NFLPA says teams can take their Franchise Tags and stick it

[HMc]

Originally Posted by Brock

There is no free agency unless the CBA says there is. If there is no CBA, there are no free agents. Why would you scramble to sign a free agent only to find out later that he's going back to his old team whether he wants to or not?

It's hard to know any of this without seeing any of the documents, but;

If the term of the CBA expires, then what it says or doesn't say becomes completely irrelevant. From what I've read, the CBA as a document ceases to have any effect shortly. If that occurs, the concept of "free agency" will, unless it is governed by some other agreement between the player(s) and the team(s), cease to exist. That doesn't mean you have to keep showing up to work after your contract expires, it means you can walk. You'd be free to go wherever you like.

Teams don't have some natural right to players at law. They have rights that are given to them as part of some negotiation then agreement. If that (collective) agreement expires, you've lost the rights.