Free agency for the Arizona Cardinals and the rest of the NFL will begin in March. For exclusive rights free agents, it means hoping that their team in 2023 still wants them back.
Exclusive rights free agents are players with fewer than three accrued seasons but are not under contract for the following season. They remain under team control even without a contract.
These players only will be true free agents if their team from the previous season does not tender them a qualifying offer, almost always being for the minimum salary based on years credited.
The Cardinals have four exclusive rights free agents, or four players whom they can re-sign if they want them back. If they tender them a contract, they will be back because they cannot sign elsewhere unless the Cardinals do not offer them a contract.
Who are they? Check them out below.
WR Greg Dortch
Dortch is in a rare situation. He has played in four different seasons but only accrued two seasons because he wasn’t on a roster long enough before 2022 to accrue a season for free agency purposes.
If tendered (he will most certainly be), he will make the salary of a fourth-year player but will not be eligible for unrestricted free agency until after 2025.
He will make about $1.1 million in 2024 after he is tendered a contract.
LB Jesse Luketa
Luketa, drafted in the seventh round in 2022, has been cut and re-signed since his original deal. When he re-signed, it was through last season. He will be back for his third season, assuming they still want him, which is the reasonable assumption.
DL Jonathan Ledbetter
There is conflicting information on different sites. Spotrac lists him as an exclusive rights free agent. Over the Cap lists him as a restricted free agent.
His salary in 2023 was that of a second-year player, which would suggest he had not accrued enough time to be a restricted free agent.
He tore his ACL at the end of the season.
OL Carter O'Donnell
O’Donnell, claimed off waivers before the season, is coming off his first year on an NFL active roster.
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