As we continue to process mentally (it takes a while) the consequences of Tuesday’s 32-0 decision by the NFL owners to terminate the Collective Bargaining Agreement two years early, we continue to realize that, to use technical terms, some crazy sh-t will happen.
Here’s one of the goofiest things that could happen — a player could go from being a franchise player in 2009 to a restricted free agent in 2010.
For players who were drafted in 2005 and who signed four-year contracts (or for those who signed three-year deals and are restricted free agents in 2008), their ability to become unrestricted free agents in 2009 could be limited by the application of the franchise tag.
If that happens, and if no long-term deal is reached, the rule requiring six years of accrued service for players to become unrestricted free agents in the uncapped year will make those franchise players restricted free agents in 2010.
For most of the restricted free agency tender levels, the impact would be significant but not huge, given the rule ensuring that a restricted free agent will earn 110 percent of the player’s salary from the prior season. So if a guy gets $10 million as a franchise player in 2009, his one-year RFA tender for all levels that entail draft-pick compensation would be $11 million. Under the franchise tag, his one-year tender would be $12 million.
But the real area of potential savings for a team arises with respect to the lowest RFA tender, which gives the franchise only a right of first refusal. Per the CBA, the 110-percent rule doesn’t apply to the low tender, which means that the team could essentially get rights equivalent to the transition tag for $1.176 million — which is $10.8 million less than what the transition tag would otherwise cost, given that the 120-percent rule applies to transition and franchise tenders.
Of course, a right of first refusal generally is meaningless. In an uncapped year, however, it’s a small price to pay for a chance at determining whether the player’s value to the team justifies matching the best offer made in a climate without a cap.
But, as usual, there’s a potential glitch in the CBA. Even though the relevant terms of Article XIX expressly mention the 110-percent rule as to every RFA tender level above the right of first refusal, Article XIX, Section 2(f) seems to apply the 110-percent rule to every level. The procedure seems to be that the club would offer the lowest tender, and then the onus would be on the player (or, more specifically, his agent) to affirmatively request a contract worth 110 percent of his 2009 salary. If the player (or, more specifically, his agent) doesn’t make the request, the higher contract apparently wouldn’t be available.
In the case of a player who is franchised in 2009, the agent had better not screw that one up — unless he has $10.8 million in liability insurance.
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May 21st, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Not until the CBA was cut short and Florio started discussing all this stuff about the weird conditions that will be in place in ‘09 and ‘10 did I finally find myself admitting Florio is probably a little bit smarter than I am.
I’m more confused than Lendale White caught between a goal line and a buffet line.
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May 21st, 2008 at 1:50 pm
iow, for another 1/60th of salary (on average only)… a lot of players will now only be restricted free agents (assuming no renegotiation of the cba)?
why does capo gino still have a job? he should be joining tags in the “will beg for hof votes as commish/union head” line.
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May 21st, 2008 at 2:21 pm
My head hurts after reading all that. Thanks for taking the time to go through all this
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May 21st, 2008 at 4:25 pm
I’m still waiting for the flowsheets and diagrams or that “CBA for Dummies” that someone else suggested.
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May 21st, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Quickest way to get the NFL players to agree to a smaller percentage of revenues is to require all contracts to list salary and other numbers in Roman numerals.
Hell, why not just change to the metric system for field measurements too? “Adrian Peterson just ran the XXXVI.LVIII meters in III.XXXVI seconds.”
If Peterson is named MVP of SuperBowl “XX” (in which XX stands for a Superbowl to be named later), Peterson will earn a bonus of MMMMMMMMMMMXILVC drachmaes.
Geez, why doesn’t the NFL just move to Rome and get the Pope as commish?
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May 21st, 2008 at 7:35 pm
What it means is, someone is gonna have to clip some coupons because they will only (only?) be making 10 million when they could be making 12 million.
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May 22nd, 2008 at 12:21 pm
See, this is why I like PFT. It’s like I have a lawyer on retainer that boils all that boring league blabber down to something that I can digest without getting a bad case of tired head over it.
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