The New Orleans Saints have a crowded group of pending free agents to parse through during the 2020 offseason, ranging from franchise quarterback Drew Brees to first-team All-Pro special teams ace J.T. Gray. But it’s not so simple as saying all of these players’ contracts are about to expire, and that the Saints must choose whether or not to work new deals with each of them. There’s more nuance than that.
In the NFL, free agents-to-be fall within three categories: exclusive rights free agents, restricted free agents, and unrestricted free agents.
Exclusive rights free agents are players who have not accrued three years of NFL experience; an accrued year means a season in which they were on the 53-man roster for at least six regular season games.