The 49ers wrap up their preseason Friday when they host the Chargers at home, but their biggest offseason issue remains unresolved. Star defensive end Nick Bosa still hasn’t reported to the team while he works out a long-term contract extension. Initially it appeared he may miss the first few days of camp, but now with the regular season less than three weeks away it’s worth wondering exactly how long the holdout could go.
Bosa is entering the fifth and final year of his rookie contract. San Francisco would owe him a fully-guaranteed $17,859,000. He could conceivably decide to skip the entire year, but given how the CBA is structured this isn’t typically a sound move for a player since he wouldn’t accrue a full season and would enter next year in essentially the same spot he’s in this year with $0 to show for it.
Assuming Bosa isn’t interested in skipping a full season in the prime of his career after winning Defensive Player of the Year, he’d need to return at some point during the regular season.
A player accrues a season if they’re on a team’s roster, IR or PUP list for six games, including the postseason.
That means if Bosa wanted to hold out into the regular season, a Week 13 return would allow him to accrue a full season via the final six regular-season games. Returning any later than Week 13 would mean he’s relying on the 49ers either making the playoffs or going on a deep run to get his full season in.
There’s been no indication from either Bosa or the 49ers that this holdout will last until that late in the year, which is good news for San Francisco. However, if things do get ugly, Bosa may not feel any urgency from his side until they reach that point of the year where his full-season accrual is threatened.
