An agent can’t get something for a client if he or she doesn’t ask for it. Asking is the easy part. Getting an asking or target price becomes the hard part, especially when a player has a soft market for his services.
Agents and NFL teams may have already gotten a sense of the 2023 free agent market. Meetings between agents of impending free agents and teams routinely occur at the NFL Combine, which ended on March 6. These types of discussions technically aren’t permitted by NFL rules. Teams are rarely penalized for tampering with players from other teams when those players are scheduled to become free agents.
The exclusive negotiating rights teams have had with their impending free agents ends on March 13. That’s when NFL teams are allowed to negotiate with the agents of prospective unrestricted free agents during a two-day period beginning at noon ET and ending at 3:59:59 p.m. ET on March 15. Prospective UFAs who don’t have an agent can also negotiate with front office executives of teams. Players can’t sign deals with new clubs until the 2023 league year and free agency officially begin at 4 p.m. ET. A player’s ability to re-sign with his current club is allowed during the period.
It was my responsibility while working on the agent side to create target or asking prices for the firm’s clients headed toward free agency regardless of whether I was the lead agent. In that spirit, I have set target prices with total contract value, overall guarantees and amount fully guaranteed at signing for 10 intriguing offensive players who will be unrestricted free agents or were designated as franchise players.
Players don’t necessarily sign for their target prices because free agency is a fluid process where adaptations must be made to changing market conditions. Some players are disappointed in free agency’s outcome because their market never develops for a variety of reasons (age, unrealistic contract demands, supply and demand at playing position, etc.).
Remember the target or asking prices for these players may be on the high side and aren’t necessarily what their actual deals will be.
Lamar Jackson, QB, ($32.416 million franchise tag)
- Contract package: $210 million/4 years ($52.5 million per year)
- Overall guarantees: $170 million
- Fully guaranteed at signing: $150 million
- Other considerations: No franchise/transition tag clause
The Ravens took a calculated risk by placing a…
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