Why the LA Rams must re-sign RFA Darious Williams

Restricted Free Agency:

DB Williams is set to become a restricted free agent (RFA) this year. , which is very different than being an unrestricted free agent. An unrestricted free agent is a player who has met the minimum threshold of playing time and is free to negotiate a new contract to play with any team without restrictions

A restricted free agent is a player who has played for three seasons at the end of which his contract has expired, and is then free to negotiate with and eventually sign with any team with certain restrictions. What are those restrictions? Well, to protect the drafting team, the original team can offer the player one of the various qualifying tender offers. Those tender offers are categorized as a first-round tender offer, a second-round tender, and an original-round tender offer. Finally, there is the basic Right of First Refusal tender, which only provides the right to match any offer sheets.

Tender offers must be submitted to the NFL office in order to be recognized as valid. A tender offer is a proposed contract to the player for one year to play at a specified price. Those offers are binding to the team. However, the player’s agent can negotiate contract terms with any team in an attempt to secure a more lucrative deal. When both sides agree to terms, the players then signs an ‘offer sheet’

The tender offer protects the original team in two ways. First, it gives the original team the Right of First Refusal. That means that the LA Rams would have the right to match any and all offer sheets for players to whom they have offered a tender. That means that the Rams could simply match the player’s offer sheet, and resign that player with the compensation and terms negotiated.

If the Rams cannot or elect not to match an offer sheet, then the category of tender comes into play. For a first-round tender, the new team would need to surrender a first-round pick to the Rams. A second-round tender penalizes the news team by forcing the surrender of a second-round pick. Since Darious Williams was undrafted, no draft pick is due if the Rams apply an original-round tender.

Of course, the greater the penalty incurred by the new team, the more expense the tender offer will be to the Rams. So it’s a contest of strategy, where the Rams want to discourage other offers, but not obligate themselves to overpay.

So why keep Williams?