Actual NFL free agency does not officially begin until Wedneday, March 9 at 4:00 PM EST, but a “negotiating period” or “legal tampering window” as it’s come to be known begins today at noon.
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The rest of Seattle’s free agent list are back-of-roster types that shouldn’t be too hard to re-sign, if that’s what the team wants. There’s no denying that Minnesota is a team worth considering with their recent success, a new stadium and a promising young quarterback at the helm. That may seem silly, but it sure beats the way it used to be when teams and agents all just pretended they weren’t talking and yet players would still somehow be signed to huge contracts within minutes of start of free agency.
The NFL’s legal tampering period begins today, Monday, March 7 at 12:00 p.m. EST.
All franchises are allowed to negotiate with the agents of any player set to become a free agent at the start of the league year. Here’s a brief summary of the “legal tampering period”. However, teams can discuss all aspects of the contract and this year, they can actually agree on all contract parameters. Someone like Richie Incognito can not visit with other teams until after 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday. If an investigation is required, the league would seek all relevant documents from the team, including email and phone communications, along with a review of documents regarding travel arrangements for the player.
Until then, all of the chatter and potential agreements the two sides may strike between today and Wednesday afternoon will be deemed non-binding and unenforceable by either the agent, the player or the organization that has discussions with him.
What happens if a team breaks these rules?
We thought it might be helpful to to offer up a refresher on the specifics of the “legal tampering period ” . And the Cowboys, along with several other teams, will likely be quiet for several days as they let others get sucked into the high dollar contracts of the first wave that are more likely than not to result in overpaying for the services rendered. Remember that much of the information you see flying around the interwebs is generated by those agents, often in the hopes of luring in other suitors for their clients.
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Who are free agents this year?
