THE FUTURE OF FREE AGENCY AND THE PATRIOTS

A listing of when each current Patriots player will become a free agent in the future.

Please note that I got the idea for this page after looking at the Falcons Free Agency Outlook page on the defunct FalcFans.Com site. Nate Berube made an excellent suggestion in that I should include definitions of the terms used in the following table. I got the following from The Football Corner.

An Exclusive Rights Free Agent (ERFA) is defined as a player with an expiring contract who has less than three accrued seasons. He can only sign with his old club, provided that he is offered a one-year contract at the minimum salary for the upcoming year. If the exclusive rights free agent gets no such offer, he is completely free to sign with any team.

A Restricted Free Agent (RFA) is any player that has completed three accrued seasons and their contract has expired. A RFA must be tendered with an offer on or before the Restricted Free Agent Signing Period begins. The RFA can be tendered one of four offers. They are:
(1) Right of First Refusal and Draft Selection at player's Original Draft Round but a second-round pick if the player was a first-round pick: This is a one year player contract at a salary of $1,323,000 (for 2013) or 110% of the players prior year's salary (whichever is greater). If another club signs said RFA, the team tendering the offer receives one draft pick equal to the round the RFA was selected in during the draft but in the case the player was a first round pick the pick will be a second round pick.
(2) Right of First Refusal and a second-round pick: This is a one year player contract at a salary of $2,024,000 (for 2013) or 110% of the players prior year's salary (whichever is greater). If another club signs said RFA, the team tendering the offer receives one second round draft pick.
(3) Right of First Refusal and One First Round Draft Selection: This is a one year player contract at a salary of $2,879,000 (for 2013) or 110% of the players prior year's salary (whichever is greater). If another club signs said RFA, the team tendering the offer receives one first round draft pick.

An Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA) is any player with four or more accrued seasons whose contract has expired. A UFA is free to sign with any team without limitations and restrictions until July 15th. On July 16th, his rights revert back to his old club if it makes a tender offer (110% of the previous season's salary) to him by June 1st. The club then has until the 10th week of the season to sign him. If he does not sign by the 10th week, he must sit out the season. If no tender is offered to the UFA by June 1st, he is free to sign with any club at any time. A club can designate one player a Franchise Player during any given year of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). There are two types of Franchise Players. **** NOTE: For the next paragraphs regarding the franchise and transition tags salary is defined as the total of the Paragraph 5 Salary, roster and reporting bonuses, and the prorata portion of signing bonus salary, prorated signing bonus, and roster bonus but not LTBE incentives or offseason workout bonus money. To determine the franchise and transition tag amounts, the amounts of the franchise and transition tags at each position from the previous five seasons will be added up and divided by the sum of the league-wide salary cap number from the previous five seasons. For the uncapped 2010 season, the league uses the average of the 2009 and 2011 salary caps. The resulting percentage will be multiplied by the league-wide salary cap for the upcoming season to determine the non-exclusive franchise tag and transition tag amounts. The current league-wide salary cap number has yet to be determined, but according to a source with knowledge of the formula, the percentages for each position have been released to certified player agents. Below are the percentages and the projected "non-exclusive" franchise and transition tag amounts, based on a projected league-wide cap number of $121 million: They are:
(1) "Exclusive" Franchise Player is a player that is not free to sign with another club.
(2)"Non-Exclusive" Franchise Player is a player that is free to negotiate with other clubs. His old club can match a new club's offer, or receive two first-round draft choices if it decides not to match the offer.
Duration of Designation: Each Club that designates a Franchise Player to a player contract shall be deemed to have utilized its Franchise Player desination for the duration of the contract unless the club signs said Franchise Player to a long-term contract before the July 16th free agency deadline. If a franchise player does not sign a long-term deal with his team before EOB, July 16th, he can not sign a long-term deal with his team until after the regular season has ended.
The 2013 franchise figures: cornerbacks $10.677 million,defensive ends $10.993 million, defensive tackles $8.313 million, linebacker $9.462 million, offensive line $9.668 million, kickers $2.928 million, quarterbacks $14.654 million, running backs $8.085 million, safeties $6.804 million, tight end $5.968 million and wide receivers $10.365 million.

A club can designate one player a Transition Player during any given year of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). A club must offer a minimum of the average of the Top 10 salaries or 120% of the player's previous salary (whichever is greater). A Transition Player designation gives the club first-refusal right to match within seven days an offer sheet made by another club. If the club matches, it retains the player. If it does not match, it receives no compensation. Duration of Designation: Beginning in the 2006 League Year, teams will have a window beginning the day after the last day of the Franchise Player designation period and ending at 4:00 p.m. New York time July 15th during which, if the team signs its Franchise Player to a multi-year contract, the team may nonetheless retain its Franchise Player designation rights the following year.
The 2013 transition numbers: cornerbacks $8.947 million, defensive end $9.002 million, defensive tackle $8.813 million, linebacker $8.223 milllion, offensive line $8.568 million, kicker $2.656 milllion, quarterback $12.856 milllion, running back $6.857 million, safety $5.904 million, tight end $5.109 million and wide receiver $8.723 million.

Accrued Season -A season where a player was on, should have been on, full pay status for a total of six or more regular season games, but, regardless of the player's pay status, shall not include Exempt Commisisioner Permission, Reserve PUP List (non-football injury), or a Club's Practice or Developmental Squad. Plainly stated, any season that a player is on a club's active/inactive roster, or reserve-injured or physically unable to perform list (football related).

For 2013, the RFA tender levels with 3 years of service (Michael Hoomanawanui - a 2010 5th round draft pick) will be --

* = 110% of player's 2012 Paragraph 5 salary, whichever is greater)

• $1.323 million* = original draft pick compensation (but a second-rounder if the player was a 1st-round pick)
• $2.024 million* = second-round pick
• $2.879 million*= first-round pick

A listing of when each current Patriots player will become a free agent in the future.

Year	Exclusive Rights	Restricted	Unrestricted
Players in BOLD are starters
March 12, 2013		Michael Hoomanawanui, TE	Will Allen, CB Kyle Arrington, CB (re-signed) Josh Barrett, S Deion Branch, WR Patrick Chung, S (signed with the Eagles) Marquice Cole, CB (re-signed) Julian Edelman, WR Niko Koutouvides, LB (re-signed) Derrick Martin, CB Jamey Richard, C Donte' Stallworth, WR Aqib Talib, CB (re-signed) Donald Thomas, G (signed with the Colts) Sebastian Vollmer, RT (re-signed) Wes Welker, WR (signed with the Broncos) Tracy White, LB Danny Woodhead, RB (signed with the Chargers)
March 1, 2014	Kamar Aiken, WR Marcus Benard, DE	Jake Ballard, TE	Danny Aiken, LS Marquice Cole, CB Jermaine Cunningham, LB Brandon Deaderick, DT Julian Edelman, WR Tony Fiammetta, FB Dane Fletcher, LB Michael Hoomanawanui, TE Michael Jenkins, WR Niko Koutouvides, LB Kyle Love, DT Nick McDonald, G Zoltan Mesko, P Rob Ninkovich, DE Mike Rivera, LB Taylor Price, WR Brandon Spikes, LB Will Svitek, OT Aqib Talib, CB Leon Washington, RB Brian Waters, G Ryan Wendell, C Malcolm Williams, CB
March 1, 2015	Marcus Forston, DT	Kamar Aiken, WR Brandon Bolden, RB Justin Francis, DE Brad Herman, TE Andre Holmes, WR Markus Zusevics, OT	Jake Ballard, TE >Marcus Cannon, G Dan Connolly, G Ras-I Dowling, CB Stephen Gostkowski, K Steve Gregory, S Tommie Kelly, DT Ryan Mallett, QB Devin McCourty, S Stevan Ridley, RB Nate Solder, OT Shane Vereen, RB Vince Wilfork, DT
March 1, 2016	none	Armond Arstead, DE Marcus Forston, DT Jason Vega, G	Kamar Aiken, WR Jake Bequette, DE Brandon Bolden, RB Alonzo Dennard, CB Nate Ebner, S Justin Francis, DE Brad Herman, TE Dont'a Hightower, LB Andre Holmes, WR Chandler Jones, DE Donald Jones, WR Tavon Wilson, S Markus Zusevics, OT
March 1, 2017	none	none	Kyle Arrington, CB Armond Arstead, DE Marcus Forston, DT Jason Vega, G Logan Mankins, G Sebastian Vollmer, RT
March 1, 2018	none	none	Tom Brady, QB Jerod Mayo, LB
March 1, 2019	none	none	Aaron Hernandez, TE
March 1, 2020	none	none	Rob Gronkowski, TE

The following lists the draft picks that the Patriots will enter the 2013 draft with as of today.

• 1 - Patriots - assigned selection (29th overall)
• 2 - Patriots - assigned selection (59th overall)
• 3 - Patriots - assigned selection (91st overall)
• 4 - Patriots - assigned selection - Traded to the Redskins for Aqib Talib
• 5 - Patriots - assigned selection - Traded to the Redskins for Albert Haynesworth
• 6 - Patriots - assigned selection - Traded to the Bengals for Chad Johnson.
• 7 - Buccaneers - (226th overall) - Acquired as part of the Aqib Talib trade.
• 7 - Patriots - (235rd overall) assigned selection

The following lists the draft picks that the Patriots will enter the 2014 draft with as of today.

• 1 - Patriots - assigned selection
• 2 - Patriots - assigned selection
• 3 - Patriots - assigned selection
• 4 - Patriots - assigned selection
• 5 - Patriots - assigned selection
• 6 - Patriots - assigned selection
• 7 - Patriots - assigned selection

The following lists the players who will be included in the 2014 compensatory pick calculation for the Patriots

Will the contracts/production/offseason honors of Danny Amendola and Will Svitek outweigh the contracts/production/offseason honors of Wes Welker, Danny Woodhead, Donald Thomas, and Patrick Chung? Since the Patriots lost more qualifying UFAs than they have signed, I project that they will get two compensatory picks (most likely sixth-rounders) in 2014.

The Falcons.Com has the best free agency calendar available on the web

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