It appears the Los Angeles Chargers’ rebuild is beginning in-season, as they waived defensive captain and 28-year-old starting defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day on Friday. The timing of the move is curious since Joseph-Day had started all 14 games for the Chargers this season.
However, the motivation is less so. Joseph-Day was set to have a $10 million cap hit in the final year of his three-year, $24 million contract in 2024 with no more guaranteed money left on the deal. Los Angeles is projected to be $42.2 million over the cap in 2024, the third-lowest projected cap space in the NFL next offseason, according to Over the Cap. Joseph-Day is likely the first of many veterans who could be shown the door under a new regime in the near future after both head coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco were fired last week.
Joseph-Day’s 11 quarterback hits were the second-most on the Chargers defense, trailing only Khalil Mack’s 16. Joseph-Day, a five-year veteran and Super Bowl LVI champion with the Los Angeles Rams in 2021, could bolster any contending team’s interior defensive line group. He was selected 195th overall (sixth round) in the 2018 NFL Draft out of Rutgers. The Dallas Cowboys come to mind as a team who could come calling with starting defensive Johnathan Hankins likely to miss his second game in a row with knee and ankle injuries.
Here are a few potential landing spots for the veteran defensive lineman given team need and fit.
Dallas Cowboys
Dallas entered Week 15 at the Buffalo Bills with an 8.3% missed tackle rate, the lowest in the NFL. Following their 31-10 debacle of a defeat in Buffalo that included a whopping 17 missed tackles, according to Pro Football Focus, that percentage jumped to 9.3%, pushing their rank to second place behind the New England Patriots’ 8.9% rate for the entire season. Those missed tackles, most of which occurred on the…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/sebastian-joseph-day-landing-spots-chargers-captain-starting-dt-let-go-with-one-year-remaining-on-contract/
Author : Garrett Podell
Publish date : 2023-12-22 20:36:08
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