A player with fewer than three accrued NFL seasons whose contract has expired. If the team offers a minimum salary tender, the player has no ability to negotiate with other teams.
An exclusive rights free agent is a player who has two or fewer accrued seasons in the NFL and whose contract has expired. ERFAs have the least leverage of any free agent class. If their current team extends a minimum salary tender (at the league minimum for their experience level), the player must either sign it or sit out the season. They cannot negotiate with other teams. The ERFA designation most commonly applies to undrafted free agents and late-round draft picks whose initial contracts have expired after two or three years. Since teams only need to offer the league minimum to retain these players, ERFAs represent extremely affordable roster options. A player with two accrued seasons as an ERFA would earn the minimum salary for a player with two credited seasons. The only way an ERFA can leave is if the current team chooses not to tender them at all, effectively releasing them into unrestricted free agency. Teams almost always tender ERFAs they want to keep because the cost is so low. This system gives teams significant roster flexibility and ensures a supply of affordable depth players throughout the league.
Many key special teams contributors and rotational players around the NFL play on ERFA tenders each year. For example, several breakout performers in their second or third year find themselves locked into minimum salaries because their team simply tenders them as ERFAs with no ability to seek competing offers.
Category: Free Agency & Tags. Part of the StickToTheModel NFL Encyclopedia.