The Kansas City Chiefs have announced that the club has signed receiver Will Franklin to a four-year deal.

Franklin, a fourth-round pick in the April draft, played college football at Missouri.

The decision of Franklin to ink a four-year deal means that he’ll give up his season of restricted free agency, if the current cap and free agency system remains in place in and beyond 2011.  Some contracts of players taken after the first two or three rounds have durations of only three years.  It entails less signing bonus money, but it puts the player in position to force an extension or receive a significant RFA tender offer in year four.

If, for example, Cowboys running back Marion Barber had signed a four-year deal in 2005, he would not have been a restricted free agent in 2008 — and he likewise would have been playing for the fourth-year minimum salary.  Instead, he has inked a big-money deal, so he’s in a position to buy expensive champagne and spray it on strangers invest prudently in order to secure his financial future.