NFL Free Agency: Projected Wide Receivers

The Miami Dolphins have needs this offseason, and plenty of cap space (around $50 million). With those two conditions, the Dolphins should be players in the free agent market. With NFL free agency just over a month away, it's time to start looking at the players who could hit the open market this offseason.

Luckily, the NFL Players Association released their list of projected free agents for this year. Obviously, if any of the players on the list re-sign with their team, they won't actually hit the market. Taking a look at the NFLPA's list, and breaking out just the wide receivers, the unrestricted free agent wide outs are:

Of course, there are restricted free agents to consider as well. A player with an expiring contract, without having accrued four seasons of experience, will be considered a restricted free agent. If a player's current team places a qualifying offer on that player and another team then chooses to sign that player, the original team will receive compensation for losing the player.

While there are several different qualifying offers that can be made, and different compensation for each of them, we will cover those later. However, here's a look at the CBA's explanation of "accrued seasons." According to the 2011 CBA, Article 8, Section 1:

Accrued Seasons Calculation: (a) For the purposes of calculating Accrued Seasons under this Agreement, a player shall receive one Accrued Season for each season during which he was on, or should have been on, full pay status for a total of six or more regular season games, but which, irrespective of the player's pay status, shall not include games for which the player was on: (i) the Exempt Commissioner Permission List, (ii) the Reserve PUP List as a result of a nonfootball injury, or (iii) a Club's Practice Squad.

(b) A player shall not receive an Accrued Season for any League Year in which the player is under contract to a Club and in which he failed to report to such Club at least thirty days prior to the first regular season game of that season, or in which the player thereafter failed to perform his contract services for the Club for a material period of time unless he demonstrates to the Impartial Arbitrator extreme personal hardship causing such failure to report or perform, such as severe illness or death in the family. The determination of the Impartial Arbitrator shall be made within thirty days of the application by the player, and shall be based upon all information relating to such hardship submitted by such date. The determination of the Impartial Arbitrator shall be final and binding upon all parties.

Here is the list of restricted free agent wide receivers: