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It's tampering time!

One of the new wrinkles of the collective bargaining agreement signed in 2011 was the storm before the storm where NFL free agency is concerned.

You see, before the madness kicks off in earnest on Tuesday, there's a "legal tampering" period, which began at noon Eastern on Saturday.

Essentially, teams can do everything except sign on the dotted line.

In other words, the stuff they used to do, only now it's legal.

The tampering period, as one would expect, leads to all sorts of rumors and speculation from the media and fans alike, as people try to connect the proverbial dots as to where this year's top free agents might land.

So, as the clock winds down to 4 p.m. ET Tuesday and the opening of the proverbial floodgates, here's the latest free-agent scuttlebutt from around the NFL.