NEW RULE – SIX YEARS OF SERVICE TIME TO REACH FREE AGENCY:  A player will not become an Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA) until after he completes his 6th “accrued season” in the league.

OLD RULE:  In the past, a player with 3 years of accrued service would become a Restricted Free Agent (RFA) and a player with 4 years of service time would become a UFA. 

RAMIFICATIONS:  A longer period of time before players can reach unrestricted free agency means a lot less players being available as Free Agents in 2010.  Players with 4 or 5 years of accrued service will only be RFAs and subject to their present teams being able to maintain contractual rights over them via a RFA tender (and the right to match any offer sheet signed with another team or receive draft pick compensation.)

NEW RULE – ADDITIONAL TRANSITIONAL TAG:  In 2010, each team will have an additional Transitional Tag to use.

OLD RULE:  Under the old rule, a team could use either its Franchise Tag or its Transition Tag, but not both.

RAMIFICATIONS:  In 2010, a team can use 2 Tags, one of which must be a Transition Tag.  So, teams will have the ability to use a Franchise Tag and a Transition Tag or 2 Transition Tags. 

Again, this will mean that there will be less Free Agents hitting the market, as teams will have the ability to keep more of their own players off the market.  Plus, with 2010 being uncapped, teams may be more likely – and willing – to pay the pricey Franchise tenders, since there is no Salary Cap to limit expenditures.

NOTE: The Transition Tag wage is the average of the top 10 players at the player's position. The tagged player is free to negotiate with any other team. Although the original team is not entitled to any form of compensation from the new team, the original teams does maintain the Right of First Refusal. For all intents and purposes a Transition Player is like a Restricted Free Agent with the lowest tender offer.

NEW RULE – THE FINAL EIGHT PLAN:  This new set of rules limits the Free Agent activity of the 8 teams that reach the Divisional Round of the playoffs in 2009. 

OLD RULE:  There were no such limitations.

RAMIFICATIONS:  More limits on what teams – the good teams – can do in Free Agency.  This rule, in theory, is in place to keep “the rich from getting richer” and is aimed at prohibiting a good team from buying a championship.

Teams in the AFC and NFC Championship games can only sign a UFA after they have lost a FA of their own.  They are allowed to sign players released by other teams and re-sign their own FAs. 

The other 4 teams in the Final 8 have the same prohibition, but can also sign some FAs based on certain salary restrictions.  These restrictions basically are aimed at keeping them from signing top tier FAs. 

NEW RULE – NO LEAGUE MINIMUM SALARY:  There will be no league minimum amount that a team must spend on player salaries.

OLD RULE:  Since the advent of the Salary Cap, not only has there been a maximum that a team can spend, but there has always been a minimum that teams must spend.

RAMIFICATIONS:  While many often think the “uncapped year” is going to be a wild spending free-for-all, it is also possible that some teams may spend less than in the past.