https://www.chargers.com/news/5-takeaways-joe-hortiz-on-bolts-salary-cap-crunch-trading-keenan-allen

5 Takeaways: Joe Hortiz on Bolts Salary Cap Crunch, Trading Keenan Allen
March 21, 2024 at 01:24 PM

Eric Smith

Senior Writer

Joe Hortiz met with reporters for 30 minutes in a roundtable session
Thursday afternoon at Hoag Performance Center.

Here are five takeaways from the Chargers General Manager:

1. Navigating the salary cap

Hortiz knew the salary cap situation he was walking into when he took
the this job almost two months ago.

The Bolts were way over the 2024 salary cap, even when that number came
in at a surprising $255.4 million.

And with four veterans players — Keenan Allen, Joey Bosa, Khalil Mack
and Mike Williams — all accounting for significantly high cap hits,
Hortiz knew the odds are keeping all four were slim.

"We had four great players with great contracts in terms of great
volume, great money," Hortiz said. "We had to address that and we
approached it in the sense of we respect all four players, value all
four players and know that all four players can help us win.

"But the reality of it is, given the cap and the situation that we're in
the likelihood of all four players coming back and us being able to
build depth and a complete team, that wasn't a realistic end result,"
Hortiz continued. "We were going to have to make moves and we weren't
locked in to any two players throughout the process.

"Work with them and their representation and see if we can come to some
deals and to keep the roster as tight as we can, keep as much talent as
we can while also being able to build depth and think about the future
success of this roster," Hortiz added.

Hortiz said the general thought was that the Bolts could end up keeping
two of those four players with the hope of keeping three of them.

The final number ended up being two as Bosa and Mack restructured their
contracts while Allen was traded and Williams was released.

We'll get into those specific moves below, but the main portion of
Hortiz's availability was him mapping out his vision for the Chargers
for both the 2024 season and beyond.

The goal, Hortiz said, is to field a strong roster from one to 53 each
season. Having too many bloated contracts makes that difficult.

"You can keep punting money but then you hurt your depth, you hurt your
depth for signing quality depth pieces," Hortiz said. "And you hurt your
flexibility going forward. Our goal is to be as flexible as we can every
year. We've got a quarterback that makes a lot of money and that's why
you have to be cap conscious.

"It's fun to go all in one year … I'd like to be all in every year,"
Hortiz added. "I want to have a chance to compete for Super Bowls every
year."

Hortiz said Thursday that he was in constant communication with the four
players' representation the past few weeks.

And if it seemed like the Bolts went down to the wire in terms of their
decision making, that's because an almost entirely new coaching staff
needed time to evaluate the current roster.

Throw in possible trade dialogue with other teams and that's why the
Chargers made a flurry of moves over a three-day span last week.

"You need the coaches to come in and assess the roster as it is and get
to know what they want and value the players," Hortiz said. "We were
able to do that and once we kind of assessed what they wanted, who fits,
what types of players beyond our roster that they'd be interested in,
you start having discussions with the players.

"All that happened and the representation, we started talking to them
before the Combine and teams inquired about all four players in
different levels before the Combine. Those conversations continued but
31 other teams were out there watching us to see which players we were
going to part ways with because they understood what we were doing,"
Hortiz continued. "We had a cap number we had to get to, so there's
patience on their side, there's patience on the players we're discussing
and they're not in a rush to get anything done because they're kind of
watching what we do too.

"So we're having dialogue, moves happen when they happen and the deals
happen when they happen. It's not like they start that day and it
happens, especially a restructure," Hortiz added. "That's a conversation
that is an ongoing conversation. You try multiple avenues to go down and
you find the one that works or maybe not works."

In the end, Hortiz made moves that didn't mean all four players were
gone while also giving the Chargers ample cap space for 2024 and in
future years.

"You don't want to push too much money into the following year," Hortiz
said. "It's like your credit card, you max this credit card, you got
another one. You max this one, well I need to pay this one and you can't
write a credit check, those checks you get when you get a credit card,
and pay that one off.

"You got to pay the piper at some point," Hortiz added. "You have that
opportunity but that's a slippery slope to go down because then you end
up chasing it every year."

2. The Keenan Allen trade

Of the four major moves Hortiz made, trading Allen to the Bears
certainly made the biggest headlines.

The Chargers traded the six-time Pro Bowler last week for a 2024
fourth-round pick (No. 110 overall).

Allen is second in franchise history with 904 catches and 10,530 yards,
and could have passed Antonio Gates in both categories with another
strong season in 2024.

That didn't make it easy for Hortiz to move a player who was, at the
time, the longest-tenured Charger on the roster.

"Yeah, I knew who I was trading," Hortiz said. "He's a very talented
player and I respect him as a player, as a person. It's difficult when
you have to cut a player, trade a player, release a player.

"It's always difficult for a player like him certainly, but it creates
an opportunity for other players to step up," Hortiz continued. "Again,
we're not done building that room out so we're going to look to continue
to add pieces to that room.

"I think when you're talking about trading Keenan specifically, yeah
that's not a decision you make with no acknowledgment of, 'This is a
talented player that can still compete,'" Hortiz added.

Hortiz noted that the Chargers approached Allen and his reps with
"multiple different options and just none of them worked out."

As a result, the Bolts freed up a big chunk of cap space in 2024 while
also adding extra draft capital and giving the Chargers front office
extra flexibility both now and later in the calendar year.

"It created unique cap space. Remember, we got a draft pick," Hortiz
said. "You have to budget a budget off to the side for Injured Reserve,
in-season signings. It gives us flexibility.

"I know in the past there haven't been a lot of additions during the
season with trades but that's something I believe in," Hortiz added. "If
you have a chance to trade for a good player midseason that helps your
team win this year, and you can potentially extend and create value for
going forward, I think you have to give yourself that flexibility going
forward."

As for Williams, he was released on March 13 and eventually signed with
the Jets.

"We talked to Mike after we released Mike," Hortiz said. "He knew there
was interest on our part."

3. Keeping Mack and Bosa

And after the dust settled, the two of those four players that remained
on the roster were Mack and Bosa, both of whom restructured their
contracts going forward.

Hortiz praised both veterans for their willingness to rework their deals
and help free up additional money for the Chargers to go after free agents.

He added that he recently chatted with both players, with both
expressing their desire to play for Chargers head Coach Jim Harbaugh.

"I've been here for six weeks and this place is pretty cool. This
organization is great. It really is. This is a destination place,"
Hortiz said. "Being around Jim, guys are communicating with him. They
want to be here. It shows me they want to be here.

"We certainly did what we did with them and they certainly gained things
on there end, too. It was a win-win for both of us," Hortiz added. "I
had conversations with Joey prior to it and I talked to Khalil after.
You know how much they want to be here and that's exciting to me. We
want to bring great players in here so they can see it."

The hope, of course, is that Bosa and Mack team up to be a force that
we've only seen glimpses of the past two seasons.

Mack has 25.0 sacks in the 34 regular-season games he's started since
arriving via trade in the spring of 2022.

But Bosa has battled injuries, tallying just 9.0 sacks in 14 games over
the past two seasons.