If Eagles’ fans are anticipating any major upgrades through free agency this March, they better not hold their breaths…The free agent marketplace this year is an empty train station.
That’s because nearly all the veteran players who would have been Unrestricted Free Agents this year under the old union agreement have been defaulted into the “Restricted” category, thanks to the pending expiration of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between players and owners.
Unless a new labor agreement is negotiated before March 5, which appears highly unlikely, there’s only a handful of UFA’s out there in whom the Eagles would have any real interest in signing.
DE Julius Peppers from Carolina? Tempting, but too old (31), too moody, and too expensive ($16 million)…
Peppers is one of the few premier players to qualify as Unrestricted this year. There would have been more, except the old “4 years with one team” requirement has now been bumped up to “6 years with one team” due to the pending expiration of the current labor agreement.
This means 212 players who would have qualified as “Unrestricted” in 2010 are now “Restricted”…
That’s the NFL marketplace in a nutshell…With a “Restricted” Free Agent, a team can counter a competitive offer for its veteran player with 4 classes of tender offers ranging from $1 million to $3 million, and each class of tender carries a Draft Pick surrender penalty for the team which chooses to sign the Restricted player anyway.
That’s why last season none of the league’s 55 Restricted Free Agents changed teams…it’s just too costly for the new signing team in terms of money and draft picks.
So take a good close look at your favorite Eagles today and be thankful, but stifle the yawn…Looks like most of them are going to be here for a while, and the free-agent train passing through your station will be mostly empty.
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