Offseason: UFAs

Well, its been 3 days. The season has not risen again. Time to move on.

First order of business: Free Agency!

Well, not quite. The first order of business is to determine whether or not there is going to be a CBA and a salary cap this year. All signs point to no, though its entirely possible, probably even, that the deadline will be pushed back in order to give the owners and the union more time to hammer out an accord. This is what happened last time they were negotiating a new agreement. I think there is going to be a lot of pressure from the 200+ players who may miss their shot at unrestricted free agency this year to get a deal done, even if that means a smaller total pot of revenue for salaries. Its actually an interesting bit of game theory, but now's not the time for that discussion.

Its always tough to figure out what AJ is going to do with regards to free agency and retaining personnel. But I won't let that stop me from wild, baseless speculation!

Per the North County Times, here is the Chargers list of Unrestricted Free Agents to Be. This means that all of these guys are free to come back, provided the team wants them, or to go to any other team they get a better offer from regardless of the CBA situation.

DT Alfonso Boone
TE Brandon Manumaleuna
C Dennis Norman
WR Kassim Osgood
DT Ian Scott
TE Kris Wilson
RT Jon Runyan

Kassim has pissed off AJ enough and made his displeasure with his role (and paycheck) known, so he's likely gone for good. Runyan says he's going to retire and run for Congress. Norman might be retained as insurance in case Moose can't recover, but I think he's a long shot to make the team next year and he probably knows that too.

Scott, Boone, Manu and Wilson are all interesting. AJ won't pay any of them top dollar, but I think he will see the value in retaining at least one of the TEs and one of the NTs. Which pair he would target is unknown (or maybe he'll have to take what he can get). Manu is great as a blocker but hasn't given much to the passing game. Wilson came on as a special teamer and occasional receiving threat, but I suspect his value is higher for other teams who will pay accordingly. Also, I suspect that AJ will draft another tight end of the future, meaning that there might not be room for both of these guys in the fall.

Bottom line, from this group of 7 we might get back 5 at most, more likely 2-4. If I had to guess, I'd say that Manu and Scott have the best chance of wearing bolts next year.