NFL free agency explained from salary cap and tampering to franchise and transition tags

With a 52-hour legal tampering window opening on Monday before the formal start of the new league year on Wednesday, the NFL’s free agency frenzy gets underway.

A number of elite athletes, such as Giants running back Saquon Barkley and Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, will be able to accept a contract with another team.

Teams can begin negotiations with players who will become unrestricted free agents when their contracts expire at the beginning of the next league year on Wednesday at 4 p.m. EDT on Monday at 12 p.m. EDT. The league season does not officially start until players are free to sign with other teams. Only players who will be unrestricted free agents are eligible for the two-day negotiation window.

Every player whose contract has ended and who has four or more accrued seasons (six or more regular-season games on a club’s active/inactive, reserve/injured, or reserve/physically unable to perform lists) is an unrestricted free agent, free to sign and negotiate with any team.

Each team can designate one potential free agent a franchise player. Eight players received the tag.

A player who is an exclusive franchise is not allowed to sign with another team and is instead offered the higher of the required tender amount for a non-exclusive franchise player or the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position for the current year as of the end of the restricted free agent signing period on April 19.

A franchise player who is not exclusive may sign with another team, but that team will be entitled to two first-round draft selections from his former team. This year’s marked players are not exclusive.

The time frame to sign franchise players is March 13 until Nov. 12.

A one-year offer for the average of the top ten wages for the role is known as the “transition tag.” It ensures that, in the event that the player receives an offer from another team, the original club will have the option to match it.

If the tagging team decides not to match a trade, it will not be compensated. Transition players can be signed between March 13 and July 22.

Kyle Dugger, a safety with the Patriots, is the only player who was given the transition tag this season.

Teams can decide to withdraw franchise and transition tags and the player automatically becomes an unrestricted free agent.

The salary cap is $255,400,000 per team, up from $224.8 million last year. Teams must be under the salary cap by the 4 p.m. EDT on Wednesday.

By giving notice to the NFL by 4 p.m. EDT on the day after the team’s last regular-season game, a team may carry over salary cap room from one league year to the next. A team may carry over all of the space it has left over from 2023 to its 2024 adjusted salary cap.

Read more on sportchannel.co.uk

 

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