The official NFL schedule says free agency begins in early March. Agent Jack Bechta wrote a piece for the National Football Post detailing how things work behind the scenes. Check out what is going on at this point.
The Senior Bowl (Jan. 20 to 26): Agents attended the Senior Bowl from Sunday through Thursday. There, agents, coaches, GMs and personnel directors initiate free agent chatter. For example, I had a list of my free agents on a legal pad. I would show it to as many decision makers as possible and ask which players they might have an interest in. Prior to Senior Bowl week my staff and I also broke down team needs and had a short list of which teams may be the best matches for a particular free agent client. During these quick informal conversations, numbers are usually not discussed but the “level” of interest is. For a number of teams, they may not have had any personnel meetings so they may not even be sure yet who they are targeting.
Between January 26th and February 18th: Most agents representing free agents will be burning up the phone lines talking to teams about what positions they will be targeting. However, if the free agent is the top rated at his position, the agent can wait for the call and market to come to him.
Signing may start in March, but a lot of important conversations are already taking place.
