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Free agency has officially started, and on top of finally having news about which Restricted Free Agents (RFAs) the Seattle Seahawks tendered, fans now know which Exclusive Rights Free Agents (ERFAs) were tendered.
It comes as no surprise that Seattle tendered running back J.D. McKissic and defensive linemen Branden Jackson and Quinton Jefferson. All three of these players contributed in a material way in 2017, and with the benefit of youth on their side should continue to see improvement moving forward.
The team also tendered long snapper Tyler Ott and center Joey Hunt. With Ott tendered for the 2018 season it should prevent fans from having flashbacks to Nolan Frese at long snapper during the 2016 season.
Seattle also gave exclusive-rights tenders to C Joey Hunt, RB J.D. McKissic, LS Tyler Ott, DE Branden Jackson and DE Quinton Jefferson.
— Curtis Crabtree (@Curtis_Crabtree) March 14, 2018
ERFA tenders are one year contracts at the league minimum dependent on the amount of service time in the league the player has accrued. For example, McKissic and Hunt both have minimum salaries for 2018 that are the minimums for third year players since each has a season in which they were on the roster for a sufficient number of games to earn a credited season but not an accrued season.
The difference between the two is that a player earning a credited season but not an accrued season earns themself a nice raise in the following season, but does not burn a year of team control. For example, McKissic will be attending his third training camp in 2018 after spending 2016 in camp with the Atlanta Falcons and 2017 in camp with the Seahawks. However, he still has three years of team control since he did not earn an accrued season in 2016 when he spent most of the year on the Falcons practice squad.