Waivers are a
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL) labor management procedure by which a team makes an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
player's contract or NFL rights (such as
NFL draft
The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...
rights to an unsigned player) available to all other teams. During the season (starting July 4 and lasting through the regular season), each team has 24 hours to file a claim for a player that another team has made available through the system or
waive the right to do so. During the off season each team has several days to file such claims. Claiming teams are assigned the rights to or contracts via a priority system based on inverse order of record. Players that clear waivers, meaning they pass through the waiver period unclaimed, become
free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...
s.
Waiver claims are irrevocable.
[
NFL clubs are prohibited from contacting waived players until the player has been released by the club after passing waivers.][
, at the conclusion of a season in which a veteran with four years of service is claimed via waivers, veterans with a no-trade clause in their contracts may declare themselves free agents. Any other veteran with four years of service can declare himself a free agent at the conclusion of the season after the season in which they were claimed on waivers if they remain under a claimed contract.][
A player who clears waivers and becomes a free agent is free to negotiate and sign a contract with any NFL club, and any NFL club is free to negotiate and sign a contract with such player. There is no penalty or restriction for signing a free agent who has cleared waivers. For example, Draft Choice Compensation between Clubs or First Refusal Rights of any kind, and signing period restrictions are not applicable.][
]
References
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American football terminology