The first wrinkle in the new collective bargaining agreement is officially affecting players. Tuesday, Aug. 9 is the official date in which players need to report to training camp in order to earn an accrued season toward free agency. Players can’t become unrestricted free agents until their fourth season so first, second and third year players who aren’t in camp yet will lose a year toward being eligible for unrestricted free agency.
After Tuesday, Training Camp Holdouts Lose Year Toward Free Agency
What does this mean? And why is it important?
Basically, this was put in there to stop players, like Eagles WR DeSean Jackson, from holding out early in their career for new contracts, or at least putting a limit on how long they can hold out. The league has tried to stop contract holdouts and making players report by Aug. 9 in order to earn an accrued season is a good way to stop those young guys from holding out.
Every player wants to hit free agency as quickly as possible because that’s where the big money is, whether it be from a new team or from their old team feeling the pressure to re-sign the player so he won’t leave. Thus, this rule hits the players where it hurts the most -- free agency.
This is likely the motivation for Jackson to show up to Eagles training camp this week. He’s entering the final year of his contract so if he didn’t show up by Aug 9., he would have lost that year toward free agency and the Eagles would have been able to restrict his movement via a restricted free agent tender.
In the case of Titans RB Chris Johnson, this rule isn't as important. He didn't show up on Tuesday officially losing an accrued season toward free agency. Why isn't this rule as important for him? Because he's under contract for two more years regardless. Even if he showed up and earned that accrued season, he's still under contract through the 2012-13 season.
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