Jaguars RFA Report

JagNation has received numerous questions on twitter and the message board about the Jaguars being interested in certain free agents, only to find out that most of the names people are curious about are in fact restricted free agents. Here I will explain a little bit about how restricted free agency works, what each tag means, and which Jaguars are restricted free agents (RFA).

Teams can tender restricted free agents with different levels. In essence, they're not really "free" agents at all, whereas unrestricted agents are free to sign wherever they chose. Below are the different tenders teams may use and their projected salary for the 2010 season.

Four years of experience

Original pick (where the player was drafted) compensation: $1.176 million

Second round tender: $1.759 million

First round tender: $2.521 million

First and third tender: $3.168 million

Five years of NFL experience

Original pick compensation: $1.226 million

Second round tender: $1.809 million

First round tender: $2.621 million

First and third round tender: $3.268 million

Essentially once a player is tagged, a team can attempt to sign them if they wish, but the original team has right of matching the contract or the teams trying to sign them have to give up compensation equal to the tender. This is where the infamous "poison pill" comes into play. For instance, if someone wants runningback Ronnie Brown of the Miami Dolphins, they could write up a contract that includes a huge bonus if Brown takes 10 direct snaps. Since Miami runs the "wildcat" through Ronnie Brown, they wouldn't want to match that contract.

Jacksonville Jaguars Restricted Free Agents:

DE/DT Atiyyah Ellison - Expect to see a second round tender on Ellison, who has become a very good rotational player.

LB Clint Ingram - Expect to see an original tender on Ingram (third round) if any, as he was outplayed by UDFA Russell Allen.

DE Greg Peterson - Expect an original tender on Peterson (fifth round), if any. He really didn't play much.

DT Montavious Stanley - Expect an original tender on Stanley (sixth round), he was a decent rotational player.

WR Troy Williamson - Expect a second round tender on Williamson. I think Jacksonville plans to keep him, but if they could recoup a second rounder for someone they traded a seventh for, it would be a great move.