Restricted free agents (RFAs)
These are players who have three "accrued seasons," no more, no less. They're becoming less common these days since many rookie contracts run for four years. Most players you see come up as restricted free agents are late-round picks,
undrafted free agents and off-the-street players that have caught on with teams and are worth re-signing.
A team has two options with restricted free agents: 1) come to terms with a normal, long-term deal with the player, or 2) place a "tender" or "qualifying offer" on the player. (You'll hear both. They mean the same thing.) A tender is basically a pre-determined one-year contract that the team can offer a restricted free agent. For the 2016 offseason, there are three options (dollar amounts from
OverTheCap):
First round tender: 1 year, about $3.582 million
Second round tender: 1 year, about $2.516 million
Right of first refusal/Original round tender: 1 year, about $1.647 million
Those names are not just for show. As the name implies, other teams can sign away restricted free agents -- at a price. Another team can come in and offer a restricted free agent more money to sign elsewhere, but must also give away a draft pick -- namely the one mentioned in the type of tender. "Original round" refers to the round the restricted agent was initially drafted in. If he was not drafted, there is no draft compensation.
Right of refusal -- This means that a restricted free agent's team can match any offer made by another team trying to sign him away and retain the player at that price.
