The restricted free agency period officially ends April 18, but it's been anything but restrictive.

The Redskins used three draft choices (a first, fifth and sixth rounder) to steal wide receiver Laveranues Coles (from Jets), safety Matt Bowen (from Packers) and return specialist Chad Morton (from Jets). The Bills took kicker Rian Lindell from Seattle. Efforts to take Bears kicker Paul Edinger, Packers linebacker Na'il Diggs, Bengals linebacker Armegis Spearman and Seahawks defensive tackle Cedric Woodard were futile because their teams matched.

	The acquisition of Laveranues Coles and other restricted agents could put the 'Skins in cap trouble.

And more may be in the works. The Rams are looking at Titans linebacker Peter Sirmon. Safety Arturo Freeman and defensive tackle Jermaine Haley of the Dolphins, cornerback Mario Edwards of the Cowboys, kicker Neil Rackers of the Bengals and others are in play for possible deals.

What gives? Some front office execs writeoff the overly active restrictive market as a Daniel Snyder spending folly. In normal years, an average of five restricted free agents sign offer sheets and no more than four move to different teams. That, of course, is after the first couple years of free agency settled down.

Snyder's aggressiveness this year deserves study because other front offices are looking more seriously at restricted free agency. His strikes on the Jets, for example, will force teams to spend more time thinking through their decisions on how to tender their fourth-year free agents.

"I think part of this year's activity in the restricted market is there has been a less appealing unrestricted market," Titans general manager Floyd Reese said. "In the past, you would sign a player to an offer sheet but you pretty well knew that the team would match. Now, a lot more teams are investigating the restricted market."

It was somewhat predictable that there would be more activity because only 12 of the 120 restricted players were given first-round tenders. Tendering a contract offer that would require a team to give up a first-round choice usually killed the chance of movement. Snyder changed that thinking with the signing of Coles. After losing Hugh Douglas to Jacksonville, the Eagles were willing to give a first-round choice to the Packers to sign defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, but he ended up re-signing with the Packers.

First of all, it would be helpful to understand who these restricted free agents are. For the most part, they normally are players taken from the third round of the draft and lower. First-rounders usually sign five- or six-year deals. Second-rounders normally sign four-year rookie contracts.

So the restricted market often deals with prospects or role players. They've been on rosters for three seasons. If those players were successes in the first couple of years, the teams that drafted them would usually sign them to long-term extensions.

But sometimes it takes three or four years before a player truly develops. Coles needed three seasons to show the skills to be a No. 1 receiver. KGB needed his third season in Green Bay to prove he's not a one-year pass-rushing fluke. In the future, more teams will study the relative value of getting established players with proven track records or gambling similar signing bonus money and multi-million escalation clauses on draft choices.

That doesn't mean the restricted market is for everyone. At best, it's considered a one-year fix. Should Snyder try to make it an every year venture, he will be sentencing his franchise to salary-cap hell. While it's great to think that Coles is better than any first-round receiver at the 13th pick in the first round or Morton is better than any fifth or Bowen is better than any sixth, you also have to study the salary-cap impact.

Lower draft choices are cheap labor and you need players coming through your roster at low prices. The teams that make these moves have to believe they are close enough to the playoffs because it might be hard justifying salary discrepancies in the lockeroom.

All will be fine in Washington if Coles and his restricted free agents help the Redskins make the playoffs. But if the Redskins are still stuck in that six-to-eight win level, young Redskins stars LaVar Arrington, Champ Bailey, Chris Samuels and others may resist signing long-term extensions unless Snyder forks over more than the $13 million signing bonus given to Coles. Winning and trips to the playoffs tend to ease that type of tension.

Expect more teams to place first-round tags on restricted free agents next season. The Jets mistake was not placing the first- and third-round price on Coles because that would have allowed them to dictate the negotiations in order to keep him. The Redskins would not have given up two draft choices for Coles.

What has forced more thinking in the restricted market is the annual increase in the tender offers. The price of a restricted free agent at the lowest tender has risen to $605,000 and will go up seven to 10 percent next year. That's $155,000 more than the minimum salary for the year of experience. It's also $155,000 more than a team can sign a veteran on a one-year contract at the reduced cap number of $450,000.

Thanks to recent changes in the collective bargaining agreement, a long-time veteran such as Dana Stubblefield, a defensive tackle who signed a one-year Raiders deal at $755,000 that counts $450,000 against the cap, has better job security than a $605,000 restricted free agent.

		That doesn't mean the restricted market is for everyone. At best, it's considered a one-year fix. Should (Daniel) Snyder try to make it an every year venture, he will be sentencing his franchise to salary-cap hell.

The debate for most teams in the future will be how to tender their restricted players. Sometimes, it's better for teams to let players come back with offers to match because at least the team knows the cost of keeping that player through the free agency years.

The Seahawks and 49ers are classic examples of teams that wished they had offer sheets to match on two receivers who had first-round tenders -- Darrell Jackson in Seattle and Tai Streets in San Francisco. Jackson and Streets are starters who want to be paid like No. 1 receivers. Peerless Price re-established the price of a good No. 1 receiver when he got $5 million a year from the Falcons after being traded.

Unfortunately for them, they are considered No. 2 receivers on their teams. Koren Robinson, a top 10 choice two years ago, started to establish himself as a potential Pro Bowl No. 1 receiver at midseason last year. Streets plays on the other side of Terrell Owens. Still, like most players, they want No. 1 money to sign long-term deals. Number 2 receivers get around $3 million a year.

Had Jackson and Streets brought back offer sheets, the Seahawks and 49ers would have faced interesting decisions. They could have matched the offers and kept their receiving units intact. Or they could let them go and receive a No. 1 choice as compensation in order to find replacements. Jackson and Streets will probably sign their one-year, $1.318 million tenders to test next year's free agent market.

Snyder opened some eyes this year by utilizing restricted free agency. It's only giving general managers more tough decisions to cause concern. Teams now have three years to protect their draft choices, but after that, anything goes.

John Clayton is a senior writer at ESPN.com.