Many pending free agents haven’t re-signed yet—perhaps thanks to the Ottawa Redblacks?

The CFL free agent market might seem set for a banner crop at the moment, but that could change dramatically by the time free agency actually rolls around in February. In Winnipeg alone, for example, there were 25 potential free agents as of late October, and plenty of other teams have numerous players set to test the free-agent waters. The numbers look higher than they have in the recent past, but that may not actually indicate that a lot of players are going to make it to free agency, and that's thanks to a particular wrinkle unique to this year—the Ottawa expansion draft, which is scheduled for Dec. 16. Kirk Penton of The Winnipeg Sun had an interesting note in a column last week (it's tough to track down online, but a print version is available here through The London Free Press, a fellow Sun Media paper) about the lack of pending free agents re-signed thus far, theorizing that teams have been negotiating extensions, but not signing them thanks to the chances of players being snapped up in the expansion draft:

That's a very interesting idea, and one with significant implications. It could make some sense for the teams involved, too. In essence, they'd be trying to make the Redblacks less interested in certain players in the expansion draft, as drafting potential free agents might only mean that Ottawa gets exclusive rights to negotiate with them for a couple of months. There's no guarantee that those players would ever play for the Redblacks. By contrast, if teams extended players before the expansion draft, Ottawa might step in and snap up those players and their contracts. It's notable that the league doesn't endorse this strategy, though. I spoke with CFL director of communications Jamie Dykstra by e-mail about this last week. Here's what he said:

However, that doesn't prevent the scenario Penton mentioned, of contracts being completed but not signed. Dykstra confirmed there are no penalties in play if teams negotiate future contracts but don't sign them and don't report them. Of course, an unsigned contract carries risk for both sides, and it could be substantially altered if the leverage between the sides changes. There are several factors in play there, too; keep in mind that there's a new CBA to be negotiated this year, and given the extra TV revenue coming in from 2014 on, it seems likely that players are going to get more money. Just how much more they'll get is a matter of debate, though, and the progress of those negotiations between the league and the CFLPA could drastically alter deals for pending free agents. That could be another reason entirely why so few free agents have re-signed to date, one that doesn't involve the Redblacks.

Still, it seems likely that Penton's scenario of teams negotiating contracts but not finalizing and signing them until after the expansion draft is true for at least some players. That's probably smart from teams' perspectives; contract negotiations take time, and there's no point in waiting until after the draft to find out what your players want and establish a dialogue, but not finalizing the deal makes these players potentially less valuable to Ottawa. That could be seen as a substantial handicap for the Redblacks, but it isn't necessarily; the team's likely to draft at least some pending free agents, and it's hard to see too many of them turning down Ottawa outright if the Redblacks can match or better what their old team was offering. Picking pending free agents may only give you a couple of months of exclusive negotiating rights, but those months can be quite useful

Furthermore, Ottawa may be a new team, but the way the draft has been set up this time should make the Redblacks at least somewhat competitive from the get-go. The facilities and organization there also sound quite reasonable; it's not a situation that many should be looking to avoid. In the end, if Penton's right, it's not a scenario that really hurts anyone (or, for that matter, one that can be prevented; it's impossible to say that teams can't negotiate with their own players without finalizing contracts) too badly. Teams are acting in their own interests, but they're not doing so in a way that really sabotages the Redblacks. It does add another layer of intrigue to the expansion draft*, though, and should make it even more interesting to follow.

*One further note on that front: Dykstra confirmed that the lists of players each team protects in the expansion draft will only be released to the Redblacks. They won't be made public. That's unfortunate for CFL fans and media members, as it could be quite interesting to see which players each team really values, but it's also understandable. Teams don't want players passed over in the draft to find out they were left unprotected.