Signing period ends Friday
The clock is moving inexorably toward the latest NFL deadline and, just as notably, perhaps toward the surprising retrenchment of what was supposed to have been the hot free agent trend in the league.
Restricted free agents, those veterans who have accrued three credited seasons in the NFL pension plan, have only until Friday at 11:59 p.m. ET to sign offer sheets with other teams. Once the deadline passes, restricted free agents can no longer negotiate with other teams, and their exclusive rights revert back to the incumbent franchise.
As of Thursday afternoon, only one restricted free agent, defensive end Rodney Bailey, had switched teams, moving from the Pittsburgh Steelers to the New England Patriots. He could well be, given the absence of substantive discussions in the restricted market, the lone veteran in his category to find a new address.
If that is the case, there will be a lot of surprised personnel directors, general managers and agents, given the optimistic predictions for the restricted market at the outset of this year's signing period.
"Based on what occurred last year, the consensus was that (the restricted market) would be pretty active, but that hasn't been the case," said Buffalo Bills president and general manager Tom Donahoe. "It's moved back to how it was before (2003)."
Last spring, five restricted free agents, the most since the first year of the current system (1993), changed teams. The Washington Redskins alone acquired four restricted players, and there was some feeling that owner Daniel Snyder was ahead of the curve in pursuing solid three-year veterans in exchange for draft choices.
But barring an 11th-hour flurry of restricted signings, the alleged wave of the future will have receded into the past.
There were actually five restricted players who signed offer sheets so far, but in four of the cases, the deals were matched by incumbent teams. The St. Louis Rams matched the offer sheets signed by cornerback Jerametrius Butler (with Washington) and by tight end Brandon Manumaleuna (Carolina). Cincinnati matched the offer sheet that kicker Shayne Graham signed (Jacksonville). And the Redskins matched an offer sheet to fullback Bryan Johnson (New Orleans), then traded him to the Chicago Bears.
If a restricted free agent does sign an offer sheet with another franchise before the Friday deadline, his current club will have one week to either match it or pass on it. Passing on an offer sheet, and allowing the restricted free agent to move on, earns the current team draft choice compensation, based on the level of the qualifying offer made to the player by the incumbent team in March.
Arguably the premier restricted free agent in the market is Miami defensive end Adewale Ogunleye, who has 24½ sacks the last two years and an AFC-best 15 sacks in 2003, and agent Drew Rosenhaus acknowledged on Thursday his client will not sign an offer sheet with another team before the Friday night deadline.
The ever-resourceful Rosenhaus reiterated, however, that his client will not sign the one-year qualifying offer of $1.824 million the Dolphins made to Ogunleye in March to retain a right of first refusal on him.
"He's not your typical restricted free agent," Rosenhaus said. "He's actually been in the league four years, but only has three years accrued because he spent one season on the non-football injury list, and has only made minimum salaries the entire time. I think you could make a pretty good case that he has outperformed the minimum salaries, right?"
But by making the highest-level qualifying offer to Ogunleye, and not wavering from their demand for first- and third-round draft picks as compensation from another team that signed him to an offer sheet, the Dolphins successfully blunted the market. Chicago and Minnesota were interested in Ogunleye at various junctures of the signing period but both backed off.
Rosenhaus has floated to Miami executives the parameters of what it will take to sign Ogunleye to a long-term contract, but there have been no negotiations toward that end. The agent is still hopeful that, sometime before the draft, Miami will consider trade offers for its left end.
But when the clock strikes midnight and the calendar flips to Saturday, Rosenhaus and Ogunleye will lose the right to negotiate with other clubs. And, the way it looks right now, there will be a lot of other restricted free agents in the same predicament.
Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
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