Let the tampering begin. Legally, that is.
On Monday at 9 a.m. pacific, teams were able to begin negotiating with agents on potential contracts for unrestricted free agents — more commonly known as the “legal tampering” period for pending free agents. However, players cannot meet with teams themselves and contracts cannot be fully executed until the new league year begins on Wednesday at 1 p.m. PDT.
This practice started in 2013, and the fairly oxymoronic “legal tampering” moniker essentially came with it. Over the next few days, many players will be linked to various teams via media reports — even though the players aren’t able to talk with coaches about potential scheme fits.