Owners New Weapon: Restricted Free Agency

The Carolina Panthers placed their franchise tag on center Ryan Khalil, much to the surprise of most. Many expected the Panthers to place the franchise tag on either running back DeAngelo Williams or on defensive end Charles Johnson. Well, the Carolina Panthers had other plans for each of those players: The restricted free agent tenders. Technically, the rules of an "uncapped year" still apply until a new collective bargaining agreement is put into place. This means that teams could apply restricted free agency tenders to players with four or five years of service, even though those players would be unrestricted free agents in capped years.

Darin Gantt of the Charlotte Observer reports that the Carolina Panthers will place restricted free agent tenders to both Williams and Johnson. 

Could the Jacksonville Jaguars plan to use this same method on a few players? Click the jump to see who is technically a "restricted" free agent.

Under the current "rules" for restricted free agents, there are a couple of players the Jacksonville Jaguars would like to hold on to that could be considered restricted free agents.

• Tyron Brackenridge (5 years)
• Justin Durant (5 years)
• Trent Edwards (5 years)
• Jason Hill (5 years)
• David Jones (5 years)
• Marcedes Lewis (5 years)
• Adam Podlesh (5 years)
• Mike Sims-Walker (5 years)

Obviously, the Jacksonville Jaguars will not tender Marcedes Lewis because he has been hit with the franchise tag, or as Lewis put it on Twitter "Freeze tag." Of that list, there's only a few players I could see the Jaguars slapping a tender on. Those players are Jason Hill, Adam Podlesh, Justin Durant, and Mike Sims-Walker. If you can "freeze" those players for full free agency and potentially get something in return if they leave, it would greatly help the Jaguars. Especially being able to retain both Jason Hill and Mike Sims-Walker on the cheap.

If a new CBA is reached, it could push the RFA period from 4-5 years of service back to 4, and none of these players would need to worry about being tendered. There is a feeling that the 2011 season would hold the same CBA rules of the 2010 season if a deal is not reached in a timely fashion, however.

Now, do I expect the Jaguars to actually tender any of these players?

No, not really. But, the possibility is there. One team has broken the ice, so expect others to follow.