2016 Qualifying Offers Recap

Players eligible for restricted free agency don’t become restricted free agents by default. In order for a team to make a player a restricted free agent, a qualifying offer must be extended to him. The qualifying offer, which is essentially just a one-year contract offer, varies in amount depending on a player’s service time and previous contract status. A qualifying offer is designed to give a player’s team the right of first refusal. Because the qualifying offer acts as the first formal contract offer a free agent receives, his team then receives the option to match any offer sheet the player signs with another club. You can read more about qualifying offers here.

If a player is not tendered a qualifying offer, he becomes an unrestricted free agent and free to sign with any team that were to come calling with his previous squad unable to prevent such a transaction. Listed below is the complete list of players who were eligible to receive qualifying offers this season and whether or not one was tendered. Players are listed in alphabetical order by category:

Players Receiving Qualifying Offers

Players Not Receiving Qualifying Offers

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