Recipe For Trading A Franchise Player

In the wake of recent comments from folks like Pats coach Bill Belichick, who suddenly believes that the process of trading a franchise player has become roughly as dangerous as playing hopscotch in a minefield, a few readers have asked us to set forth the protocol for trading a player who bears the franchise tag. So here we go: 1. The franchise player and his potential new team work out a long-term contract; 2. The new team and old team work out the terms of a trade; 3. The player signs his franchise tender; 4. The player signs the new long-term contract; 5. The player is traded. The first two steps are interchangeable. For some reason, however, teams are more fearful than ever of launching trade talks involving one of their franchise players, even though there’s no specific prohibition against it. Instead, Article XIV, Section 8(b) states that “[a] Club extending a Required Tender must, for so long as that Tender is extended, have a good faith intention to employ the player receiving the Tender at the Tender compensation level during the upcoming season.” Some teams apparently interpret this provision to mean that any discussion with another team regarding a trade of a franchise player who hasn’t signed his tender shows the absence of a “good faith intention to employ the player,” which in theory could subject the team to a grievance that possibly would result in the invalidation of the franchise tender. As a practical matter, trade talks of some sort need to occur in order to persuade the new team to sign the franchise player to a long-term deal without sacrificing two first-round picks, the standard price if the franchise player signs an offer sheet that isn’t matched. So once the new team works out a contract with the franchise player, the conversation between new team and current team is pretty straightforward. The new team asks the old team what it will take to pry the franchise player away, short of giving up two first-round picks. If a deal can be struck for one first-round pick or a first-round pick and two third-round picks or a second-round pick, the trade is made. Under Belichick’s view of the rules, such discussions aren’t permitted. But absent such talks the franchise player won’t get his long-term deal with a new team, because few if any teams will give up two first-round picks for any player. Finally, the long-term contract that the player signs while still a member of his old team typically defers any payment for several days, in order to avoid the old team from experiencing any cap consequences. Then, one the trade is accomplished, the former team clears the cap space arising from the franchise tender, and the new team absorbs the first-year cap number arising from the long-term deal. So there you have it -- more than you ever wanted to know about the magical and mysterious world of the NFL franchise player.