Dallas Cowboys starter's 2025 free agency isn't what it seems like at first for the untrained eye

For Dallas Cowboys fans searching the internet for a list of every player set to hit free agency in March, seeing the name of right guard Brock Hoffman, who started seven games in 2024 and is the projected starter for 2025, might come off as a surprise. 

With all the Micah Parsons' extension talk  and pending free agents such as Osa Odighizuwa, Jourdan Lewis, and Rico Dowdle, fans might walk away with the impression that Hoffman's name has been lost in the narrative. 

However, the reality is Hoffman is a free agent but not the kind we're used to talking about. Usually, when NFL fans think of free agents, they think of those who are "unrestricted." These are players who can sign anywhere they please (sometimes they have to deal with the troubles of a franchise tag) but for the most part, they can negotiate and sign with any team they wish. To reach unrestricted status though, they must accrue four seasons* in the NFL. 

*Note: An accrued season is a season in which a player is on a team's 53-man roster for at least six games. If they are on IR, a healthy scratch, PUP, etc. for at least six games - that counts as an accrued season. - via Wendell Ferreira on his free agency 101 guide. 

Players with under three accrued seasons qualify as "exclusive rights free agent." That's exactly what Hoffman is ahead of the 2025 NFL season. As such, the Cowboys can sign him to an ERFA, which costs the minimum salary per the CBA and has no guarantees. It automatically blocks free agency for the player in question. 

In other words, Hoffman won't be able to truly taste free agency as long as the Cowboys offer him an ERFA tender, which they surely will. 

Hoffman isn't the only exclusive rights free agent on the Cowboys this year as DE Tyrus Wheat and safety Juanyeh Thomas also fit the bill. In addition, Markquese Bell and KaVontae Turpin are both restricted free agents. Though not as definitive as an ERFA tender, restricted free agents "are players with three accrued seasons and they are allowed to negotiate with other teams, but their team has the right of first refusal and can set the tone when it comes to negations via tenders," via Ferreira's 101 free agency guide. 

Over the Cap projects this year's right of first refusal tender to be worth $3.18 million.