Last year, the Pittsburgh Steelers pushed for a rule change on how free agency occurs. Starting in 2026, teams can hold up to five Zoom calls with free agents during the legal tampering period. Previously, teams were only allowed to talk to agents. On paper, it’s a noble shift to empower players and get teams more familiar with players before hanging out life-changing money.
Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, it doesn’t sound like teams are taking advantage.
“We’re two and a half hours in, almost. This is such a scramble,” Schefter said during Pat McAfee’s free agency special Monday afternoon. “I don’t know anybody that’s setting up a Zoom call sitting down in the midst of these crazy negotiations.”
Schefter noted he was “unaware” of any team taking advantage of the rule proposal.
There was at least one. The Dallas Cowboys held a Zoom with LB Quay Walker. It wasn’t enough to sell him and he signed a deal with the Las Vegas Raiders.
Brought up by Pittsburgh and passed last offseason to apply to the 2026 season, the rule is on a one-year trial run. It could be made permanent, modified, or eliminated for 2027. So far, it doesn’t sound like teams are finding it useful. As Schefter notes, the mad scramble that is the beginning of the free agency period makes it difficult to sit down and dedicate any time, even less than the allotted hour, to one particular player.
It’s not clear if Pittsburgh had such conversations with its big free-agent agreement of the moment, a three-year, $36 million deal with CB Jamel Dean.
Though the legal tampering period began Monday, conversations have occurred behind-the-scenes and through back channels since at least the NFL Combine. At this point, players know their market and their interested teams. Many players have connections with their prospective clubs, just as former Steelers CB James Pierre did with the Minnesota Vikings (Brian Flores and Gerald Alexander) and former Packers QB Malik Willis did with the Miami Dolphins (Jon Eric-Sullivan, Jeff Hafley). In those situations, there’s not much that needs to be discussed, and money drives the conversation.
“You got teams wheeling and dealing. I don’t think that anybody’s sitting in to schedule a video,” Schefter said. “There might be a certain case where if there’s a question about somebody the team has, you wanna get that guy on the phone or a Zoom call. You have the liberty to do that.”
Once the first waves of moves slow down, perhaps more will come out about Zoom meetings with players. If it helped one team seal a deal or one free agent feel comfortable about his decision, the rule will be worth it. But teams aren’t exactly embracing the rule change with gusto and are seemingly providing like always. Setting up deals well before free agency and rushing to get verbal agreements as soon as possible. It’s a competitive world, and those sitting on Zoom are vulnerable to getting left behind.
Recommended for you