Types of Free Agents UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENT A player with four-or-more accrued seasons and an expired contract is an unrestricted free agent. Unrestricted free agents are free to negotiate with any team. RESTRICTED FREE AGENT A player with three accrued seasons and an expired contract is a restricted free agent. A restricted free agent is... Continue Reading →
Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon is an exclusive rights free agent.
Desmond Trufant Contract Total Value – 6 years, $77,276,000 Extension – 5 years, $69,250,000 (New Money) Desmond Trufant Contract Length The new five-year extension is in addition to the Fifth-Year Option the Falcons exercised in April 2016. Atlanta now has Trufant locked up for the next six seasons. Trufant, one of three brothers who played... Continue Reading →
In the past, contract negotiations for NFL rookies spilled into training camp on a regular basis. Those days have been dead since 2011. Although there are still negotiating points, the new collective bargaining agreement installed something similar to the rookie wage scale in the NBA. Each of the up to 256 draft slots are allotted... Continue Reading →
Rookies are very limited with the types of Performance Incentives allowed in their contracts. While veterans can receive bonuses for attaining certain individual and/or team statistics and/or rankings, rookies can only receive incentives for playtime percentage (figured out by dividing player’s total offensive or defensive plays by the team’s total offensive or defensive plays) (Art.... Continue Reading →
The Proven Performance Escalator (PPE) rewards draft choices from later rounds for contributions that exceed their draft slot. The PPE is a part of all rookie contracts for any player selected in rounds 3-7. First- and second-round draft choices, along with undrafted free agents, do not qualify for the PPE (Art. 7, Sec. 4, (a-b),... Continue Reading →
Every player selected in the first round of the NFL Draft will automatically have a Fifth-Year Option added in his contract. This option cannot be separately attached to the player contract. The option allows a team to retain a player’s rights for five years rather than the standard four, which is the bonus of selecting... Continue Reading →
Total Value – Three years, $33,500,000 - $11.2M APY FOF Projection – Four years, $38,000,000 - $9.5M APY DeSean Jackson Contract Length Three years seems about for a 30 year old whose game relies on speed. Jackson will be 33 when he hits the free agent market again after the 2019 season. DeSean Jackson Contract... Continue Reading →
Incentives in veteran player contracts, unlike those rookie deals that are limited to playing time, can be earned through the accomplishment of individual and team goals (i.e. statistics, playing time, awards, etc.) specified in the contract (NFL CBA, p. 96-104). For a list of acceptable performance incentives see pages 98-101 in the CBA. There are... Continue Reading →
An option bonus is similar to a roster bonus. However, rather than receiving money for remaining on a team on a certain date, the team has the “option” to pay the bonus or terminate the player’s contract. When an option bonus is exercised, it is subject to probation like a signing bonus. If the option... Continue Reading →
Some contracts also have workout bonuses, which a player earns by participating in an agreed upon percentage of the team’s offseason workout program. Most big contracts contain these bonuses as an incentive to get veteran players to attend voluntary workouts. A similar type of compensation is a reporting bonus. A player earns this bonus by... Continue Reading →
A roster bonus is another form of compensation for NFL players. If a player contract contains a roster bonus in it, it is considered earned when the player remains on his team’s roster on a specified date. This type of bonus typically counts against the salary cap, in whole, during the League Year that it... Continue Reading →
