I'm not a fan of the player's mom saying they should have pulled an Eli because that's overall harmful to players and the league in the interest of 1 rookie who may or may not do anything, but I don't get why this is the hill the Chargers have chosen to die on. These contracts have been well tread since the rookie cap. There's no reason to have a major impasse with any rookie. It's utterly ridiculous for the chargers to be fighting this fight.
As for Spanos, his charity efforts don't necessarily mean anything without knowing how much of it he writes off...or how much it is compared to others who have a similar amount of wealth. If I donate 10% of my worth and he donates 10% of his worth...well, news stories will get written about Spanos.