Of all the veteran free agents still available as training camp approaches, pass rusher Joey Bosa ranks among the most accomplished. He's a five-time Pro Bowler who led the league in forced fumbles just last year. But it seems that he's closer to hanging up the cleats than signing for a new team.
On the latest episode of his podcast, ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter called it "more likely than not" that Bosa is ready to retire. He said that while it's still possible for Bosa to pull a Philip Rivers and return to the NFL mid-season, he believes that a pairing with his younger brother Nick on the San Francisco 49ers would have happened already if Bosa wanted to play.
“It is more likely than not that Joey Bosa has played his last NFL down,” Schefter said. “Now, again, could a situation like the 49ers come along that entices him enough to come out and play again? Yeah, absolutely. We saw it happen last year with Philip Rivers, so you never know when a player is fully done and when he’s not done. But the fact of the matter is, I think if the Niners wanted to pair those two together, it probably would have happened already. I think if Joey Bosa wanted to play football, it probably would have happened already.”
Bosa Breaking Down?
Injuries have unfortunately been plaguing Bosa for most of his NFL career. He's been limited to 12 games or fewer in five of his ten seasons and has averaged just 12 games. And even though he's played 29 games over the past two seasons with the Chargers and Bills, he hasn't been as productive as he was earlier in his career.
In his first six seasons, Bosa enjoyed four campaigns of double-digit sacks, earning Rookie of the Year honors in 2016 and four Pro Bowl selections. But the injuries began to seriously mount in 2022, limiting him to 14 games over two seasons.
Cooper Neill/Getty Images
Bosa will only be 31 at the start of the 2026 season but he's already enjoyed a pretty full career. Short of winning a Super Bowl, he's accomplished a ton.
Unless he wants to join forces with one more super team somewhere and try to win a Super Bowl in a support role, he can pretty easily call it a career.
