Saints planned to interview Mike McCarthy; McCarthy didn’t garner enough interest from Saints and will take a year off

I get the concept but I just don’t understand the difference between “your contract expires on the 1st but we have exclusive negotiating rights until the 10th” and “your contract expires on the 10th”

His contract expires tomorrow.

https://www.nfl.com/news/cowboys-he...y's contract is,week, according to NFL rules.