I'm not sure what the NFL intended or expected when they came up with this three-day window of "legal tampering" prior to the start of free agency. Everything that the NFL does is done to build excitement and thus profits. This new twist for free agency must have been added with excitement in mind. If so, it's failing. It's actually kinda boring. As midnight Friday approached the league start rifling out memos telling teams that silence is best. No contracts, no news, no leaks. In this time of media, social and legitimate, overload, there are no secrets. Knowing that, everyone expected some juicy news as soon as we saw the earliest moments of Saturday morning. Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio had taken a power nap and was caffeinated and ready for news in those wee hours. He found nothing. The NFL teams actually listened to the orders of the league. Whatever they are doing during this window of negotiating, and they must be doing something, is being done on the down low. It's actually no different from the days of "illegal tampering."
The NFL must be hoping for some big "signing day" on Tuesday. They must be hoping that all the annoying, time consuming leg work of contract negotiating to be done during this window of silence. This window wasn't the only change to free agency this year. They also changed the opening of free agency from midnight to the much more convenient 4pm EST. This works so nicely for televised, prime time press conferences. If the NFL wanted everything to come on Tuesday to be a huge surprise, it's working. If they wanted the trickle of news during this window in order to build excitement for Tuesday, it's failing. Either way, Tuesday will be interesting. Either way, the NFL wins. They always do. No matter what the NFL expected to happen with this window of "legal tampering" it's nothing like everyone else expected. Just ask Florio.
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