How did Rams get a jump on signing Davante Adams before legal tampering started?

When the news of the Los Angeles Rams signing former New York Jets free agent Davante Adams broke on March 9, 2025, there was a rather uniform level of surprise and dismay from many Rams fans. While fans expected the Rams to be active when the 'legal tampering' period of the 2025 NFL Free Agency market opens for business, this news seemed to jump the gun a bit.

And that is because it has.

The NFL now designates the period of time formerly called the legal tampering period as the negotiating period, and that is set to begin at 9:00 am PT on March 10, 2025.

While that does explain the when, it does nothing to explain how the Rams have been legally able to sign Davante Adams before the Negotiation Period begins. So here is where I come in to fill in the blanks

The negotiation period applies to those players who are still under contract with an NFL team until the start of the new NFL season. Those players, if signed to a lucrative enough new contract with a new team, trigger the algorithm which can calculate the award of an NFL compensatory draft pick the following year.

But if a player is released by his former team prior to that, he is free to negotiate and sign with any NFL team. The downside of that is that once a player is released, they do not trigger the algorithm that can result in any awarding of compensatory picks. And yes, the New York Jets released veteran WR Davante Adams.

Upon his release on March 4, 2025, Adams has been free to meet with, negotiate with, and sign with any NFL team. It just so happens that he met with, negotiated with, and signed with the Los Angeles Rams.

The Rams are still bound by all of the limits that every NFL team is held to. The Rams must be under the 2025 NFL salary cap at the start of the new season. The Rams are permitted to sign up to 90 players for training camp. The Rams top-51 contracts will count against the salary cap until all 32 NFL teams pare their roster down to the 53-man roster at the end of preseason. And the Rams cannot negotiate with any player's agent who are projected to end their contracts with their former teams at the start of the new NFL season until 9:00 am on March 10, 2025.

The Rams have renegotiated a contract with QB Matthew Stafford, signed ERFA C Dylan McMahon, LT Alaric Jackson, WR Tutua Atwell, and now added FA WR Davante Adams.

The Rams are absolutely getting a jump on the 2025 NFL season. How will it all turn out? Stay tuned.

And as always, thank you so much for reading.

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