The LA Chargers have big decisions to make by Wednesday afternoon. Los Angeles needs to get under the 2024 salary cap by the start of the new league year on Wednesday, March 13 at 1:00 p.m. PDT. As it stands right now, according to Over The Cap, the Chargers are $25.9 million over the cap.
The Chargers need to essentially free up $26 million in cap space by Wednesday's deadline, but will eventually need to free up more cap space down the line. The team still needs to create at least another $20 million for the incoming draft class as well as an in-season budget, so just getting under that salary-cap number is not enough.
This situation has put four Chargers players — Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa — on the trade/chopping block. It has become a debate among Chargers fans what the team should do. Here are our predictions.
Chargers will extend Keenan Allen
The new Chargers front office knows how important Keenan Allen is to Justin Herbert, the offense and the fanbase. While Allen is getting up there in age and there is injury risk involved, it makes sense to keep him around and to extend him for two more years to offset some of his cap hit this season.
The Chargers can convert part of Allen's $18.1 million base salary in 2024 into bonuses that carry over to future year's cap sheets with an extension. As long as Allen's price is reasonable, the Chargers could comfortably add a $5-8 million cap hit on each of the two new years on top of his base salary.
Even though Allen is on the wrong side of 30, he was playing at an All-Pro level last season and has a lot in the gas tank. Sure, the last year of that extension might end up being a tad ugly with his age and cost, but that is a problem the team can address then. For now, they need to get under the books and make sure that Herbert has his favorite weapon.