Chicago Bears Insider: Why the Lockout's End May Not Be Good News for the Bears

The NFL Lockout is becoming a day to day story as one day the lockout is over and players are returning to work and then the next it’s back on and the league is once again on hold. 

It certainly makes for interesting press and keeps us guessing.  But do we really want to be guessing? 

As we saw on television the other day fans want football (remember the chant of “we want football” when commissioner Rodger Goodell took the stage in New York at the Draft) and it doesn’t look like we are going to have anything normal happening anytime soon.

It does appear that if something does happen and the lockout is ended that the new season would be played under last year’s rules and under the surface, some of the previous season’s rules are not as friendly for teams and there are a couple of rules that many fans are not that aware of. 

For one, if last year’s rules were in place free agency would be much more restricted than it would be (perhaps under a new deal).

The only players that would be eligible for free agency this year would be those players that have six or more accrued NFL seasons.  So anyone that hasn’t had a total of six seasons will not be allowed to enter free agency this coming season.

The other rule from last year is the one that will hurt the Bears the most if indeed it becomes reality.  It is called the Final Eight Plan and unfortunately not too many fans have heard about it but if your favorite team was one of the final eight playoff teams last season, like the Bears were, then it’s important to pay attention.

Specific to the Bears, the Bears are limited in the number of free agents that they can sign.  This number is directly related to the number for free agents that they lose to other clubs.  If another club does not sign one of the Bears unrestricted free agents then the Bears cannot sign an unrestricted free agent from another team. 

In regards to restricted free agents and whether or not those final eight teams can sign them, they can sign any restricted free agent (as long as that player has six or more years of accrued seasons).  Of course the rules for signing restricted free agents do apply.

The Bears would be hurt by not being able to sign any unrestricted free agents as a result of the final eight rule.  Chicago would have to wait until one of their free agents were signed and looking at the quality of some of the players that could end up being unrestricted free agents there may not be much movement by the Bears in free agency.

The use of free agency was a huge success for the Bears last season and with their hands tied this year if indeed the league reverts back to last year’s rules. 

They would miss the ability to sign free agents at the start of the yearly free agent frenzy (the beginning of the free agent period when the best free agents are available and getting signed by new teams quickly) so they may not have the chance to sign some good players to help them at their need positions.

Obviously the best scenario for the Bears would be for an agreement to come that didn’t have the final eight rule in it. 

The ability to sign quality free agents has been a staple of the Bear’s ability to rebuild and reload (remember the signings of offensive linemen Jon Tait and Ruben Brown) and not having the ability to sign some of the top players in free agency (especially at the wide receiver position) could hurt the Bears in 2011.

So hopefully the explanation of the final eight rule will help explain how the Bears hands may be tied in the upcoming free agency period.  Let’s just hope that a new deal is not only signed quickly but doesn’t include this kind of rule.