What Are The Signs A Football Player Is Going To Go Free Agent?

If you follow football and have favorite players and a favorite team, seeing a player leave one team to join another as a free agent can be quite an event. It can also be a shock if you weren't expecting it, especially if one of your favorite players left your team to look for better opportunities. That can leave you wondering how you can tell if a player is going to try to become a free agent. There are some signs, but until the player actually announces it, it's pretty much guesswork. Still, knowing what qualifies a player to become a free agent can help you know who might be worth watching.

They Have Played at Least Three Seasons for the NFL 

NFL players don't become eligible to be free agents until they have played at least three seasons with the NFL. If the people you're watching have only one or two seasons, they're not going anywhere unless they have a short contract that isn't being renewed. Once a player hits three played seasons, they can become a restricted free agent; after four seasons, they're unrestricted. Those are the guys you want to watch if you're trying to see who will become a free agent.

They Are Successful Players That Teams Would Love to Have

Free agents aren't going to get a very good deal if they're not good players and no one shows interest in them. So, if you've got some players on your favorite team who are generally OK, but nothing special, they are less likely to become free agents than the guys who are stellar players who every team would love to have. It can hurt to think that the great player who leads your team to victory could suddenly take off for another team, but if that player doesn't think he's getting a good deal on one team, he's likely to look around at others.

They Don't Work Well With Their Team

Sometimes you have players who you know are skilled, but they and the team they're on just don't seem to work that well together. It's not that the player is now bad, it's that something in the way the team is run is not combining well with the player's skills. That player, if he has at least three seasons played already, could be a good candidate for free agency.

Keep these in mind as you observe who becomes a free agent over the next couple of seasons. That will help you spot common factors that signal a player may be about to make a move.

To learn more, contact a company like BSW Inc.

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