Free
Agency 
Free agency FAQ
Free agency coverage from
NFL.com
The
free agent signing period begins on March 11. St. Louis entered the market with 22
prospective free agents. Each player entered the market as an unrestricted
free agent,
restricted free agent or exclusive rights free agent.
The
list below categorizes each player by what type of free agent he is and gives
and
explanation
of what those types of free agents
are.
Unrestricted Free
Agents
Any player who
has been in the league more than four years and whose contract has expired
is an unrestricted free agent. These players can sign with
any team in the league without
repercussion. There is no compensation awarded for losing unrestricted
free agents unless
a team signs more UFAs than it loses. In that case, a
team will get draft pick compensation
in the form of “sandwich picks” that occur
between rounds of the draft.
|
2006
Unrestricted Free Agents |
| Name, Pos |
Height |
Weight |
Exp |
'06 Team |
Status |
| Adam
Archuleta, SS |
6-0 |
223 |
5 |
Redskins |
Signed on 3/12 |
| Bryan
Barker, P |
6-1 |
205 |
16 |
|
|
| Aveion
Cason, RB |
5-10 |
204 |
5 |
|
|
| Terry
Fair, CB |
5-10 |
191 |
8 |
|
|
| Corey
Ivy, CB |
5-9 |
188 |
4 |
Ravens |
Signed on
3/22 |
| Tyoka
Jackson, DE |
6-2 |
280 |
11 |
Lions |
Signed on 4/26 |
| Damione
Lewis, DT |
6-2 |
301 |
5 |
Panthers |
Signed on 3/13 |
| Jamie Martin, QB |
6-2 |
205 |
11 |
|
|
| Tom Nutten, G |
6-5 |
295 |
8 |
|
|
| Ryan
Pickett, DT |
6-2 |
310 |
5 |
Packers |
Signed on 3/17 |
| Rex Tucker, OL |
6-5 |
315 |
7 |
Lions |
Signed
on 3/20 |
| Roland
Williams,
TE |
6-5 |
265 |
8 |
|
|
Restricted Free Agents
These players are players who have
been in the league for four or fewer years and whose
contracts have expired.
These players are allowed to sign what the NFL calls “offer sheets”
with
other teams, but the original team has a week to match the offer. If the
original team
chooses not to match the offer, it will receive compensation,
usually a draft pick from the
signing team. These players will be given
qualifying offers by the original team. The size of
the qualifying offer
directly correlates to the amount of compensation a team will get if the
player leaves.
Exclusive Rights Free Agent
An exclusive rights free agent is
a player whose contract has expired, but has three
or fewer tenured years in
the NFL. That player’s original team must make him a qualifying
offer before
an NFL mandated deadline or the player will become an unrestricted free agent.
If that happens and the player leaves, there is no draft pick compensation
awarded to the
original team.
Franchise Player
Each team is given one franchise tag to use each off-season. That tag
remains with the player
until he is granted his release or signs a long-term
contract. The player will get a tender offer
that is equal to the average of
the top five paid players at his position from the previous
season. The
player is allowed until March 15 to sign a long-term contract with the original
team
or he must wait until July 15 to resume negotiations. The player is free
to negotiate a contract
with other teams, but if he signs the offer and the
original team chooses not to match it, the
signing team must pay the original
team in compensation of no less than two first round draft
picks in
consecutive seasons.
|
2006 Franchise Player |
| Name, Pos |
Height |
Weight |
Exp |
'05 Team |
Status |
| None |
|
|
|
|
|
