Monday, March 9th, at 11 AM CST, begins the 2026 NFL legal tampering period. It ends on Wednesday, March 11th, at 3 PM CST when free agency officially begins. The statement that free agency officially begins on Wednesday always seems silly, as anyone who's followed NFL free agency since the "legal tampering period" was introduced around 13 years ago will tell you that Monday is basically when free agency starts. Most of the top free agents and more will have agreements set by the end of Monday. So, why even have the legal tampering period? Why not just start free agency?

The NFL officially instituted the legal tampering period in 2013. Its purpose was to allow teams to negotiate with agents of unrestricted free agents and attempt to minimize the amount of "back door negotiations" occurring around the league. During the two-day window, franchises can negotiate contracts with agents and reach verbal agreements before signings become official. The teams cannot officially sign players until free agency officially begins, though, putting pen to paper. The Packers haven't always been very active in free agency, but two years ago, they agreed to terms with safety Xavier McKinney very early on in the tampering period. And McKinney wasn't even the first one announced that day. Not very long after, news broke of the Packers reaching an agreement with Josh Jacobs. 

This always begs the question of whether or not teams are truly abiding by the rules. Many suggest that while teams don't negotiate directly with agents, they do subtly throw estimates around or they communicate through a third party, making that verbal agreement quick and easy. 

So, with so many pending free agents reaching agreements quickly with new teams on the first day, what's the point of having it? Why not just start free agency?

One of the main reasons behind keeping the legal tampering period has been to either give players an out or give other teams a chance to match or exceed the offer. If a pending unrestricted free agent reaches a verbal agreement to sign with a different team, their current team can still attempt to negotiate to keep them since they haven't officially signed yet. These examples have been few and far between, but in 2019, linebacker Anthony Barr had agreed to terms with the New York Jets but changed course and instead re-signed with the Minnesota Vikings, his previous team. Why give the previous team the chance to counter, though? Haven't they had their chance to sign the player? Yes, but as the saying goes, "deadlines spur action," and there's no bigger deadline than another team trying to take away a player you want to keep. 

How to change the legal tampering period

With the legal tampering period essentially being the unofficial start of free agency due to the high activity, and the chances of players going back on their verbal agreements being very low, the league might as well do away with it. If they're worried about other teams not having the chance to counter, why not just make every agreement within the first day or so of free agency have a short counter window where other teams can reach out, attempt to match or exceed the previous offer? That way, players still have the chance to back out if they receive another offer, and teams still have the chance to retain or sign players before pen hits paper. 

Of course, even if something of that nature is implemented, situations probably will arise that make it seem as silly as the tampering period, but that way free agency's start will be the true start. No "technical start of free agency" two days later, after all of the top candidates have essentially been "signed."

One way or another, teams are going to still communicate with players or their agents before they're allowed through loopholes. That's never going to end. So, just tweak the rules a bit and instead make the "tampering period" the official start of free agency.