What is an option year?

[HMc]

Watching sportcenter and they showed a graphic that said the final year of vince young's deal was an "option year". Isn't every year of every contract an option year, at least for the team?

[morphius]

Normally it means the player can opt out of the last year of his contract to become a FA.

[DaKCMan AP]

If it's a player option, then as Morphius said the player can opt out of the contract and become a FA.

If it's a team option, then the team can choose to negate the remainder of the contract and make the player a FA.

If the player or team decide to pickup the option, then the player will be on the team for the remainder of the contract.