2024 Fantasy Free Agency Tracker

Mar 11, 2024

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The NFL's free agency period begins on March 13, though teams can legally negotiate with players' agents beginning on March 11.

Here's a quick refresher on the NFL's (oftentimes convoluted) free agency rules:

An unrestricted free agent (UFA) can sign with whomever he wants with no compensation going to his old team.
A restricted free agent (RFA) has three years of service in the NFL and an expired contract. He's free to negotiate with other teams, but once he signs an offer sheet, his old team has seven days to match the deal and retain the player. If his old team declines to match, his new team may have to send a draft pick as compensation, depending on what type of RFA tender the old team offered the player.
A team can apply a franchise tag to a player to guarantee that the team retains the player's rights for another season in the hopes that the two sides can work out a long-term deal. The price is steep -- it's a formula based on a certain percentage of the salary cap and the salaries of the top five players at the position. (The window to tag a player this season is February 20 to March 5.)
Under the franchise tag, a player can be labeled an exclusive (EFT) or non-exclusive (NEFT) franchise player. Exclusive franchise players cannot negotiate with other teams. Like restricted free agents, a non-exclusive franchise player can sign an offer sheet from another team. If his old team declines to match, they'll receive two first-round picks as compensation. (In 2023, six players were slapped with the franchise tag, and all six were non-exclusive.)
If a team doesn't apply a franchise tag, it can elect to apply a transition tag instead. The tender is cheaper because it uses the top 10 salaries at the position, but if another team negotiates a deal and his old team elects not to match, they won't get any draft picks as compensation. In previous years, teams could use both the franchise and transition tags, but under the new CBA, a team can use one or the other, but not both. The transition tag is rarely used in the NFL.