NFL Free Agency Explained: Restricted, Unrestricted and Exclusive Rights
Not every NFL player whose contract ends is free to leave. Learn the three free agent classes, the accrued-season count that sorts them, how offer sheets work and when the signing period opens.
In March, a veteran's contract ends and his name starts trending. A few days later a different player, equally good, has his contract end and nothing happens at all, because his team simply offers him a one-year deal and he cannot talk to anyone else. A third player gets an offer from another club, and his own team has a few days to decide whether to match it. All three are "free agents" in some loose sense. Under the rules, they are in three different classes with three different amounts of freedom.
The class a player belongs to depends on one thing: how many seasons of NFL service he has accumulated. Once you know the count, the rest of the system follows. This article explains each class, how the count is kept, how teams protect their own players, and how the signing period runs. The numbers below are from the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in recent years. They can be changed when a new agreement is negotiated, so confirm them with the NFL Players Association or the league if a decision depends on them.
You can see a team's current roster and each player's status on our teams and players pages. For the history of how this system came to exist, see How Free Agency Came to the NFL.
The service count: accrued seasons
Everything starts with accrued seasons. A player earns an accrued season in a given year by being on certain team rosters, including the active roster, the inactive list and injured reserve, for at least six regular-season games. A year spent entirely on a practice squad generally does not count, and the CBA spells out which roster lists qualify.
The count decides the class of a player whose contract has expired:
| Accrued seasons | Class | Short description |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer than three | Exclusive rights free agent (ERFA) | The team controls him; no other club can negotiate |
| Three | Restricted free agent (RFA) | Can get offers, but his team can match |
| Four or more | Unrestricted free agent (UFA) | Free to sign with any team |
Players on rookie contracts do not hit free agency in the usual way. A drafted player signs a deal that lasts several years, and because the deal is long, many of them have three or four accrued seasons by the time it ends. That is why a player's first free agency often comes at about the time he is in his mid-twenties. The length of a rookie deal is described in NFL Rookie Contracts and the Rookie Wage Scale.
Unrestricted free agents: the full market
An unrestricted free agent (UFA) is a player whose contract has expired and who has four or more accrued seasons under the current rules. He is free to negotiate and sign with any team. His old club has no right to match offers, has no right to a draft pick if he leaves, and cannot stop him from visiting other teams.
That sounds like complete freedom, and mostly it is. Two things limit it:
- The franchise tag and the transition tag. A team can use one of these tags to keep an unrestricted free agent from reaching the open market, in exchange for a one-year contract at a set price. See Franchise Tags and Transition Tags.
- The salary cap. Teams can only sign as many players as their cap space allows. Players often have fewer real offers than they would like. For how cap space works, see The Salary Cap Explained.
When a UFA leaves, his old team may get a compensatory pick. When a team signs a UFA, it may lose one. That mechanism is covered in The Compensatory Pick Formula Explained.
Restricted free agents: the right to match
A restricted free agent (RFA) is a player with three accrued seasons whose contract has expired. His team can keep him by following a procedure, and other teams can pursue him at a cost.
The tender
Before free agency starts, the original team can issue a tender, which is a one-year qualifying offer. If the team tenders him, he remains restricted. If it does not, he becomes an unrestricted free agent. The tender comes in levels, and the dollar amounts for each level are set by the CBA each year:
- First-round tender: if another team signs the player and the original team does not match, it receives that team's first-round pick.
- Second-round tender: the compensation is a second-round pick.
- Original-round tender: the compensation is a pick in the round in which the player was originally drafted. For a player who was not drafted, there is no pick.
- Right of first refusal only: the team can match any offer, but receives no pick if it does not.
The higher the tender, the larger the one-year salary the player is paid if he stays, and the more expensive it is for another team to pursue him. A team chooses the level that suits how much it values him.
The offer sheet
Another team can then try to sign the player by giving him an offer sheet, a contract proposal he can accept. If he signs it, the original team has a short period, a matter of days, to match the offer. If it matches, the player stays with the original team on those terms. If it declines, the player goes to the new club and the original team receives the draft compensation attached to its tender.
Because the cost of giving up a draft pick is high, and because a team that makes a big offer sheet may simply see it matched, offer sheets for restricted free agents have been rare in recent years. The existence of the right matters more than its use: it keeps the market for these players quiet.
What a hypothetical looks like
Say a team has a three-year veteran who has played well and whose rookie deal has ended. The team tenders him at the second-round level. Another club sees value and offers him a four-year deal. The original team has a few days to respond. It decides the price is too high and lets him go. The player signs with the new club, and the original team receives a second-round pick. If the original club had matched, the player would stay on the new terms with no pick changing hands.
Exclusive rights free agents: the team holds the key
A player with fewer than three accrued seasons whose contract has expired is an exclusive rights free agent (ERFA). Typically he is a young player, such as an undrafted rookie or a late-round pick, who signed a short deal.
The team may tender him a one-year contract at the minimum salary for his experience level, and if it does, he cannot negotiate with any other team. If the team does not tender him, he becomes an unrestricted free agent and can sign anywhere.
For the player, the practical effect is that a team has full control of a young player for another year, in exchange for a low salary. For the team, it is a cheap way to keep depth players it likes. In practice, many teams tender ERFAs almost routinely; a tender is often a sign that the team wants him back, and a non-tender is often a sign that it does not.
How the signing period runs
The league year and the legal window
The free agency period opens at the start of the new league year, which falls in March. A few days earlier, the league allows a short period often called the legal tampering window, during which agents can talk to other teams about their clients whose contracts are about to expire, though no player can formally sign until the league year begins.
Outside that window, it is a violation for a team to discuss a contract with another team's player. This is called tampering, and the league can discipline teams for it, including with fines and the loss of draft picks.
Waves
Because so much happens at once when the league year begins, observers talk about waves. The first wave consists of the best-known players, who often sign within the first days. The second wave includes the next tier of starters and depth players, who sign as teams use the remaining cap space. A late wave follows through the spring and into the summer, as players sign for lower prices.
Not the same as getting cut
Players who are released by their teams are also on the market, but they are treated differently from players whose contracts expired. A released player does not count in the compensatory formula, and a player who is "cut" may be on the market at any time of year. Players released with a certain number of years in the league can sign immediately, while others go through waivers first. See Waivers, Claims and Cut-Down Day.
One team's spring, class by class
It helps to see the three classes together. Imagine a team with six players whose contracts end this year.
| Player | Accrued seasons | Class | What the team can do |
|---|---|---|---|
| A, a starting tackle | 6 | UFA | Re-sign him, tag him, or let him go and possibly earn a compensatory pick |
| B, a starting cornerback | 4 | UFA | Same options; he can visit other teams once the window opens |
| C, a reserve linebacker | 3 | RFA | Tender him at a chosen level, and match any offer sheet |
| D, a backup running back | 3 | RFA | Tender at the lowest level, or let him become a UFA |
| E, a second-year receiver | 2 | ERFA | Tender him a one-year minimum contract, which blocks other teams |
| F, an undrafted rookie | 1 | ERFA | Same, or let him go |
The team does not have to decide everything on the same day. The tag window forces its hand on A and B first, the tender deadline covers C through F, and the market sorts out the rest. In practice, the team's main question is how to spend a limited amount of cap room, which turns every re-signing into a trade-off against signing someone from another team.
Players in the middle of the table often get the least attention and the most surprise. A restricted free agent may see no offers at all, and then accept the one-year tender because there is nothing better. An exclusive rights player may hold out in rare cases, but with no other team allowed to talk to him, his leverage is limited to refusing to sign.
The visit and the decision
A free agent's decision involves more than the largest offer. A few practical factors:
- Contract structure: a deal with the largest headline number may include less guaranteed money than a smaller headline. Contract language is covered in How NFL Contracts Are Structured.
- Role: whether he will start, how he fits the scheme and how the coach plans to use him.
- Location and family: a long-term decision for a person with a household.
- Team stability: the coaching staff, the front office and the team's direction.
- Taxes and cost of living: these differ between states and can affect take-home pay.
Teams also decide whom to chase. A team with a limited amount of cap room cannot afford everyone, so it picks the positions where it is weakest and the players whose price looks reasonable.
Common misunderstandings
"Free agent" means the same thing for every player. It does not. A free agent with two accrued seasons is under his team's control, while one with five seasons is free.
"A tender is a contract extension." It is a one-year offer. It keeps the player for a season and does not lock him in beyond that.
"A team always matches." Teams match when they want to keep the player at the new price. When they do not, the player leaves with draft compensation.
"All free agents sign on the first day." Many sign later. The market runs for months, and a player who is still available in the summer may sign for less.
"Free agency only happens in March." The main period is in March, but players who are released or unsigned can be signed during the season. Teams routinely add players throughout the year.
"The league decides where free agents sign." Teams and players decide. The league's role is to set the rules and enforce them.
Where to follow it
When contracts expire and players change teams, our players and teams pages update with the new rosters. For the football calendar around the free agency period, see The NFL Offseason Calendar, Month by Month.
The short version
- A player's class depends on his accrued seasons: fewer than three is exclusive rights, three is restricted, four or more is unrestricted (under the CBA in recent years).
- Unrestricted free agents can sign with anyone, unless the franchise or transition tag holds them back.
- Restricted free agents can receive offer sheets, and the original team can match them or take draft compensation tied to the tender level.
- Exclusive rights free agents who are tendered cannot talk to other teams.
- Free agency opens with the new league year in March, after a short legal negotiating window, and it continues for months.
- Released players are a separate category, and the numbers above can change with each new CBA.