Q: If next season turns out to be an uncapped salary year in the NFL, does that affect the status of any of the Steelers players that are scheduled to be free agents?

Aaron Arthurs, Buford, Ga.

BOUCHETTE: It affects tackle Willie Colon. His contract is up March 1. He has four years of service and that would make him an unrestricted free agent under current collective bargaining agreement rules. However, if the NFL does not reach an extension on the CBA by March 1, the season of 2010 will become an uncapped year and that sets in motion other rules under those conditions according to the CBA. One of them is that instead of needing four years of service to become an unrestricted free agent, a player needs six. Instead of becoming an unrestricted free agent, the player with four years of service would become a restricted free agent. The same would hold true for Colon in 2011 if there is no CBA extension by then.

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