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Having our own league here in Canada I don’t mind admitting I just started watching the NFL last year (Go Ravens!) so I’m still learning. Thanks Pat. The NFL ‘s version of MLB’s now defunct “Reserve Clause”. Before free agency, a baseball team by contractural right could retain a player’s services for 1 year after the expiration of the contract under the same terms. Since the owners could do this in perpetuity and at the time they had legal protection and monopoly power, the owners had all of the leverage.