An Exclusive Rights Free Agent (ERFA) is a player who is no longer under contract with a club but has less than three Accrued Seasons.
If the player’s former team offers him a one-year contract for the minimum Active/Inactive Salary (subject to player’s Credited Seasons), the player can only sign a contract with that team. The offer becomes a take-it-or-leave-it kind of deal: the ERFA can either play for the minimum tender or they can choose not to play at all.
If the ERFA’s former team does not offer this tender prior to the first day of the League Year or withdraws their offer, the ERFA can immediately sign a contract with any team (Art. 8, Sec. 2, 34).
