NFL free agency and the new league year officially begin on Wednesday, March 13 at 4 p.m. ET, but the fun really starts on Monday at noon ET. The NFL has a 52-hour negotiating window from Monday to Wednesday, which has also been called the legal tampering period.
During this two-day span, teams can negotiate terms of contracts with the agents of pending free agents. They can agree to deals, but no contracts can be signed until 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday. It’s the unofficial start of free agency, with many of the top players available likely to land new contracts.
Here’s everything to know about the negotiating period, which begins today for all 32 teams and every unrestricted free agent.
- Teams can only negotiate with the agents of unrestricted FAs, not the players themselves.
- Contracts can be agreed to, but not signed until 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
- Players who represent themselves without an agent can speak to teams during this period.
- Players and teams can back out of deals agreed to during the legal tampering window until the contract is signed.
- Players cannot visit teams during this negotiating window.
- Teams can sign their own free agents to a new contract at any time.
The Rams are expected to be much more aggressive this offseason than they were last year. They come into free agency with about $29 million in available cap space, and that’s even after signing both Kevin Dotson and Demarcus Robinson already.