As an uncapped 2010 season approaches fans might be clamoring for the super-rich Seahawk owner Paul Allen to buy, buy, buy in free agency.
But while an uncapped season would seem to cause a severe unbalancing of the talent in the league, the owners have put in several new provisions in anticipation. These provisions will limit who enters free agency in a way that hurts the players far more than the owners.
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New free agency rules in the event of an uncapped season
1. Players can only enter free agency after six seasons in the NFL rather than the four currently stipulated.
2. Teams will get an extra transition tag and can use the two transition tags with their franchise tag, rather than choosing one or the other.
3. The teams that finished amongst the final four in the playoffs cannot sign an unrestricted free agent until they lose one free agent of their own.
4. The next four teams will have restrictions of their own in free agency, so they cannot afford any of the elite players in free agency.
This last rule was enacted this year but will carry over to the uncapped season.
5. A player's base salary can't raise more than 30 percent from one year to the next.
All this adds up to a major detriment for the players, who will no longer be able to make the same kind of money they made even in a capped season.
In discussing these provisions, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said:
So I feel better about our ability to operate without a cap and keep our league competitive and keep the game progressing, moving forward, than any way I could have felt when we were in a capped structure.
The owners voted to opt out of the current collective bargaining contract in May 2008. One of the major reasons was to implement a rookie salary pay structure, limiting what rookies can make. The union opposes this change.
Reach Jeff Richards at nextseasonsports@gmail.com
