Rob asks via Facebook: As a final eight team, the Cards were only allowed one free-agent signing (Rex Hadnot). Do they get others after losing Karlos Dansby and Antrel Rolle?

Mike Sando: Rules governing the final eight playoff teams do indeed limit a team's options in free agency, but not quite as you described. Rolle was released, so he never qualified as an unrestricted free agent in the pertinent sense. That means we can remove him from the equation.

Having advanced to the divisional round, the Cardinals are allowed to sign one UFA for an estimated $5.5 million or more in first-year compensation, plus however many of their own UFAs in this category signed with other teams. Rules also allow the Cardinals to sign any UFA for less than about $3.7 million in the first year. Hadnot was a UFA, but his first-year compensation might not reach the $3.7 million parameter.

The collective bargaining agreement defines "salary" in this sense as base salary, roster bonuses, reporting bonuses, prorated portions of signing bonuses, likely to be earned incentives (LTBEs) and "other payments in compensation for the playing of professional football."

Dansby received a guaranteed $4.8 million salary for 2010, plus a $200,000 workout bonus, plus a $4 million signing bonus as part of a five-year deal. The prorated portion of the signing bonus would work out to $800,000 per year. His first-year compensation is therefore valued at $5.8 million.

The Cardinals were already allowed to sign one UFA from another team at that compensation level. Dansby's departure would allow them to sign a second.