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If there is a new CBA, do you expect the players to accept the emergency RFA rules now in place for the 2010 uncapped season? If there is a new CBA agreement, I don't expect 6th year players like Mankins and Kaczur to be RFA's. Do you? I expect to continue a system similar to the current one. The CBA and RFA rules are the crux of the matter.
Maybe we should consider guards as we do running backs; acquire them when the need is there.
Mankins and Kaczur would only be 5th year players, not 6th year. What the players EXPECT doesn't matter. What the Patriots expect does. And what they expect is that they'll have to prepare for both scenarios. Which means adding depth this year that they could rely on next year in the even that players like Mankins and Kazur were lost to UFA.
This causes a problem for the players. Why? Because all the teams in the NFL are in the same predicament as the Patriots. Some to a greater degree, some to a lesser. So the market will be flooded with UFAs. When there is a High supply, prices tend to be lower. And since teams will be preparing for that eventuality this year by adding players who they hope/expect to be able to move line-up in 2010, then the demand will not be as high either. Which will also have prices at a lower rate.
I also expect that, like when the last CBA extension was signed, there will be a period of time when teams will be allowed to extend their own players prior to the start of free agency.