When the new CBA is completed -- people are optimistically guessing that comes in early July -- one aspect of free agency will revert back to pre-2010 rules, according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.
NFL Lockout: New CBA Will Include Four Years For Unrestricted Free Agency
If and when there an agreement is reached, all players with four or more years of experience are expected to be unrestricted free agents, according to sources familiar with the talks. Certain tags will be retained but that still is being discussed.
Those “certain tags” will likely include the franchise tag, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Basically what this all means is there will be more free agents which, in theory, means more money spent by the teams. The players like this.
When the NFL went to an uncapped year in 2010, the rules changed from four years of service time for unrestricted free agency to six years. This meant more guys were playing on restricted free agent tenders rather than contracts obtained on the open market and those contracts on the open market are generally higher than restricted free agency tenders.
So what to take out of this is that this particular portion of free agency will go back to normal, or pre-2010. For the players, this is good because it means they hit free agency quicker, which is always the goal of the players because that’s where the big money is.
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