Deadline set for "Final 8" rules
 

we're a final four team too. are final 4 restrictions being lifted as well?

Section 2. Top Four Teams:

Each of the four Clubs that participated in the NFC and AFC Championship Games the Prior League Year shall not be permitted to negotiate and sign any Unrestricted Free Agent to a Player Contract, except: (a) any Unrestricted Free Agent who acquired that status as a result of the NFL waiver system; (b) any Unrestricted Free Agent who was under contract to such Club on the last date of the last League Year of the player's most recent Player Contract; and (c) any Unrestricted Free Agent signed pursuant to Section 4 below.

Section 3. Next Four Teams:
Each of the four playoff Clubs that lost in the immediately preceding playoff games to the four Clubs that participated in the NFC and AFC Championship Games the Prior League Year shall not be permitted to negotiate and sign any Unrestricted Free Agent to a Player contract, except: (a) any Unrestricted Free Agent who acquired that statusas a result of the NFL waiver system; (b) any Unrestricted Free Agent who was under contract to such Club on the last date of the last League Year of the player's most recent Player contract; (c) any Unrestricted Free Agent signed pursuant to Section 4 below; and (d) any Unrestricted Free Agent as follows:

(i) One such player for a Player Contract that has a first year Salary of $4,925,000 or more; and

(ii) Any number of such players for a Player Contract that has a first year Salary of no more than $3,275,000 and an annual increase in any future contract years of no more than 30% of the first contract year Salary, not including any amount attributed to any signing bonus.

In addition, each such Club and each such player entering into a Player Contract pursuant to this Subsection may not renegotiate to increase the amount of Salary to be paid during the term of the Player Contract for a period of one year after the signing date of such contract.

why not make it opening day?

I believe so.

It's right about the beginning of training camp. They pretty much did.

So what's stopping Tannenbaum from negotiating contracts with UFAs right now, and post-dating the contracts for July 22nd?

This tactic is already used in the NFL, so why don't they just do that?

I would assume the league would step in and do something to penalize the team if they got caught, similar to tampering.

But as you said, it's something that's also done all the time with the start of Free Agency.

the problem as I see it would be that IF somebody else showed up at the guys house on July 21 with a better deal there is nothing that the Jets could do to stop them.

But my real problem is that I don't see any HUGE URGENCY to do this. First of all, the new guy would arrive at the beginning of TC and then we'd have to spend a whole season (like we did with the retarded packer diva) hearing him moan about not having time to learn the playbook and the terminology and (in Favre's case) which color uniform to throw the ball to

Maybe Sharper will wait...

+1 i think so..

Do you think its tampering or otherwise illicit? The Jets are free to talk to whomever they like - they simply can't sign anyone. That's different than the beginning of FA where a player is the property of a certain team and even discussions are not allowed.

In this instance, if a player wants to forgo other offers for some potential, unguaranteed contract that may or may not be legit, I guess that's his choice.

i think so . he was in Nfl Network this week and when asked by rich eisen about the taylor situation and maybe he signing with the jets if taylor didn't sign with the jets he said not for that money . but wouldn't mind a trade scenario with the saints.

he might wait for 3 million in july. and no OTA's just training camp.

Not necessarily tampering, because the players aren't under contract and are free to talk to the teams. But the purpose of the final 4 rules was so that teams wouldn't be able to load up and buy a championship.

So I'm pretty sure we can't go up to Darren Sharper's agent and say "If you wait until July 23rd, there's a 6 million dollar per contract in it for your client". I'm sure the league would manufacture with some sort of punishment under such a scenario (Assuming we got caught of course).

These kind of deals seem to happen all the time anyways though, since it's near impossible to prove. ;)

Thanks to the OP for posting this, I have been looking for this answer for a while and couldn't find it anywhere.

By then I am pretty sure most FAs worth a look will be signed but I think Sharper might wait if he wants a certain dollar amount and thinks the Jets will be close to it or closer than any other team so far.

"The Final Eight Plan" is the title of the rules governing the final 8 teams (and encompasses the Final 4). So yes, that applies to us as well