NFL Free Agency 2018: Legal tampering period begins

The unofficial start of 2018 NFL free agency begins today, Monday, March 12 at 12:00 noon ET. For the sixth year in a row, in an (unsuccessful) attempt to curb all the illegal tampering that goes on before free agency, the NFL has decided to designate a window for legal tampering. Actual NFL free agency does not officially begin until Wednesday, March 14 at 4:00 PM ET, but a “negotiating period” or “legal tampering period” as it’s come to be known begins today at noon.

Here are the important things to know regarding this 2-day negotiating window:

• Agents can negotiate numbers, but not actually officially sign a deal (See: Frank Gore)

• Teams can talk to agents, not the player directly

• Players can’t visit other teams (except their own)

• Only applies to unrestricted free agents, not restricted free agents or exclusive-rights free agents

• Starts today at 12:00 PM ET and ends when the new league year officially starts on Wednesday at 4:00 PM ET

The Philadelphia Eagles have 14 players scheduled to be unrestricted free agents. The biggest name on the list is starting linebacker Nigel Bradham. It’ll be interesting to see if he generates interest on the market over the next few days.

We likely won’t see the Eagles connected to too many free agents from other teams since Philadelphia has the lowest amount of cap space in the league. The Eagles still need to get under the cap by the time the new league year starts on Wednesday.

Use this open thread to discuss any rumors or reports. BGN will have the biggest stories covered here at the site, as always.