NFL Rules Regarding Free Agents

Undrafted Rookies

• Any player who isn't drafted coming out of college becomes an undrafted rookie free agent. He's free to sign a contract with any team, although any offer he gets is likely to be for close to the league-mandated minimum salary, which in 2010 was $325,000 if a player actually made the roster. It's likely that if teams thought he was worth more than the minimum, they would have drafted him.

Accrued Seasons

• For a veteran player, free agency hinges on how many accrued seasons he has in the league. If he is on a team's 53-man roster for at least six weeks during the regular season, he gets credit for one accrued season.

Unrestricted Free Agency

• If a player has at least four accrued seasons, then he becomes an unrestricted free agent, or UFA, when his contract expires. (In years when no salary cap is in effect, which was the case in 2010, a player needs six accrued seasons to become a UFA.) Players with UFA status can sign a contract with any team without any restriction and without any compensation going to their previous team.

  However, if a new UFA hasn't signed with a team by the time training camps open in late July, his previous team gains the exclusive right to sign him, provided it has offered him a one-year contract for at least 110 percent of his previous year's salary. He can sign with his old team up through the 10th week of the regular season; after that, he must sit out the season. The next year, he's a UFA again, but his old team loses all rights to him.

Restricted Free Agency

• Players with at least three accrued seasons but not enough to qualify for UFA status become restricted free agents when their contracts expire. These players are free to negotiate with any team, but their former teams can reserve the right to match any offer. A team does this by offering a binding one-year contract offer, called the "tender," for at least 110 percent of the player's previous year's salary. Depending on the size of the tender, the team may be entitled to receive draft picks as compensation from any team that signs one of its restricted free agents. For example, for the 2010 free agency period, a tender of at least $1,759,000 entitled the team to receive a second-round pick, and a tender of $2,521,000 entitled it to a first-round pick.

  If a team hasn't tendered an offer by the start of the 45-day free agency signing period--usually sometime around March 1--the player becomes a UFA. If a tendered player hasn't signed an offer by the end of the period, his prior team gains the exclusive right to sign him, and the same rules apply as for UFAs. However, if the player hasn't signed by June 1, the team has the right to lower a high tender to 110 percent of the previous year's salary. If the player sits out the season, he'll still be a restricted free agent because he hasn't accrued another season.

Franchise Players

• Every year, each club is allowed to designate one UFA as a "franchise player." The team must offer that player a one-year contract for the average of the top five salaries at his position, or 120 percent of his previous year's salary, whichever is more. If any other team signs a franchise player, it must give up two first-round draft picks to his original team as compensation.