Word on the Street: Chargers Give Tomlinson Final Offer

On Thursday, LaDainian Tomlinson sounded optimistic about returning to the Chargers, a team he'd given eight years and almost 12,000 rushing yards.

A day later, things seem less certain, even if it's all speculative at this point.

Via Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune:

Information is coming in this saga like water from a drippy faucet. But my understanding is that Tomlinson has the Chargers' final offer.

That offer could be for two years or three years. Whatever it is, it will be for less money than the $24 million he is scheduled to make by 2011. What form the new money takes (signing bonus, roster bonus, incentives) is not known.

Acee also writes that Tomlinson's mom, on the radio earlier this week, sounded unconvinced that here son would be in San Diego when the 2009 season started. LdT was scheduled to make nearly $7 million next year, and no matter where he ends up, his '09 salary won't approach that number.

Ultimately, it's all up to Tomlinson; does he want to take a pay cut to stay with the Chargers? Or refuse, likely get released, and see what the market will bear for a 29-year-old running back coming off back-to-back seasons that ended in injury?

The former option appears to make the most sense, but these situations are often more complicated than they seem. (Well, unless we're talking about Terrell Owens; then they're exactly as they seem.) The Chargers, as they're currently constituted, would have a huge hole at running back without Tomlinson; Darren Sproles is a third-down, change-of-pace back, and Jacob Hester is more blocker than runner.

That doesn't mean San Diego couldn't target the position in the draft, just that from the vantage point of March 6, Tomlinson is the most attractive alternative. But again, with one huge caveat: how much money is he willing to give up to stay?