RULE 17 Retiring Players

17.1) Any player who is a free agent, who is officially declared retired by The NFL, may not be acquired through free agency. If a player under contract officially retires, that team may keep the player, but he must remain on the 40-45 man active roster. He cannot be placed on the (IR). If the team drops the player at any time, it may not re-acquire that player, nor may any other team as long as he remains officially retired. There will be no cap hits if the player is released within one month following the official announcement of the retirement. If a player you had cut a previous year retires a year or two later, any future cap hits can be wiped out as long as you post the information on the MB within two weeks following the official announcement of the retirement. Also the retired player’s whole contract becomes 0 years at the veteran minimum (See rule 9.2a), regardless of what it was when the player retired. If the retired player decides to come back and play at some point, he automatically becomes an UFA and is open to sign with the highest suitor once he’s officially reinstated.