NFL free agency doesn’t start until March 15th, with a two-day “legal tampering” period leading up to it. While it is widely understood that back-channel contact with agents goes on before that, teams can do nothing official until the 1:00 pm ET start of the league year on that date. Except with their own free agents. Teams are allowed to negotiate with them and sign them to extensions of the contracts that will not expire until that moment. The Dallas Cowboys have long had a strong preference for their “own guys” and in many years, the biggest moves they make in free agency involve re-signing their own, like the DeMarcus Lawrence and Michael Gallup deals from last year.
Cowboys free agents 2023: 3 players of their own they must re-sign
