Agent’s Take: Asking prices for Allen Robinson and other intriguing offensive players with expiring contracts

Ask and you shall receive. The phrase is music to an agent’s ears when free agency works in this manner. It must also be balanced by the risk of pricing a client out of the market.

Agents and NFL teams have already gotten a sense of the 2022 free agent market. Meetings between agents of impending free agents and teams routinely occur at the NFL Scouting Combine, which ended March 7, although these types of discussions are prohibited by NFL rules. Teams are rarely penalized for tampering with players from other teams when those players are scheduled to become free agents.

The exclusive negotiating rights teams have had with their impending free agents ends March 14. That’s when NFL teams are allowed to negotiate with the agents of prospective unrestricted free agents during a two-day period beginning March 14 at 12 p.m. ET and ending at 3:59:59 p.m. ET on March 16. Prospective UFAs who don’t have an agent can also negotiate with front office executives of teams. Players can’t sign deals with new clubs until the 2022 league year and free agency officially begin at 4 p.m. ET. A player’s ability to re-sign with his current club is allowed during the period.

The salary cap has bounced back in a big way after dropping from $198.2 million in 2020 to $182.5 million in 2021 with league revenues declining due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been set at $208.2 million for this year. The 14.08% cap increase should result in a robust market during the first wave of free agency, which typically is over after the initial days of the signing period. The Chargers have already gotten the ball rolling by keeping wide receiver Mike Williams off the open market with a three-year contract reportedly worth $60 million.

It was my responsibility while working on the agent side to create target or asking prices for the firm’s clients headed toward free agency, regardless of whether I was the lead agent. In…