Editing Free agent (section)

=== National Football League (NFL)===
The NFL's current free agency system was introduced on March 1, 1993.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-03-02-sp-258-story.html |title=Freedom Comes to NFL : Pro football: On first day of free agency, 484 players become eligible to sign with new teams. |last=Springer |first=Steve |work=Los Angeles Times |date=March 2, 1993 |access-date=September 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151212235952/http://articles.latimes.com/1993-03-02/sports/sp-258_1_free-agency |archive-date=December 12, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>

;Unrestricted free agents
Unrestricted free agents (UFAs) are players with expired contracts that have completed four or more accrued seasons of service. They are free to sign with any franchise.<ref name="NFL_FreeAgency" />

;Restricted free agents
[[Restricted free agent]]s (RFAs) are players who have three accrued seasons of service and whose contracts have expired.  RFAs have received qualifying offers from their old clubs and are free to negotiate with any club until a deadline which occurs approximately a week prior to the [[NFL draft]] (for {{NFL Year|2010}} the deadline was April 15), at which time their rights revert to their original club. If a player accepts an offer from a new club, the old club will have the right to match the offer and retain the player. If the old club elects not to match the offer, it may receive draft-choice compensation depending on the level of the qualifying offer made to the player.<ref name="NFL_FreeAgency">{{cite web|url=http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d816bc9ae&template=with-video-with-comments&confirm=true|title=Key questions and answers about 2010 NFL free agency|date=March 2010|work=[[National Football League|NFL.com]]|access-date=26 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308031224/http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d816bc9ae&template=with-video-with-comments&confirm=true|archive-date=8 March 2010|url-status=live}}</ref>

;{{anchor|Exclusive Rights free agents}}Exclusive rights free agents
'''Exclusive rights free agents''' (ERFAs) are players with two or fewer seasons of service time and whose contracts have expired. If their team tenders a qualifying offer (a one-year contract usually at league-minimum salary) the player has no negotiating rights with other teams, and must either sign the tender with the team or sit out the season.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://overthecap.com/an-overview-of-the-various-types-of-free-agents/|title=An Overview of the Various Types of Free Agents|last=Fitzgerald|first=Jason|work=overthecap.com|date=March 4, 2013|access-date=March 25, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130307061720/http://overthecap.com/an-overview-of-the-various-types-of-free-agents/|archive-date=March 7, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>

;Undrafted free agents
Undrafted free agents are players eligible for the [[NFL draft]] but were not selected; they can sign with any team.

;"Plan B" free agency
Plan B free agency was a type of free agency that became active in the National Football League in February 1989 to 1992. Plan B free agency permitted all teams in the NFL to preserve limited rights of no more than 37 total players a season; if a player was a protected Plan B free agent, he was incapable of signing with another team without providing his old team the first opportunity to sign him again. The rest of the players were left unprotected, liberated to negotiate contracts with the rest of the teams in the league.

Eight players sued the NFL in U.S. federal court, stating that Plan B was an unlawful restraint of trade. In 1992, a [[jury]] found that Plan B violated [[antitrust laws]] and awarded damages to these players.<ref>{{cite news |title=Jury rules in favor of NFL players: 'Plan B is dead' |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/09/10/Jury-rules-in-favor-of-NFL-players-Plan-B-is-dead/7494716097600/ |website=UPI.com |date=September 10, 1992 |access-date=March 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200325163852/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/09/10/Jury-rules-in-favor-of-NFL-players-Plan-B-is-dead/7494716097600/ |archive-date=March 25, 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref>