Spencer will be five
years into his NFL
career. One more
year would have
made him an UFA in
2010.
If 2010 turns out to be an uncapped year, which has been reported to be a likely scenario, the collective bargaining agreement rules would leave the Seahawks with only three unrestricted free agents.
Under an uncapped year, the rules stipulate that a player may only become an unrestricted free agent after six years in the league. Normally it’s four years.
Fortunately for the Seahawks, no starters are set to become UFA’s that year.
To Continue...
Below is a table of Seahawks free agents for 2010. Bolded names indicate the player will be a RFA.
Essentially, the rules under the uncapped year make it much easier for the Seahawks to re-sign their free agents. Starters center Chris Spencer, guard Rob Sims and off-and-on starter defensive end Darryl Tapp all would have been UFA in 2010. But, due to the rule change, they’ll be RFA.
Restricted free agents are much easier to retain because the old team the player was on has first right of refusal.
They can also sign the player to a tender, which means if another team signs the player to an offer sheet, and the old club doesn’t match the offer, the new club must give the old club compensation in the form of draft picks. The draft pick depends on how much money the tender was.
For instance, if the Seahawks tendered Chris Spencer and another team signed him to an offer sheet and the Seahawks refused to match the offer, the other team would have to compensate Seattle with a first round draft pick, corresponding with where Spencer was drafted.
The owners voted to opt out of the current collective bargaining contract last May. One of the major reasons was to implement a rookie salary pay structure, limiting what rookies can make. The union opposes this change and work stoppage appears imminent.
Reach Aaron Weinberg at nextseasonsports@gmail.com
