Re: The JETS could really stick it to the Patriots if....
A "poison pill" only works in a situation in which a team has the right under the CBA to match another team's offer. It is basically a clever way that players and their agents have figured out to make restricted free agents into basically free agents.
A restricted free agent is a three year player whose contract is up. Clubs are permitted to make that player a qualifying offer, which is just a certain amount of money for a one year contract. If they do that, they get two things: (1) the right to match any offer any other team makes, and (2) the right to compensation (in the form of a draft pick) if another team signs the player. The round of the draft pick depends on how much the offer is for. The player is then free to negotiate with other teams. If he doesn't find a deal by mid-April, his rights revert to the original club. If he does find an offer from another team, that's where the poison pill comes in.
The poison pill is something that the new offering club puts in the contract to make it impossible for the original club to match the contract. For example, if someone wanted to make an offer to a Patriots' restricted free agent, but didn't want the Patriots to be able to match it, they could put in a provision that the player would get a $20 million bonus if he played 5 games during the year in the state of Massachusettes. This would make it impossible for the Patriots to match, and thus they would lose the player but get the compensation draft pick.
Poison pills are seen as unseemly by the clubs, because they pretty much defeat the whole principle of restricted free agency. Last year, Welker was a RFA and the Dolphins tendered him at a price where they were only entitled to a 2d round pick if another team signed him. Patriots wanted to make him an offer, and there was some speculation they would put in a poison pill to make it impossible for the Dolphins to match. At the end, though, they didn't do that. Rumor is that Kraft thought it unseemly, so instead, they made a "trade" where they gave the Dolphins the same 2d round pick they would have received as compensation and also a 7th round pick. The 7th round pick was unnecessary for the Patriots to give. They did it solely to avoid the unpleasantness of a poison pill.
The status of the poison pill in the future is unknown. The Kraft/New England experience seems to indicate that it is not in vogue. At the same time, the Union has a right to be angry about it if owners are colluding to deprive players of a legitimate weapon in their arsenal. But how do you prove it? A player would need to show that another team wanted him, could have used a poison pill, but did not. Tough to show. Welker's agent (I think -- maybe it was the union) actually filed a greivance, but that was silly, because he got what he wanted in the end. If the Patriots had stood on principle and not used the poison pill, and had not offered the 7th round pick, it might have been dicey. But, anyway, none of this has anything to do with Moss.
