Chargers News: Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa took pay cuts with their restructures

Did Khalil Mack pull the ultimate team-player move?

More details have emerged from the Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack restructures, and it shed some very positive light on two decisions that left fans initially scratching their heads.

Tom Pelissero provided an update on Twitter that not only Mack and Bosa both restructured, they agreed to take pay cuts beforehand to help ease some of the cap burden.

Khalil shed $4.25 million from his salary, going from $23.25M to $19M, which Ed McGuire then restructured. Joey shed $7 million, but the salary became fully guaranteed and was offered $4 million in incentives. They also have him an extra $4 million in his roster bonus next year, meaning the Chargers won’t have the same window to try and negotiate a trade before guaranteeing with his now $12.36 million roster bonus.

We previously discussed how taking a pay cut was likely in Joey’s best interest, and here he’s managed to secure a way to make more money if he’s able to stay healthy and perform, which would be a win for all sides.

What is curious is how Khalil offered to take a pay cut as well. $23.25 million is actually an extremely reasonable salary for how much value and production Mack has provided, and it’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t have been able to get more , and possible a multi-year deal, if he were to hit free agency.

This is pure speculation, but if Joey were asked to take a pay cut to half of his salary, it would have been an $11 million hair cut. Putting the pieces together, Joey and Mack’s pay cut comes out to $11.25 million, $250,000 of which is Mack’s workout bonus. If Joey was the one the Chargers were pressuring to halve his salary, there’s a likely scenario that Khalil actually came in to bridge the gap. If that’s the case – and I doubt either player admits it – it’d be an incredible gesture and vote of confidence from Mack towards Bosa, and really putting action to the following quote:

This is a fascinating story, and is really encouraging to see that both players came together to make this happen. This sheds a far more positive light than Joe Hortiz simply restructuring both players.

Most importantly, this is a move from two elite football players that want to win, and despite the Chargers five win season that just ended months ago… they believe this is the place to do it.

As Tom Pelissero wrote – this move saved $24 million in cap space, and once the numbers officially come out we’ll update on the effect of the 2025 cap.