Vikings-Free Agency- And the Problems & Hurdles we face

After the jump I am Posting a roster of the Vikings top players and the year their contract expires. If a new labor contract is not signed by March 1,2010 then the NFL goes into a non-capped year.  I wanted to try and explain how the new  system works and what it means to the Vikings.  Although there are many caveats and definitions I am boiling this down to a short explanation.  I'm sure if I miss something important our friends will post some corrections or explanations. Under the new rules:

Any player who's contract expires and has been in the league three years or less is an exclusive free agent and must only negotiate with their own club.  If they don't want to do that they have to sit out of football one year.

Any player who's contract expires and has been in the league from three to five years is a Restricted Free Agent (RFA)

1.   The vikes may offer any one of four "one year contracts" to any RFA by March 1, 2010. If they don't then the RFA becomes an Unrestricted Free Agent(UFA)
2. The one year contract gives the Vikes a "first right of refusal" to that player and certain draft picks from the team that wishes to sign the player.
3. The contract choices  are as follows  :

     An RFA can negotiate with any club he wants with certain restrictions. The restriction is as follows according to AsktheCommish.com  ( http://www.askthecommish.com/freeagency/)

   "The player's original team maintains the First Refusal Right if the team tenders a contract offer of one year at $1.01 M.
   
   The player's original team maintains the Right of First Refusal and Draft Selection at the Player’s Original Draft Round (from the team with which he signs) if the team tenders an offer of one year at the same amount(s) listed above OR at least 110% of the player’s prior year’s salary -- whichever is greater. 

   The player's original team maintains the Right of First Refusal and Second Round Draft Selection (from the team with which he signs) if the team tenders an offer of one year at $$1.545 million OR at least 110% of the player’s prior year’s salary -- whichever is greater. 
   
   The player's original team maintains the Right of First Refusal and First Round Draft Selection (from the team with which he signs) if the team tenders an offer of one year at $2.198 million OR at least 110% of the player’s prior year’s salary -- whichever is greater. 
   
   The player's original team maintains the Right of First Refusal and First Round Draft Selection and Third Round Draft Selection (both from the team with which he signs) if the team tenders an offer of one year at $2.792 million OR at least 110% of the player's prior year’s salary -- whichever is greater.

                  
   
4. Any player who's contract is expiring that has been in the league for 5 or more years is an unrestricted free agent.  This means he can without limitation go on the free market and negotiate with whoever he wants.
5. A team can Tag  one player with the Franchise Tag.  This means a player is paid the average of the top 5 players at his position for one year.  Player cannot negotiate with anyone ( unless he is marked as Non-exclusive)
   
6. A team can tag one player (two players if no one is tagged As a Franchise player) as a Transition Player.  A Transition player gets paid an average of the top 10 at his position and the team gets a right of first refusal.

                                                   SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE VIKES

HERE IS A LIST OF OUR CONTRACTS AND EXPIRATIONS from WalterFootball.com

Free agents to be following the 2009 NFL season are marked as "2010" because they become free agents on March 1, 2010. The same goes for future seasons. Age is as of Sept. 1, 2009.

Last updated: Sept. 11, 2009

First find the player your interested in and see what category he is in.  The RFA designations above are invalid as they are under the old labor contract. Then you can start figuring out whether to re-sign him, Franchise Tag him, Transition Tag him, or offer ane of the four RFA contracts to him.  Of course nothing stops you from negotiating a new contract right now before March 1, 2010

The Bad Part for the Vikes.

Because the Vikings were one of the top 4 teams this year they will not be allowed to sign any free agents from other teams Except to replace any Free Agents we lose.  However we can not pay the new player any more money than the player we lost receives from his new club.  A tit for tat kind of rule.

Chester Taylor (UFA), Ray Edwards (RFA),  Tarvaris Jackson(RFA),  and Ryan Cook (RFA) are probably the most prized of our players.  Chester is the only one that is free to negotiate without restrictions.  How the Vikings deal with these players is beyond the scope of this article.  I just wanted you to know what the GM is dealing with and for you to not get caught up in the rumors of Free Agent acquisitions.

Hope this was helpful.