Free Agency Rules

From, of all places, a Chicago Bears fan site:

 

“Teams can officially designate Franchise and Transition Players between Feb 7, 2006 and Feb 21.

February 28 is the deadline for clubs to submit qualifying offers to their RFAs whose contracts have expired and to whom they desire to retain a Right of First Refusal/Draft Compensation.

Free Agency officially begins on February 29. For RFAs, the period officially ends on April 18. The deadline for old clubs to exercise the Right of First Refusal to RFAs is April 25. For UFAs (including Franchise players and Transition players), who have been given a tender offer from their prior team, the period officially ends on July 22 or the first day of training camp -- whichever is later.”