Inside The Bills

Free agency opens a couple of days earlier

Posted by Chris Brown on January 13, 2009 – 2:12 pm

Last season the NFL free agency period opened on March 1st, but with March 1st falling on a Sunday, free agency will open at 12:01am on Friday February 27th.

The day before (Feb. 26) will be the deadline for teams to tender qualifying offers to restricted free agents (e.g. John DiGiorgio) and exclusive rights free agents (e.g. Fred Jackson) to retain either right of first refusal or exclusive rights to said player.

The deadline for a restricted free agent to sign their tender is April 17.

The deadline to designate franchise and transition players is Feb. 19th.