We’ve tackled a lot of the big implications of the new CBA, which is expected to be voted on by the NFLPA* Executive Committee on Monday.
Top rookie picks will make a lot less, and there have been rules put in place to discourage rookie holdouts. Revenue sharing has been adjusted. The salary cap will be flexible in 2011. Padded practices will plummet. Tampering won’t be a big issue this year.
Still, a lot of smaller items not worthy of a full post have slipped through the cracks. Here are seven worth noting:
1. There won’t be hitting for the first three days of training camp this year. (That includes arrival day and two days of practices.)
2. Teams have 17 days to sign restricted free agents from other teams to offer sheets after the league year starts. In practice, we don’t expect much RFA movement this year, if any.
3. Teams have until September 20 to sign their franchise players to long-term deals. This timeline has obviously been pushed back quite a bit by the lockout.
4. While the CBA ends after the 2020 season, the 2021 draft is included in the deal. That’s the same setup we had this year; the draft wasn’t affected by the lack of an agreement.
5. Minimum salaries are going up $50,000, and will continue to increase. This is a huge gain for a lot of players. Almost half the league has a minimum salary.
6. The franchise tag will be calculated differently. NFL legal counsel Jeff Pash indicated the tags will be calculated as a percentage of the salary cap, rather than the average of top ten players. We’re looking to find out exactly how this works.
7. There will be no judicial oversight of the CBA. “Neutral arbitrators jointly appointed by the NFL and NFLPA will resolve disputes as appropriate.”