The Chargers released five-time Pro Bowl linebacker/edge rusher Joey Bosa on Wednesday night, cutting ties with their longest-tenured player before he was due to collect a $12.36 million bonus.

The move was expected given Bosa’s large salary cap number and injury history. Bosa had a salary cap number of $36.47 million for the 2025 season (the largest for any edge rusher in the league), but the Chargers will save $25.36 million in cap space with his release.

Bosa, 29, was the third overall pick by the Chargers in the 2016 NFL draft and was the last player on the roster from when the team played in San Diego. He was the NFL’s defensive rookie of the year in 2016 and was selected to the Pro Bowl in four of his first five seasons.

He signed a five-year extension worth $135 million in 2020 that made him the league’s highest-paid defensive player at the time, but his availability issues became an annual concern. Bosa, dealing with groin, foot and hip injuries, played in only 29 of 52 games (regular season and playoffs) over the last three years with 14 sacks.

Bosa saw the field for only 14 games combined in the 2022 and ’23 season. He missed most of 2022 because of a groin injury, but returned late in the year. He was sidelined the final seven games in 2023 with a foot injury.

He and the Chargers adjusted his contract before last season, reducing his salary by $7 million. The Chargers did something similar with fellow edge rusher Khalil Mack, which helped the team keep them together for the first season under head coach Jim Harbaugh.

Bosa played in 14 games with nine starts in 2024, but his five sacks were his fewest in the six seasons during which he has played at least 12 games as he battled hip and back injuries.

Bosa’s 72 sacks are tied for the 10th most in the NFL since he entered the league and are second in team history. Bosa will carry a dead money charge of $11.111 million this year. With this move, the Chargers are projected to have approximately $90 million in cap space ahead of free agency, which puts them in the top three in the league.

— Staff and news services

The Las Vegas Raiders not only extended the contract of star defensive end Maxx Crosby, they made him the highest-paid non quarterback in NFL history.

Crosby received a three-year extension worth $106.5 million, with $91.5 million guaranteed, to keep him in Las Vegas through the 2029 season, multiple sources reported.

His average salary of $35.5 million in the three-year extension surpasses Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson’s average deal of $35 million, according to overthecap.com. That was the previous high for a non QB.

Crosby has been one of the NFL’s elite pass rushers with 59 1/2 sacks since being selected in the fourth round of the 2019 draft.

Known for playing through injuries, Crosby nevertheless missed the final four games last season because he underwent ankle surgery.

In other Raiders news, the team planned to release quarterback Gardner Minshew next week, multiple sources reported. Minshew signed a two-year, $25 million contract last year with $15 million guaranteed.

He beat out Aidan O’Connell for the starting job going into last season but struggled to hold on to the position. He finished with 10 interceptions and four lost fumbles while throwing nine touchdown passes. A broken collarbone ended his season Nov. 24 against the Denver Broncos.

The Kansas City Chiefs are trading two-time All-Pro guard Joe Thuney to the Chicago Bears for a fourth-round pick in the 2026 draft, multiple sources reported.

Thuney, 32, would have carried a salary cap number of nearly $27 million next season. The Bears are likely to give him a contract extension as they try to better protect Caleb Williams next season.

D.K. Metcalf wants out of Seattle and the longtime Seahawks receiver asked for a trade, multiple sources reported. Metcalf, a two-time Pro Bowler, has caught 438 passes for 6,324 yards and 48 TDs in six seasons with the Seahawks. Metcalf, 27, has one year left on his current contract, which has three voidable seasons after 2025.

Metcalf’s request might have something to do with the fact the Seahawks released veteran receiver Tyler Lockett in a cost-cutting move.

Lockett, a 10-year veteran, caught 661 passes for 8,564 yards and 61 touchdowns in Seattle. Yet Lockett’s production dipped in each of the past two seasons. He finished with just 894 yards receiving in 2023, a number that fell to just 600 in 2024, his lowest mark since 2017.

All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun is staying with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Super Bowl champs announced they’ve agreed on a three-year deal with Baun through the ’27 season. Baun’s contract is worth $51 million, including $34 million guaranteed, reports said.

The Jacksonville Jaguars released receiver Christian Kirk after two injury-filled seasons. Kirk signed a four-year, $72 million deal in free agency in 2022. He delivered 84 catches for 1,108 yards and eight touchdowns — all career highs — that season. But he’s missed 14 games since.

Guard Joel Bitonio will return for a 12th season with the Cleveland Browns, he announced. He has one year remaining on his contract. Bitonio is a two-time All-Pro pick and has been selected seven times for the Pro Bowl.

MOTORSPORTS

NASCAR filed a counterclaim against Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports alleging they “willfully” violated antitrust laws in connection with the most recent charter agreements.

23XI and Front Row were the only two teams out of 15 that refused to sign the agreements presented to teams last September in a take-it-or-leave-it offer 48 hours before the start of NASCAR’s playoffs. In the counterclaim that names longtime Jordan business manager Curtis Polk as a defendant, NASCAR said 23XI and FRM, led by Polk, “willfully violated the antitrust laws by orchestrating anticompetitive collective conduct in connection with the terms of the 2025 Charter Agreements.”

NASCAR penalized Austin Cindric 50 points and fined him $50,000 for intentionally spinning Ty Dillon in last weekend’s Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas.

The penalty drops Cindric of Team Penske from 11th to 35th in the standings heading into this weekend’s race at Phoenix Raceway.

Chase Briscoe and Joe Gibbs Racing won their appeal when the National Motorsports Appeals Panel said his car did not have an illegally modified spoiler when he won the Daytona 500 pole. The win restores the 100 points and 10 playoff points NASCAR had penalized Briscoe for the spoiler violation. The team also gets its 100 points and 10 playoff points back, and crew chief James Small’s four-race ban was rescinded, as was the $100,000 fine to the team. Briscoe is now tied for 14th in the season standings headed into Sunday’s race at Phoenix.

“The Sarge” is back for another NHRA season. Eight-time Top Fuel champion and 88-time race winner Tony Schumacher will run a partial schedule for Rick Ware Racing this season. He won Top Fuel championships in 1999, 2004-09 and 2014.

MLB

The Hall of Fame made some small adjustments to its veterans committee system to limit people with relatively little support from repeatedly remaining on future ballots, a decision that could make it harder to gain entry to Cooperstown for steroids-tainted stars such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.

Any candidate on the eight-person ballot who receives fewer than five votes from the 16-member panel will not be eligible for that committee’s ballot in the next three-year cycle, the hall said. A candidate who is dropped, later reappears on a ballot and again receives fewer than five votes would be barred from future ballot appearances.

SOCCER

Portland Thorns and U.S. team forward Sophia Wilson announced she is pregnant. Wilson, 24, was on the national team that won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics last summer. She has played in 58 games with the national team, scoring 24 goals.