NFL Passes Steelers Rule Change

A rule change proposed by the Pittsburgh Steelers has officially passed at the annual league meetings.

Mar 31, 2025; Palm Beach, FL, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin answers questions from the medianduring the NFL Annual League Meeting at The Breakers. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images | Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

At the annual NFL league meetings down in Palm Beach, Fla., the Pittsburgh Steelers saw their rule change proposal aimed at altering the structure of the legal tampering period in free agency officially go into motion.

Per Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, the proposition received the necessary votes to pass.

The Steelers proposal to allow for zoom calls during the legal tampering period, and for visits to be lined up ahead of the start of the league year, passed.

Significant change to free agency.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) April 1, 2025

NFL Network's Tom Pelissero revealed that the proposal was modified and will be on a "one-year" trial basis in 2026.

Under the previous set of rules, organizations were not allowed to speak with free agents during the tampering period and instead were directed to only speak with a player's agent.

Furthermore, teams were barred from setting up travel plans for a player with whom they came to terms with until the start of the new league year.

Now, organizations are allowed to set up either a phone or video call with up to five free agents and then make travel plans upon agreeing on a contract, per Pelissero, though players still would not be allowed to visit a team's facility until the commencement of the new league year.

Once a call with a player ends, franchises are required to report the date, start time, end time, type of call, who the player is, the agent's name and the members of the franchise who attended to the NFL Player Personnel Department.

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