FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- If the Steelers want to put the franchise tag on nose tackle Casey Hampton to prevent him from becoming a free agent next month, they now know what it will cost them.

The one-year salary required to pay Hampton would be $7,003,000, according to figures released Thursday by the NFL Players Association. That amount represents the average of the top-five salaries of defensive tackles in the NFL. Of those, Hampton was fifth-highest last season at $6,452,084. That represents not only his salary for 2009 but the prorated amount of his signing bonus and all other moneys earned.

The Steelers will try to negotiate a long-term contract with Hampton, kicker Jeff Reed and safety Ryan Clark before they can become unrestricted free agents March 5. However, if the Steelers cannot, they have two tools to try to keep those three players:

• The franchise tender, which would not allow the player to sign elsewhere.

• The transition tender, which does allow the player to sign elsewhere as a free agent but gives his current team the right to match any such contract and keep him. If a team does not match, it loses the player with no compensation in return. The transition tender represents the top-10 salaries at a specific position.

The franchise tender for kickers is $2,814,000 with a transition tender of $2,629,000. The franchise tender for safeties is $6,455,000 and $6,011,000 for the transition tender.

In an unusual move, the NFLPA issued a list of prospective restricted free agents Thursday and did so assuming no new collective bargaining agreement in place, resulting in an uncapped year.

Based on that, new rules take place, including a measure that extends from four to six years the length of time a player needs to serve before he can become an unrestricted free agent. Those after years four and five become restricted instead.

The list for the Steelers includes tackle Willie Colon, who would have been unrestricted under the old rules. The other restricted free agents on the Steelers are cornerback William Gay, punter Daniel Sepulveda, running back Carey Davis, tight end Matt Spaeth and offensive lineman Darnell Stapleton.

Free agency begins with the league's new calendar year March 5.

NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith called the chance of league owners locking out the players for the 2011 season more than a certainty during an hourlong news conference.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, it's a 14," Smith declared.

He said he based his opinion on the fact owners have been preparing for a lockout, have demanded the players give back 18 percent of their current revenue and that the league extended its contracts with the TV networks that guarantees them $5 billion even if they do not play football in 2011.

"Has anyone of the prior deals included $5 billion to not play football?" Smith asked. "The answer is no."

The current CBA, extended in 2006, expires in 13 months, although there is language in that agreement that allows for a draft in 2011. Smith repeated a mantra of his predecessor, the late Gene Upshaw, who said if the NFL went through an uncapped season the players would never again agree to a salary cap.

Smith called it "virtually impossible to go back to a cap" if they do not have a new CBA by March 5.

Tennessee Titans center Kevin Mawae, the NFLPA president, said his organization has told its members to "prepare themselves for a lockout in 2011," although he said, "I really, truly in my heart believe a deal will get done."

A source close to the labor negotiations told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that if any deal is struck it likely will not come until just before the 2011 regular season is scheduled to start in September.

When or even if the owners lock out the players has not been determined.

Smith said that while the owners have provided their revenues to the union as required by the CBA they have not disclosed their profits. He cited a recent Forbes magazine estimate that NFL teams earned an average net profit of $31 million in the 2008 season.

The union also asked the owners to contribute 2 percent of those profits annually to a fund to benefit a fund for players who retired before 1993, when the current collective bargaining agreement was first put into place.

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