As we gear up for Texans free agent talk I thought a little 'what to expect' article on Arian Foster's free agency situation was appropriate.
Foster will become a restricted free agent (RFA) when the free agency period begins during the first week of March unless the Texans lock him up to a long term deal before then.
If the parties can't agree on a long term deal before then, the good news is that the Texans can 'restrict' Foster's movement by making him a 'qualifying offer' or tender.
While researching the new RFA tender amounts I noticed something that slipped past me when the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) was published early last August.
The old CBA had five levels of RFA tender:
- First and third round (maximum) tender
- First round tender
- Second round tender
- Original draft pick tender
- Right of first refusal (minimum) tender
If you want to know what that all means, I suggest reading the article 'Deciphering the Texans restricted free agent tenders' that I wrote two seasons ago.
The change is that the new CBA eliminates the old maximum tender (first and third round compensation) and makes the new max tender only a first round compensatory pick if the player is signed by another team. I say 'only' a first rounder - it's still a hefty price to pay for someone else's RFA, but not nearly as bad as a first and a third rounder. It gives the player a little more opportunity for movement.
The right of first refusal (RoFR) rules haven't changed and the current team still has RoFR on any offers that one of their RFAs receive from another team, provided a qualifying offer is made.
So according to the new CBA, the qualifying offer (max tender) for Arian Foster will be a one-year deal around $2.8 million. The Texans have to make that offer to Foster before the free agency period begins in early March if they haven't already agreed on a long term deal - which I expect they will ... at some point ... just maybe not by early March.
So by rule, another team can make a run at Foster with a long term deal, but the Texans have the right to match any offers (RoFR). If the Texans decided not to match another team's offer, it would cost the other team a first rounder (no longer a first and third) to get Foster plus whatever long term deal they work out.
Foster's leverage with the Texans is to not agree to a long term deal before free agency begins and entertain offers from other teams to see if anyone is crazy enough to throw a deal his way approaching what Chris Johnson signed last fall.
Johnson's contract was huge -- six years, $55 million with $30 million guaranteed -- and you know that will come up during the Texans negotiations with Foster.
I doubt that another team will go to that extreme on a Foster offer - especially if it will also cost them a first rounder if the Texans don't match - but there are crazy owners out there, and teams that (unlike the Texans) have a lot of room to move under the cap.
I fully expect the Texans to work out a long term deal with Foster, eventually, but maybe now you understand a little more about why I asked the question yesterday whether the Texans can afford both Mario and Arian.
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