Today’s afternoon deadline for restricted free agents to sign offer sheets came and went without any news on wide receiver Doug Baldwin or offensive lineman Byron Bell, the only two remaining RFAs. As such, Baldwin should return to Seattle and Bell should return to Carolina for the 2014 season. Baldwin and Bell received $2.187MM tenders from their respective teams, so they can either accept and sign those offers, or try to negotiate longer-term deals.
Offer sheets from prospective suitors needed to be finalized by today in order to give the Seahawks and Panthers five days before the draft to decide whether to match or pass on those offers. If a rival team had signed Baldwin to an offer sheet, for instance, and the Seahawks decided to let him go, they would have been entitled to a 2014 second-round pick from that club as compensation.
I explained restricted free agency in more detail in a PFR Glossary entry this morning.