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Several years ago, the NFL decided to acknowledge widespread pre-free agency tampering by creating a two-day window for negotiations between teams and the agents representing potential free agents. Initially clumsy and nonsensical, with proposals allowed to be exchanged but no agreements allowed to be reached, the rules now permit tentative agreements that can’t be announced by the teams — and that ultimately aren’t done until they’re done.

Now, the process has developed to the point where the tampering still happens before the negotiating window opens, but typically without numbers being exchanged. When the negotiating window opens, agents know what to expect by way of offers. And then, after an initial period of inactivity, the floodgates open.

This year, the official launch of free agency became anticlimactic, with all of the biggest deals essentially done the day before the clock struck 4:00 p.m. ET. After that, it became a matter simply of crossing t’s and dotting i’s.

Of course, it wasn’t quite so simple for Ravens receiver Ryan Grant, whose four-year, $29 million contract imploded based upon a failed physical, a coincidental (maybe convenient) development given the sudden availability of receiver Michael Crabtree.

So maybe the NFL should consider changing the rules, creating a period of a week or so for visits but no negotiations, followed either by open season. That way, physicals can be passed (or failed) before deals are done, and players and teams can get acquainted before commitments are made.

Owners may not appreciate the added expense of a stream of visits that may ultimately not result in employment, but isn’t it worth the money to get a chance to meet with and talk to players before being able to negotiate deals? Actually, there’s a viable business reason for changing the process. Teams currently can’t profit from the pre-free agency chatter via their in-house media companies, since none of the deals reached during the negotiating period can be announced. A week of visits would allow the teams to write their own stories and post their own videos about the comings and goings of players who possibly will be signed later. (Actually, maybe the current approach is fine.)

That’s just one possibility. Whatever the league does, it needs to do something to give players and teams a better chance to gather information before agreeing to terms — and to come up with a way to manage the process that better maximizes the ability to translate the developments into a constant stream of news and analysis, one that still culminates in all hell breaking loose when the market opens.