The notion of Free Agency itself is a relatively simple one. As defined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) Between the NFL Management Council And the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), a Free Agent is "a player who is not under contract and is free to negotiate and sign a Player Contract with any NFL Club, without Draft Choice Compensation or any Right of First Refusal."

Sounds easy, right? Oh... if it were only that simple. There are many, many scenarios that the team and player may be presented with as set down by the CBA. And some of these scenarios actually DO allow for the notions of "Draft Choice Compensation" and "Right of First Refusal".

Before going any further, let's take a closer look at what the CBA is really all about.

The CBA was an agreement between the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) and the NFL owners to reach an equitable agreement in terms of the sharing of the pie, if you will. Basically, through the CBA the parties have realized that the goal of the players and the management should be the same - increasing the revenue pie instead of fighting over the existing amount - and the NFL has tailored the CBA to achieve that goal.

The NFLPA was rewarded with the concept of Free Agency, whereby players have the freedom to market their skills after a specific period of service. As a system of checks and balances, the owners sought a means of cutting back on the escalation of the players' salaries. This is accomplished by -- you guessed it -- the NFL Salary Cap. (See Caponomics 101.)

Compromise is an abundant theme found throughout the CBA. The Free Agency system is slightly limited by the team's ability to protect certain athletes (Franchise and Transition players) from leaving by paying a salary equal to an average of the top players at his position. On the other hand, the salary cap is flexible by allowing owners to pay signing bonuses up front that exceed the cap, but the amounts are amortized over the life of the contract.