{"id":232603,"date":"2026-03-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/11\/nfl-teams-ready-to-spend-as-free-agency-officially-kicks-off-the-gist\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T00:00:00","slug":"nfl-teams-ready-to-spend-as-free-agency-officially-kicks-off-the-gist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/11\/nfl-teams-ready-to-spend-as-free-agency-officially-kicks-off-the-gist\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL teams ready to spend as free agency officially kicks off | The GIST"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>The GIST:<\/strong> The NFL\u2019s free agency period starts today, kicking off the 2026 league year. And there\u2019s New Year resolutions everywhere you look as contenders fill out their rosters, stars <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/nfl\/news\/nfl-free-agency-live-updates-march-10-2026\/live\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">hunt for new homes<\/a>, and the trade market heats up. No dropping the ball here \u2014 let\u2019s discuss the latest.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2699\ufe0f How it works: <\/strong>Free agency doesn\u2019t start until today at 4 p.m. ET, but your notifications might already be flooded with deals. That\u2019s because the 52-hour \u201clegal tampering period\u201d started on Monday, allowing teams to begin negotiating with players\u2019 agents. Deals can\u2019t be <em>officially<\/em> inked until later today.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\ud83d\udcb8 Salary cap increases by league record $22M: <\/strong>Teams have some extra cash this offseason as the league\u2019s 2026 salary cap (the total amount each front office can spend on player contracts in a given year) is now $301.2M per team. And squads are <em>spending<\/em>, from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/news\/trent-mcduffie-rams-agree-to-four-year-124-million-extension\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">record-breaking contracts<\/a> to the Tennessee Titans dropping <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/gbellseattle\/status\/2031198230655152554?s=20\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a cool $284M<\/a> on Monday alone.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u267b\ufe0f Quarterback (QB) carousel keeps spinning:<\/strong> The Miami Dolphins are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/48156219\/sources-qb-tua-tagovailoa-sign-1-year-deal-falcons\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">on the hook for an NFL-record $99.2M<\/a> after releasing QB Tua Tagovailoa, but the lefty signal caller already landed elsewhere, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/48156219\/sources-qb-tua-tagovailoa-sign-1-year-deal-falcons\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">agreeing to a deal<\/a> with the Atlanta Falcons on Monday.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Meanwhile, former Las Vegas Raiders QB Geno Smith is poised for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/48164552\/sources-jets-get-their-qb-trade-raiders-geno-smith\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a full-circle moment<\/a> after being dealt back to the NY Jets nine years after his first stint with Gang Green.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\n  n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\n  document,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('init', '1716705275141133'); \/\/ Insert your pixel ID here.\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n      <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegistsports.com\/article\/nfl-teams-ready-to-spend-as-free-agency-officially-kicks-off\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The GIST: The NFL\u2019s free agency period starts today, kicking off the 2026 league year. And there\u2019s New Year resolutions everywhere you look as contenders fill out their rosters, stars hunt for new homes, and the trade market heats up. No dropping the ball here \u2014 let\u2019s discuss the latest. \u2699\ufe0f How it works: Free [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":232604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6805],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-232603","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-womens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}