Football Accrued Season

What is an Accrued Season in Football?

An accrued season in football is a way of tracking a player’s time and experience in the NFL, which affects their free agency status. This is in contrast to an accredited season, which also keeps track of experience but for the purpose of payment, including minimum salaries, in addition to a number of other benefits.

Determining An Accrued Season in the NFL

A player has earned an accrued season if they have recorded at least six regular-season games on a team’s roster on full play status. This means having an active spot on the roster or being on injured reserve or the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list. Players on a team’s practice squad or appearing on the Non-Football Related Injury (NFI) or Commissioner’s Exempt lists do not record accrued games or seasons.

Free Agency

After their contract ends, a player’s free agency status will be determined by the number of accrued seasons they have. If a player has one or two accrued seasons under their belt, they become an exclusive rights free agent. In this case, they must sign with the team they have just played for if they offer them a new contract.

A player with three accrued seasons is a restricted free agent. A restricted free agent can talk to other teams about signing with them, but the old team will be involved to some degree and may prevent the free agent from signing with one of those other teams. Finally, a player that has four accrued seasons or more is an unrestricted free agent. This player is allowed to sign with any team in the league that will take them with nothing owed to the team losing the free agent.