Playing for $omething extra
The two reasons why men play football professionally are to win a ring and to get rich, and not necessarily in that order.
At the very minimum, a player who plays a full season makes half a million dollars. But that's just the beginning -- the more valuable a team feels someone is, the more someone will get paid when he signs a contract.
Thus, when a player knows that a chance to cash in is just a year away, he will do whatever he can to look good -- and that's exactly what Fantasy owners should want. So we're listing the relevant Fantasy players who, following the 2011 season, will be free agents and in a position to land some guaranteed bucks.
This summer, any player with four or more accrued seasons is a free agent, not like last year when a player needed six seasons to be set free. Any free agent with three years or fewer under his belt is either restricted or an exclusive rights player.
Some additional free-agent notes:
UFA: Unrestricted Free Agent -- A player who can sign anywhere.*
RFA: Restricted Free Agent -- A player who can sign anywhere but original team can match offer or receive compensation from new team. (Compensation will be added upon announcement of team designations.)
EXFA: Exclusive Rights Free Agent -- A player who can only negotiate with current team.
FRAN: Franchised Player -- A player who is guaranteed a one-year deal from his original team relative to highest-paid players at his position. The new team must give two first-round picks as compensation to original team if signed away.
*- released players also have this designation
Here's our list of players entering free agency this offseason, and here's our list of overpaid players headed into the 2011 season.
| NFL Free Agents To Be (sortable) | |||
| Pos. | Player | '11 team | Status as of '12 offseason |
| QB | Brees, Drew | NO | UFA |
| QB | Campbell, Jason | OAK | UFA |
| QB | Daniel, Chase | NO | RFA |
| QB | Flynn, Matt | GB | UFA |
| QB | Henne, Chad | MIA | UFA |
| QB | Johnson, Josh | TB | UFA |
| QB | Orton, Kyle | KC | UFA |
| QB | Quinn, Brady | DEN | UFA |
| QB | Whitehurst, Charlie | SEA | UFA |
| RB | Ball, Lance | DEN | EXFA |
| RB | Blount, LeGarrette | TB | EXFA |
| RB | Bush, Michael | OAK | UFA |
| RB | Choice, Tashard | BUF | UFA |
| RB | Forsett, Justin | SEA | UFA |
| RB | Forte, Matt | CHI | UFA |
| RB | Foster, Arian | HOU | RFA |
| RB | Grant, Ryan | GB | UFA |
| RB | Green-Ellis, BenJarvus | NE | UFA |
| RB | Hillis, Peyton | CLE | UFA |
| RB | Jones, Thomas | KC | UFA |
| RB | Lynch, Marshawn | SEA | UFA |
| RB | Morris, Maurice | DET | UFA |
| RB | Redman, Isaac | PIT | RFA |
| RB | Rice, Ray | BAL | UFA |
| RB | Slaton, Steve | MIA | UFA |
| RB | Snelling, Jason | ATL | UFA |
| RB | Stephens-Howling, LaRod | ARI | RFA |
| RB | Tolbert, Mike | SD | UFA |
| RB | Tomlinson, LaDainian | NYJ | UFA |
| RB | Ward, Derrick | HOU | UFA |
| WR | Bowe, Dwayne | KC | UFA |
| WR | Branch, Deion | NE | UFA |
| WR | Caldwell, Andre | CIN | UFA |
| WR | Camarillo, Greg | MIN | UFA |
| WR | Colston, Marques | NO | UFA |
| WR | Crayton, Patrick | SD | UFA |
| WR | Douglas, Harry | ATL | UFA |
| WR | Garcon, Pierre | IND | UFA |
| WR | Gonzalez, Anthony | IND | UFA |
| WR | Jackson, DeSean | PHI | UFA |
| WR | Johnson, Steve | BUF | UFA |
| WR | Lloyd, Brandon | STL | UFA |
| WR | Manningham, Mario | NYG | UFA |
| WR | Meachem, Robert | NO | UFA |
| WR | Morgan, Josh | SF | UFA |
| WR | Nelson, Jordy | GB | UFA |
| WR | Parrish, Roscoe | BUF | UFA |
| WR | Royal, Eddie | DEN | UFA |
| WR | Simpson, Jerome | CIN | UFA |
| WR | Wallace, Mike | PIT | RFA |
| WR | Wayne, Reggie | IND | UFA |
| WR | Welker, Wes | NE | UFA |
| TE | Carlson, John | SEA | UFA |
| TE | Dreessen, Joel | HOU | UFA |
| TE | Finley, Jermichael | GB | UFA |
| TE | Shiancoe, Visanthe | MIN | UFA |
| TE | Shockey, Jeremy | CAR | UFA |
| TE | Tamme, Jacob | IND | UFA |
| K | Feely, Jay | ARI | UFA |
| K | Gano, Graham | WAS | RFA |
| K | Lindell, Rian | BUF | UFA |
| K | Nugent, Mike | CIN | UFA |
| K | Rackers, Neil | HOU | UFA |
| K | Scobee, Josh | JAC | UFA |
| K | Succop, Ryan | KC | RFA |
| DL | Abraham, John | ATL | UFA |
| DL | Biermann, Kroy | ATL | UFA |
| DL | Bryant, Red | SEA | UFA |
| DL | Campbell, Calais | ARI | UFA |
| DL | Idonije, Israel | CHI | UFA |
| DL | Mathis, Robert | IND | UFA |
| DL | Ngata, Haloti | BAL | UFA |
| DL | Rubin, Ahtyba | CLE | UFA |
| LB | Beason, Jon | CAR | UFA |
| LB | Fletcher, London | WAS | UFA |
| LB | Haggans, Clark | ARI | UFA |
| LB | Hawthorne, David | SEA | UFA |
| LB | Henderson, E.J. | MIN | UFA |
| LB | James, Bradie | DAL | UFA |
| LB | Johnson, Jarret | BAL | UFA |
| LB | Levy, DeAndre | DET | RFA |
| LB | Lofton, Curtis | ATL | UFA |
| LB | Ninkovich, Rob | NE | UFA |
| LB | Spencer, Anthony | DAL | UFA |
| LB | Timmons, Lawrence | PIT | UFA |
| LB | Thomas, Bryan | NYJ | UFA |
| DB | Barber, Ronde | TB | UFA |
| DB | Branch, Tyvon | OAK | UFA |
| DB | DeCoud, Thomas | ATL | UFA |
| DB | Finnegan, Cortland | TEN | UFA |
| DB | Flowers, Brandon | KC | UFA |
| DB | Godfrey, Charles | CAR | UFA |
| DB | Griffin, Michael | TEN | UFA |
| DB | Hall, Leon | CIN | UFA |
| DB | Harris, Chris | DET | UFA |
| DB | Hope, Chris | TEN | UFA |
| DB | Leonhard, Jim | NYJ | UFA |
| DB | Polamalu, Troy | PIT | UFA |
| DB | Thomas, Terrell | NYG | UFA |
| DB | Toler, Greg | ARI | RFA |
| DB | Wilson, Adrian | ARI | UFA |
Got a free agency question, or a Fantasy question? Stop thinking and start typing -- send it to dmfantasyfootball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Attn: 2011 Player Movement in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state and we'll respond to as many as e-mails we can.
