Last year was the first year the NFL opened its so-called tampering window. I wasn’t sure what to expect at the time, but it turned out to be mostly flat. A handful of rumors floated to the surface about teams interested in players, meetings set up, etc. At 4 p.m. when free agency officially began, Adam Schefter turned his Twitter feed into one big news dump, free agent deals reported in a stream of consciousness, 140 characters at a time. This year, there was no waiting. The tampering window became the early signing window.
Rise & Grind: The NFL’s free agent tampering window is a farce
It’s supposed to be a chance for teams to negotiate. It turned into the unofficial start of free agency with some of the biggest names on the market landing new deals with new teams that they can’t sign until Tuesday.
Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
Wherever it started, that news was insignificant by Sunday afternoon when the biggest free agent prize, defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, "signed" a deal with the Miami Dolphins. He hasn't actually signed it. He can't until Tuesday at 4 p.m.
Deals kept rolling in after that, most of them involving the Philadelphia Eagles. Even the last big one of the night, former Eagles receiver Jeremy Maclin, spurned his team for the Chiefs ... REPORTEDLY.
Every headline made note of the fact that none of these deals were technically done, but it didn’t matter. Suh’s camp was putting out details about why he wanted to go to Miami. Instead of a negotiating window, the league’s deadline just got unofficially moved up three days to Saturday.
Does it really matter? Probably not. If anything, it might give teams an edge in re-signing their own free agents. Those players get a sense of the offers out there and their teams get a chance to match. But like most things in the NFL we’re forced to go through with a dance to pay our respects to the official process, sort of like the personal conduct policy (only not as much of a labor relations nightmare).
SB Nation presents: How the NFL’s legal tampering period works
Headlines
The Eagles are signing everyone
Not technically. They did make it official with Mark Sanchez on a two-year, $9 million dollar contract. It's a good deal for both sides. Sanchez gets to stick around with a coach and a team that have given him some stability. The Eagles nail down a backup quarterback (I'm assuming he's a backup for either Marcus Mariota or Nick Foles ... or some other zany Chip Kelly plan).
They will sign former Seattle Seahawks cornerback Byron Maxwell to a $63 million, six-year deal with $25 million guaranteed. It seems a little pricey, but after last year the Eagles aren't really in a place to mess around with cheap cornerbacks.
And there's Frank Gore. He's telling people that he's signing a three-year deal with the team with $7.5 million guaranteed. It's less than what they would've spent for LeSean McCoy, but it's kind of pricey for a 31-year old running back. Gore probably won't be a full-timer with Darren Sproles and Chris Polk still in the mix. He was still averaging 4.3 yards per carry last season with an offensively challenged San Francisco 49ers.
That's probably not going to be all for the Eagles. They've been connected to safety Devin McCourty and cornerback Tramon Williams.
This will be Kelly’s third season, and the first one where he’s had full control over the roster. I’m anxious to see what he does. I also remember the last time the Eagles assembled a free agent super group, you might say a “dream team.”
Is Torrey Smith going to the Niners?
The second-most shocking news to come out of the NFL’s so-called tampering weekend: Torrey Smith has a blog. He used his third post of the year (which is already more posts than my way awesome personal Tumblr) to say goodbye to Baltimore. It was the NFL insiders who connected him to San Francisco.
Brandon Flowers re-signs with the San Diego Chargers
Sticking with the theme of keeping your own players being the best free agent move, the Chargers didn't let Flowers get away. It's a four-year deal worth $36 million, about the going rate for a viable starting cornerback. Now that the Denver Broncos are bringing Peyton Manning back, the Kansas City Chiefs are finally getting a receiver and the Oakland Raiders are doing ... something, the Chargers can't really afford to let Flowers walk.
Speaking of the Chargers ...
San Diego adds an offensive lineman
They're making it unofficially official with former Broncos tackle Orlando Franklin. That's going to give the Chargers an impressive, and quite large offensive line. Franklin is 6'6, 315 pounds. D.J. Fluker, who probably moves inside to guard with Franklin, is 6'5, 339 pounds. King Dunlap is 6'8, 310 pounds.
The New England Patriots paid for a safety!
Bill Belichick is known for many things; viewing safeties like spare parts to be pulled out off a scrap pile is one of them. Not Devin McCourty. He was an essential part of their Super Bowl campaign last season. That secondary was modeled after the Seahawks, and the Legion of Boom has an incredible center fielder, Earl Thomas, anchoring that group. McCourty has been one of the league's best since converting to a safety in 2012, so having him back there is essential.
It was a five-year, $47.5 million deal. The question now is whether that will prevent the Patriots from re-signing Darrelle Revis.
What the hell are they doing?
Screwing up free agency is how bad teams stay bad (screwing up the draft is part of the formula too). The losers so far ...
Oakland Raiders - For the second year in a row, GM Reggie McKenzie is letting a quality offensive lineman walk away in free agency and trying to replace him with a more expensive solution. Center Stefan Wisniewski is expected to hit the market. In his place, the Raiders are trying to sign Rodney Hudson, who the Chiefs are trying to retain. Hudson is the better player, but not so much that they needed to put themselves into this situation.
St. Louis Rams - Instead of parting ways with 34-year old Scott Wells and the constantly injured Jake Long, the Rams seem committed to keeping them around, protecting their quarterback coming off back-to-back ACL tears. The only free agent rumor out there involving St. Louis (besides that whole Los Angeles thing) is their interest in guard Justin Blalock, a 31-year old who wasn't good enough for the 6-10 Atlanta Falcons.
Cleveland Browns - Besides giving $6.25 million guaranteed to Josh McCown, a Tampa Bay Buccaneers cast off, they're apparently giving up on Jordan Cameron to chase Julius Thomas (who reportedly is going to sign with the Jaguars). Again, sometimes the best free agents are the ones you don't let leave. Now, they might end up with Ed Dickson.
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