 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2010) |
A restricted free agent (RFA) is a type of free agent in the National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), or National Basketball Association (NBA). Such players have special restrictions on the terms under which they can retain or change employment status with their athletic club teams.
In the National Football League, a restricted free agent is one with three or fewer accrued seasons (six or more regular season games with a team) [1] of service, who has received a "qualifying" offer (a salary level predetermined by the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and its players, known as a "tender") from his current club. He can negotiate with any club through a certain date. If the restricted free agent accepts an offer sheet from a new club, his old club has "right of first refusal," a five-day period in which it may match the offer and retain him, or choose not to match the offer, in which case it may receive one or more draft picks for the upcoming draft from the player's new club. If an offer sheet is not executed, the player's rights revert to his old club the day after negotiations must end.
In 2007, a second-round tender offer was added, and after the 2011 lockout, the top tender was removed. The three tender amounts for 2018 are as follows: [2]
| Tender amount | Compensation required |
|---|---|
| $4.149 million | First-round |
| $2.914 million | Second-round |
| $1.907 million | Determined by RFA's original draft status |
Each player that signs a tender receives a non-guaranteed one-year salary that corresponds to the tender level. Teams which choose not to match an offer on a player with a low tender receive a draft pick corresponding to the round in which the player was originally drafted (except that the highest pick that can be surrendered for such a tender is a second-round pick). For example, a player who was originally drafted in the sixth round of the NFL Draft would force the team signing him to give his former team a sixth-round pick in the upcoming draft as compensation for his service. No compensation is required for an undrafted player on the lowest tender amount, so teams with valued undrafted RFAs are taking a risk by offering such tenders. (The top tender prior to 2011 required first- and third-round picks as compensation.)
In addition to the following outcomes, if a player does not receive an offer sheet from his original team, he becomes an unrestricted free agent. If a player signs the offer sheet from his original team, he remains with that team.
A player who is no longer considered to be entry-level, but does not qualify as an unrestricted free agent, becomes a restricted free agent when his contract expires. A player may only declare himself to be an unrestricted free agent if he is over the age of 27 or has played in the league for a minimum of 7 years.
The current team must extend a "qualifying offer" to a restricted free agent to retain negotiating rights to that player. Qualifying offers are for one year contracts. The minimum salary for the qualifying offer depends on the player's prior year salary.
Players who earned less than $660,000 in the previous season must be offered 110 percent of last season's salary. Players making up to $1 million must be offered 105 percent. Players making over $1 million must be offered 100 percent.
If a player accepts a qualifying offer, he then signs a one-year contract with his current team under the terms of the offer. If the player rejects the qualifying offer, or has not yet accepted it, he is able to negotiate offer sheets with other teams. Qualifying offers are required for a team to retain a player's rights, but in most cases the player and team will agree to a contract differing from the qualifying offer. Should the player sign an offer sheet with another team, his current team is notified and can no longer negotiate a new contract or trade the player rights to another team. The current team has 7 days to make a decision whether to match the offer sheet, or decline and receive draft pick compensation from the team making the offer sheet.
For example:
At any point during the negotiation process, if the player has been in the NHL for longer than 4 years (less if the player signed his first contract after the age of 20), either the player or his current team may file for salary arbitration as a means of settling a contract dispute. At this point the player may no longer sign an offer sheet. The deadline to file for salary arbitration is July 5 with cases being heard between late July and early August.
A team can take a player to arbitration once in his career. While there is no explicitly-stated maximum number of times a player may request salary arbitration, since under the current CBA players spend four off-seasons as potential arbitration-eligible RFA's, a player could feasibly make up to four such requests before he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
Players in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with four or fewer years of experience may become restricted free agents under certain conditions.
Kontinental Hockey League players under 28 years of age as of July 1 of a given calendar year whose contracts are expired are considered restricted free agents. Just like the NHL and the NBA, the original team of a player who signed an offer sheet tendered by another team has seven days to match the offer sheet. However, unlike its North American counterpart, teams that decide not to match offer sheets collect transfer fees instead.
In the Liga ACB, the right of first refusal is a rule that allows clubs to keep players who finish the contract. From 2015, non-FIBA Europe players have also been included, since they are within the collective agreement and therefore may be subject to the right of first refusal. [3]
The players that appear in the list of not subject to the right of first refusal are totally free to sign for the club they wish at the end of their contract. Some of them, however, have already reached a renewal agreement with the club. [3]
Analyzing what can happen from the moment a player appears on the list of the right of first refusal when the league publish the list: [3]
The right of first refusal only affects the ACB scope, but it does not expire. If a player subject to the right of first refusal reaches an agreement with a non-ACB club, the current club retains the rights for when it returns to the Liga ACB. [3]
In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is allowed to solicit offers from other teams. In some circumstances, the free agent's options are limited by league rules.
The reserve clause, in North American professional sports, was part of a player contract which stated the rights to players were retained by the team upon the contract's expiration. Players under these contracts were not free to enter into another contract with another team. Once signed to a contract, players could, at the team's whim, be reassigned, traded, sold, or released.
Logan Lee Mankins is a former American football guard who played eleven seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Fresno State, and was drafted by the New England Patriots in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft. Mankins also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Major League Baseball transactions are changes made to the roster of a major league team during or after the season. They may include waiving, releasing, and trading players, as well as assigning players to minor league teams.
In the National Basketball Association (NBA), a sign-and-trade deal is a type of transaction allowed by the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) where one franchise/team signs an unrestricted free agent or restricted free agent player to a new contract, only to then immediately trade him to another team of the player's choosing. This is typically done to enable the player to obtain a higher salary and/or greater number of years on their contract than NBA salary cap rules would ordinarily allow a destination team that signs him directly to a contract.
The first-year player draft is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings, with the team possessing the worst record receiving the first pick, until 2022.
The NBA salary cap is the limit to the total amount of money that National Basketball Association teams are allowed to pay their players. Like many professional sports leagues, the NBA has a salary cap to control costs and benefit parity, defined by the league's collective bargaining agreement (CBA). This limit is subject to a complex system of rules and exceptions and is calculated as a percentage of the league's revenue from the previous season. Under the CBA ratified in July 2017, the cap will continue to vary in future seasons based on league revenues. For the 2019–20 season, the cap is set at $109.14 million.
Dustin Penner is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Anaheim Ducks, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings and Washington Capitals. Undrafted by any NHL team, in 2004, Penner signed with Anaheim after playing college hockey at the University of Maine in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). Penner won the Stanley Cup in his first full season with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007, before adding a second Stanley Cup in his first full season with Los Angeles in 2012.
In the National Football League (NFL), the franchise tag is a designation a team may apply to a player scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. The tag binds the player to the team for one year if certain conditions are met. Each team has one franchise tag and one transition tag per year. The transition tag can only be used if the team does not use a franchise tag; however, Article 10 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed in 2011 stipulates that, in the Final League Year, teams are allowed to use both the franchise tag and transition tag for the 2020 NFL season.
A transition tag is a tool used by National Football League teams to retain unrestricted free agents. It guarantees the original club the right of first refusal to match any offer the player may make with another team. The transition tag can be used once a year by each club unless they elect to use a franchise tag instead. Transition tags can be rescinded; however, teams that rescind a transition tag cannot use it again until the next season.
D'Qwell Jackson is a former American football inside linebacker who played eleven seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Maryland, and was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He has also played for the Indianapolis Colts.
In North American professional sports, an offer sheet is a contract offered to a restricted free agent by a team other than the one for which he played during the prior season. Different leagues have different ways to handle offer sheets.
The NHL salary cap is the total amount of money that National Hockey League (NHL) teams are allowed to pay their players. It is a "hard" salary cap, meaning there are no exemptions.
The 2010–11 Chicago Blackhawks season was the 85th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on September 25, 1926. The team was nicknamed the "Hangover 'Hawks" for having to recover from winning the franchise's first Stanley Cup in 49 years while adapting to the loss of several players from that team due to salary cap restrictions.
The 2010–11 Atlanta Thrashers season was the team's 12th season of operation in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Thrashers posted a regular season record of 34 wins, 36 losses and 12 overtime/shootout losses for 80 points, failing to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. It was the last season for the franchise in Atlanta. It was announced on May 31, 2011 that the team was bought and would be relocated to Winnipeg, Manitoba, for the 2011–12 NHL season to become the new Winnipeg Jets.
Alex Chiasson is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward currently playing for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He had previously played for the Dallas Stars, Ottawa Senators, Calgary Flames, Washington Capitals and Edmonton Oilers. Chiasson won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Capitals in 2018.
The 2012–13 Phoenix Suns season was the organization's 45th season in the National Basketball Association. This season was the first since the 2003–04 season that the Suns were without star point guard and former two-time MVP Steve Nash after Nash was sign-and-traded to the rival Los Angeles Lakers. Another fan favorite, Grant Hill, also left for Los Angeles in this season, but he would sign with the Los Angeles Clippers. By technicality, the player who held the most playing experience for the Suns this season was Jermaine O'Neal.
The 2019 season was the Kansas City Chiefs' 50th in the National Football League (NFL), their 60th overall, their seventh under head coach Andy Reid and third under general manager Brett Veach.