On Monday, NFL teams are officially allowed to contact unrestricted free agents in what is called the “legal tampering period,” otherwise known as free agency, where news about new contracts comes fast and furious.
But on Sunday night, just hours prior to the legal tampering period, one report from an NFL insider sparked speculation that one team may have made premature contact with one player.
According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, New York Jets offensive tackle Morgan Moses is expected to hit free agency after failing to come to an agreement with the Jets on a new contract.
While the Jets are making an effort to retain OL Morgan Moses, he is expected to hit free agency, per source. pic.twitter.com/SzjMmtHvSq
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) March 9, 2025
Seems like an innocent enough report, right? Well, the only problem is that this wasn’t Russini’s first draft of this post on X. In her initial post, which was quickly deleted, Russini included a New England Patriots logo next to the name of Morgan Moses, which her followers quickly picked up on.
Uhhhh Diana Russini’s deleted tweet had a Pats logo next to Morgan Moses🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/KkYRmT60i3
— Pat Brown (@PatBrown954) March 9, 2025
This template that Russini used for this report looks quite similar to one that she used to report on the Pittsburgh Steelers trade with the Seattle Seahawks for star wide receiver DK Metcalf, which, unlike this supposed Morgan Moses leak, is officially official.
The Steelers are sending a 2025 second-round pick to Seattle in exchange for WR DK Metcalf.
Pittsburgh will sign Metcalf to a five-year, $150 million extension, per source. pic.twitter.com/Y3gVchCqqn
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) March 9, 2025
Russini could have simply used or reused the wrong template for her initial report. And that old template could’ve happened to include a Patriots logo. Or, Russini accidentally reported on some information that she shouldn’t have at this point in time.
Shortly after the accidental graphic post, Russini further riled up the rumor mill by outlining that the Patriots are one of the four teams “expected to show interest” in Moses’ in free agency in a follow-up post.
The teams expected to show interest are the Commanders, Chiefs, Bengals, and Patriots. https://t.co/W2TWfmQ2I1
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) March 9, 2025
If Moses does end up in New England during the early stages of free agency, many will use Russini’s now-deleted post as evidence that the Patriots were talking to the offensive tackle prior to the legal tampering period. However, it’s certainly possible that this is just an innocent mistake. Perhaps Russini has graphics prepared for all of Moses’ possible landing spots, and she mistakenly used one with a Patriots logo in her initial post.
Either way, Morgan Moses’ free agency now has some additional off-the-field storylines to follow.