“An employee under contract to a member club (including a head coach, general manager, or other “high level” employee) who voluntarily resigns or retires prior to the expiration of his contract, is not free to discuss or accept employment with another NFL club without the consent of the prior-employer club,” the memo explains. “This is true for the full remaining term of the employee’s contract. If a club wishes to consent to discussions of a substitute employment arrangement, that club may condition its consent on receiving appropriate compensation from the member club wishing to discuss employment with and/or hire the employee who has ‘retired’ or ‘resigned.’ Once an employee’s contract has expired, the employee is free to seek other employment with another NFL club, assuming there has been compliance with the Anti-Tampering Policy.”

As the source pointed out, there has to be a reason for the memo. And the most obvious reason would be the possibility that teams will attempt to interview retired Cardinals coach Bruce Arians. Although Arians has said he’s interested in coaching only the Browns, other teams may contact him once jobs begin to spring open.

Absent an express written agreement between the employee and his former team, the procedures quoted above apply. Which means that they potentially restrict the ability of teams that will be firing their coaches to deal with Arians without first dealing with the Cardinals.