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New CBA allows tagged, tendered and unsigned players to workout and attend OTA's

By signing a waiver that guarantees their salary at tender or tag or a pre agreed minimum in case of injury while allowing them to continue to remain restricted or unrestricted FA able to hold out on the season or on any activities they do not choose to participate in without penalty...because they technically remained unsigned to a contract.

Quote:

There is an obscure provision of the NFL collective bargaining agreement (Article 21, Section 9) which allows players who received a tender but haven’t signed an NFL contract, and unrestricted free agents whose contracts expired to participate in offseason workouts and minicamps with their previous team while retaining their free agency rights.

The NFL and NFLPA recently came up with standard language to cover such players (Appendix Q to the collective bargaining agreement). This new Appendix Q protects players in case they are injured while participating in team activities during the offseason. In the case of an injury, a player will receive as a one-year salary the greater of his required tender, his applicable minimum salary or the amount negotiated by the player and the team. Participation by a player is voluntarily under this provision so he can withdraw at any time with impunity.

Wallace is free to work out with the Steelers, but that doesn't guarantee he'll be playing in Pittsburgh next season.

From a practical standpoint, players who are franchised, such as Drew Brees and Matt Forte, and restricted free agents, like Mike Wallace, can choose to participate in team activities without signing an NFL player contract. In Forte's case, his 2012 salary would be $7.742 million with an injury, his franchise tender, since it’s unlikely that the Chicago Bears would agree to a greater amount in order to get him to take part in the offseason workouts.

A main benefit to signing a participation agreement instead of an NFL contract is that a player will preserve his option of holding out without subjecting himself to penalties.

Extra protection | National Football Post

Re: New CBA allows tagged, tendered and unsigned players to workout and attend OTA's

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoLewisrocks (Post 3015003)

It's not new; Gostkowski signed one in 2010.

Re: New CBA allows tagged, tendered and unsigned players to workout and attend OTA's

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Originally Posted by ctpatsfan77 (Post 3015010)

It's not new; Gostkowski signed one in 2010.

I think the standardized language and terms are new and may result in more players participating than had in the past.

Re: New CBA allows tagged, tendered and unsigned players to workout and attend OTA's

For a player who is pretty certain that he'd stay with the team this is probably a good thing. I'm not so sure that many (if any) agents would encourage one of their players to participate as it could be perceived as weakening any leverage that a player might have.