Perry, also from Ohio State, said he's spoken with Bosa.

''I mean, he's just got to handle his business,'' said Perry, an inside linebacker. ''I know everybody probably wants him out here and I know that he definitely wants to be out here, but there's just circumstances he's got to take care of. The biggest thing is probably just learning, being in the meeting room with the coaches, but at the same time he's got a playbook he took home with him, too, so he'll be able to study and I know he'll do that.''

The Chargers will rely on Bosa to bolster their defense as they try to rebound from a 4-12 season in which they went winless against AFC West opponents.

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