The NFL calendar says that free agency won’t officially start until Wednesday, but don’t be fooled by that. The real action kicks off at 12 p.m. ET on Monday with the start of the legal tampering period.
This is a two-day window where teams are allowed to contact the agent of any unrestricted free agent and attempt to negotiate a contract. In the past, teams were NOT allowed to contact players directly, but that will change this year. For the first time, teams will be permitted to directly contact up to five free agents during the tampering window.
Although players are allowed to agree to terms on a contract with a new team during the tampering period, no one can actually sign their new deal until the start of free agency at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
That being said, Monday is always one of the busiest days of free agency and we’re going to be tracking it all here in our live blog. If you want the latest on every move, trade and deal that’s being made, this is where you need to be.
If you want to know who the best free agents are, Pete Prisco ranked the top 100 players right here. His top two players — Tyler Linderbaum and Trey Hendrickson — likely won’t be available for long.
With that in mind, let’s get to the rumors, reports and free agency deals.