NFL 2008 Free Agents

2008 Free Agency Signing Period Begins

FREE AGENCY SIGNING PERIOD BEGINS; 429 PLAYERS BECOME FREE AGENTS

The National Football League announced that 429 players are free agents who now can negotiate with all 32 clubs.

The free agents include 10 players who this year were designated by their clubs as non-exclusive "franchise" players. A franchise player is a special category for restricted and unrestricted free agents.

NFL 2008 Player Free Agency Signing Period Begins

FREE AGENCY SIGNING PERIOD BEGINS; 429 PLAYERS BECOME FREE AGENTS

The National Football League announced that 429 players are free agents who now can negotiate with all 32 clubs.

The free agents include 10 players who this year were designated by their clubs as non-exclusive "franchise" players. A franchise player is a special category for restricted and unrestricted free agents.

The deadline for making these designations for 2007 was February 21.

There are two types of franchise players.

Clubs retain exclusive negotiating rights to an "exclusive" franchise player by committing to a minimum offer of the average of the top five salaries at the player's position for the current year as of the end of the restricted free agent signing period on April 18, or a 20 percent increase over his 2007 salary, or the average of the top five salaries at his position as of the end of last season -- whichever of the three is greater. Other clubs cannot negotiate with exclusive franchise players. The Oakland Raiders named cornerback NNAMDI ASOMUGHA as an exclusive franchise player this year.

The second type of franchise player is offered a minimum of the average of the top five salaries at his position in the 2007 season, or a 20 percent salary increase, whichever is greater. This type of franchise player may negotiate with other clubs. His original club may match the offer and retain the player, or receive two first-round draft choices as compensation if the original club elects not to match.

Each club is permitted one franchise designation in any year of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. If a franchise player signs a multiyear contract with his current club between February 29 and July 15, the club retains its franchise player designation for the following league year. After July 15, any contract signed by a franchise player can only be for one year.

Also, a club may designate a transition player in lieu of a franchise player in any year when the franchise designation is available. A transition player designation gives the club a first-refusal right to match an offer sheet given to the player by another club. To designate a transition player, the club must offer a minimum of the average of the top 10 salaries of 2007 at the player's position, or a 20 percent salary increase, whichever is greater. The Pittsburgh Steelers named tackle MAX STARKS as a transition player this year.

In the event a player retires, suffers a career-ending injury or is otherwise unavailable due to non-football circumstances, a club has the right to designate another franchise or transition player.

A club may withdraw a franchise or transition designation at any time. The player becomes an unrestricted free agent when that withdrawal occurs, and the team can use one of the designations on another player at the appropriate time.

Unrestricted veteran free agents are players who have completed four or more accrued seasons of service and whose contracts have expired. They are free to sign with any club through July 22 (or the first scheduled day of the first NFL training camp, whichever is later). On July 23, their exclusive rights will revert to their original club if that club made a

June 1 tender to these players. Teams will have until the Tuesday after the 10th week of the season (November 11) to sign their unrestricted veteran free agents to whom a tender was made on June 1. If the player does not sign by November 11, he must continue to sit out the remainder of the season. If a June 1 tender is not made to an unrestricted free agent, he continues to be free to sign with any club.

Restricted free agents are players who have completed three accrued seasons of service and whose contracts have expired. They have received qualifying offers from their old clubs and are free to negotiate with any club until April 18, at which time their rights revert to their original club. If a player accepts an offer from a new club, the old club will have the right to match the offer and retain the player. If the old club elects not to match the offer, it may receive draft-choice compensation depending on the level of the qualifying offer made to the player.

The signing period for unrestricted free agents began today (February 29) and concludes on July 22 (or the first scheduled day of the first NFL training camp, whichever is later). The signing period for restricted free agents also began today but concludes on April 18.

Following is a list of free agents by club in six different categories:

a) 67 restricted free agents who received qualifying offers from their old clubs and are subject to the first refusal / compensation system of the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement. The old club has a right of first refusal to all players listed below. Compensation is as listed in the column on the right. If the old club has only a right of first refusal but is not entitled to any compensation, the designation "ROFR" appears in the column. In order to submit an offer sheet, a new club must have available the required choice or choices, defined as its own or better choices in the applicable rounds, in the 2008 NFL Draft. Offer sheets may be submitted to an old club by no later than 11:59:59 p.m., New York time, on Friday, April 18.

 

Club	Player	Pos.	College	First Refusal/ Compensation
Arizona	Brown, Elton	G	Virginia	4th
	Green, Eric	DB	Virginia Tech	1st
	Smith, Antonio	DE	Oklahoma State	1st
Atlanta	Boley, Michael	LB	Southern Mississippi	1st
	Davis, Chauncey	DE	Florida State	4th
	Koenen, Michael	P	Western Washington	2nd
	McIntyre, Corey	RB	West Virginia	ROFR
Baltimore	Brown, Jason	G	North Carolina	2nd
	Green, Justin	RB	Montana	5th
	Katula, Matt	LS	Wisconsin	ROFR
Buffalo	Jefferson, Jason	DT	Wisconsin	6th
Carolina	Hangartner, Geoff	G	Texas A&M	2nd
	Mathis, Evan	G	Alabama	3rd
	Seward, Adam	LB	Nevada-Las Vegas	5th
Chicago	Davis, Rashied	WR	San Jose State	ROFR
	McGowan, Brandon	DB	Maine	2nd
Cincinnati	Fitzpatrick, Ryan	QB	Harvard	7th
Cleveland	Anderson, Derek	QB	Oregon State	1st & 3rd
	Griffin, Kris	LB	Indiana, Pa.	ROFR
	Holly, Daven	DB	Cincinnati	2nd
Dallas	Barber, Marion	RB	Minnesota	1st & 3rd
	Berger, Joe	G	Michigan Tech	6th
	Canty, Chris	DE	Virginia	1st
Denver	Abdullah, Hamza	DB	Washington State	7th
	Foxworth, Domonique	DB	Maryland	3rd
	Myers, Chris	G	Miami	6th
	Paymah, Karl	DB	Washington State	3rd
Detroit	Moore, Langston	DT	South Carolina	6th
	Orlovsky, Dan	QB	Connecticut	5th
	Peterman, Stephen	G	Louisiana State	3rd
	Wilson, Stanley	DB	Stanford	3rd
Green Bay	Cole, Colin	DT	Iowa	2nd
	Morency, Vernand	RB	Oklahoma State	3rd
Houston	Brown, C.C.	DB	Louisiana-Lafayette	2nd
	Maddox, Anthony	DT