With NFL free agency just a few hours away, here\u2019s a little explainer of everything you need to know about how it works and what it all means for the Detroit Lions.<\/p>\n
The legal tampering period\u2014when teams can speak with the agents of players on expiring deals\u2014begins on Monday, March 9, at noon ET.<\/p>\n
However, any agreements made during that period cannot become official signings until the start of the new league year on Wednesday, March 11, at 4 p.m. ET, when the players\u2019 previous contract officially expires.<\/p>\n
However, players who are released before the start of free agency can officially sign with any team at any point.<\/p>\n
What is the legal tampering period? <\/p>\n
The legal tampering period is a stretch of time before the start of free agency when teams can communicate with agents of players on expiring contracts. They can negotiate and agree on parameters for an official new contract with a new team. It is during this time that you\u2019ll see players \u201cagree to terms\u201d to join a new team in 2026.<\/p>\n
However, it\u2019s important to keep in mind that these \u201csignings\u201d are not official until the new league starts on Wednesday. It doesn\u2019t happen often, but every couple of years or so, we see a player agree to terms with a new team, only to back out before it becomes official at the start of the league year on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
NEW RULE: Starting in 2026, teams are allowed one video or phone call directly with five free agents during the negotiating period, rather than only being able to speak with their agent. These calls may not last longer than an hour each, and any member of the team\u2019s staff can be on the call. <\/p>\n
When the clock strikes 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, every player who was on an expiring contract suddenly becomes available for anyone to sign. Any restricted free agent who did not receive a tender from their original team also becomes an unrestricted free agent who can sign with any team at any time.<\/p>\n
As for restricted free agents who received a tender*, they can negotiate with other teams and agree to an offer sheet (unless they are an exclusive rights free agent<\/a>), but their original team will have an opportunity to match those offers.<\/p>\n Thus far, only Jake Bates has received an exclusive rights free agent tender. No other Lions players have been given a restricted free agent tender. If it stays that way, they will become unrestricted free agents at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday.<\/p>\n When can teams re-sign their own players? <\/p>\n As has been the case since the end of the regular season, teams are permitted to sign their own free agents at any point, including before and during the tampering period\u2014which is how the Lions seemingly like to operate. As of Monday morning, they had not announced any re-signings, and in the past, those have come on Monday or later during free agency week.<\/p>\n Trades can be agreed upon, in principle, at any time. However, they will not become official until the start of the new league year on Wednesday, March 11. This goes for the David Montgomery trade. While the entire terms have been agreed upon, Montgomery won\u2019t officially become a Texan until Wednesday. Be aware that in very rare instances, an \u201cagreed upon\u201d trade can break down before becoming official.<\/p>\n Where can I see all of the moves the Lions have made?<\/p>\n We have a 2026 Detroit Lions free agency tracker<\/a> that not only keeps track of all of the Lions\u2019 signings and re-signings, but it will also provide updates on where the Lions\u2019 free agents land if they end up signing with another team.<\/p>\n For even more coverage of all the latest news and rumors, we also have a Lions free agency rumor tracker<\/a> that will bullet point every piece of news related to Lions free agency. And lastly, we are also tracking all the Lions players\u2019 contracts and positions on the depth chart<\/a> in a third tracker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With NFL free agency just a few hours away, here\u2019s a little explainer of everything you need to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[146,113,11309,2506,7,147,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-802628","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-detroit","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-detroit-lions-free-agency","11":"tag-detroitlions","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-lions","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116199952602597513","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}