[Preds]

If a team chooses to not match a RFA contract, they will be compensated with additional SUPPLIMENTAL draft picks in the upcoming draft each year which will be dependent upon the cb # a player is tendered at. NOTE: the team receiving the unmatched RFA would owe no compensation other than the salary.

1st round tenders by position would have opening bids of: 1200 for QB's, 2000 for RB's, 1300 for WR's, 750 for TE's, 400 for K's and 600 for D/ST's (if a RFA K or D/ST was worth a 1st round draft pick, they better be amazing).

The subsequent levels of tenders would be evenly declining, so the scales would be:

Quarterbacks:
1st round-1200
2nd Round-800
3rd Round-400
4th Round-200

Running Backs:
1st Round-2000
2nd Round-1300
3rd Round-600
4th Round-300

Wide Receivers
1st Round-1300
2nd Round-800
3rd Round-500
4th Round-200

Tight Ends
1st Round-750
2nd Round-400
3rd Round-250
4th Round-150

Kickers
1st Round-400
2nd Round-300
3rd Round-200
4th Round-150

Defense/Special Teams
1st Round-600
2nd Round-450
3rd Round-300
4th Round-225

For example, 13 players have been tendered RFAs and not subsequently matched. Under this scale, this is the compensation they would have received HAD they been tendered at the level stated

Corey Dillon and Edgerrin James, Tim Brown, Troy Brown, and Torry Holt - 1st round compensatory pick
Tiki Barber, Warrick Dunn, Garrison Hearst, and Darrell Jackson - 2nd round compensatory pick
Terrell Davis, Emmitt Smith, Mike Alstott, and Ed McCaffrey - 3rd round compensatory picks
No players at the 4th round level (Due in part to the higher current opening bid levels).

Now, had say Corey Dillon only been tendered as a 2nd, he would not be eligible for 1st round compensation (despite selling at 2200), only a 2nd. The same goes for Tim Brown and Troy Borwn who likely would have been tagged as 2nd round RFA's instead of 1st.

Basically, the process will work as follows:

Of each teams three RFAs, you would label them as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th rounders. The opening bids for them would be their corresponing price from the charts above. Other teams bidding would have to start at or above those prices. Once the bidding concludes, the tendering team can match, or decline to match. If they match, they obviously get the player for the highest bid, and receive no compensation. If they decline, they would get a compensatory pick, at the end of the round of the level they tendered the player. If no one opens bidding up during the RFA period on that player, the tendering team must give that player a contract for the opening bid price, and receives no compensation.

The compensation would be based on the tender given by the tendering team, and would not change no matter how high the biding went (ie, you give player x a 4th round tender, and bidding goes up to 3000, if you decline you still just get the 4th round compensation).

NEW - What will the payscale be for thee supplimental picks? Supplimental picls will be paid at the position scale relative to the x.12 player taken in that same round. So a 1.13 would be paid the same as 1.12 (depending of course on the players position), a 2.14 or 2.16 would be paid the same as the 2.12 scale, etc.

Also note, that in the case of mutiple RFA's not being matched in the same round, the players selling for the higher salary above the RFA tag baseline would receive the higher supplimental pick (starting at x.13). So say 3 players were tendered 2nd round supplimentals but not matched, (an RB tagged at 1300 but sold for 1700, a WR tagged at 800 but sold for 1400, and another WR tagged at 800 and sold at 1000). In this example, the RB sold 400 above the baseline, the 1st WR sold 600 above the baseline, and the 2nd WR sold only 200 above the tagged RFA baseline. In the above case the 1st WR would receive the 2.13 supplimental, the RB would receive a 2.14, and the 2nd WR would get 2.15.

HISTORICAL EXAMPLES
all examples assume the player was tagged at the supplimental compensation stated

in 2003, 6 of the 26 RFA's were NOT matched, they are:
Corey Dillon (say tagged at 1300 but sold at 2200 a difference of 900) would garner a 2.13 supplemental
Tiki Barber (say tagged at 1300 but sold at 1900 a difference of 600) would garner a 2.14 supplemental
Torry Holt (say tagged at 800 but sold at 1250 a difference of 450) would garner a 2.15 supplemental
Darrell Jackson (say tagged at 800 but sold at 900 a difference of 100) would garner a 2.16 supplemental
Emmitt Smith (say tagged at 600 but sold at 830 a difference of 230) would garner a 3.13 supplemental
Ed McCaffrey (say tagged at 200 but sold at 450 a difference of 250) would garner a 4.13 supplemental

in 2002, 7 of the 21 RFA's were NOT matched, they are:
Edgerrin James (say tagged at 2000 but sold at 2100 a difference of 100) would garner a 1.13 supplemental
Tim Brown (say tagged at 800 but sold at 1290 a difference of 490) would garner a 2.13 supplemental
Troy Brown (say tagged at 800 but sold at 1215 a difference of 415) would garner a 2.14 supplemental
Warrick Dunn (say tagged at 1300 but sold at 1400 a difference of 100) would garner a 2.15 supplemental
Garrisson Hearst (say tagged at 1300 but sold at 1300 a difference of 0) would garner a 2.16 supplemental
Terrell Davis (say tagged at 600 but sold at 1000 a difference of 400) would garner a 3.13 supplimental
Mike Alstott (say tagged at 600 but sold at 650 a difference of 50) would garner a 3.14 supplemental
Ed McCaffrey (say tagged at 200 but sold at 450 a difference of 250) would garner a 4.13 supplemental