Ten players from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 2015 roster, including leading rusher Doug Martin, are due to become unrestricted free agents on March 9. Because they have at least four accrued NFL seasons and expiring contracts, these 10 Bucs will have the opportunity to dictate where their professional careers will continue.
Though it has been tweaked here and there since its inception in 1993, the NFL's free agency system has remained mostly the same for more than two decades, even as new collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) have been signed into place. That includes the existence of "franchise tags," which were put into the original CBA with the intention of helping teams (especially smaller-market teams) retain their very core players, even on the open market.