"are your free agents locked right now?", "When do you unlock them?",

No, they are not. They are not locked, because I do an offline draft (call each owner for each pick, give them 1 hour on the clock). The way I do this, is as follows, and I've found it to be the easiest, most organized way:

1. Before I started the league, I decided to do a 6 round, offline rookie draft each year, and color-code the owners that way it's easier to read.

2. Once the leagues flip for the new season (which they already have), I go in and jot down the draft order into a Google Sheet or Excel File (I'll post an example of it below).

3. Once I've got the correct draft order in a spreadsheet, I then go into "Settings > Edit Rosters > These are complete rosters for the season". Doing this, will unlock Free Agency. It will also remove the "Draft" tab at the top, but that's okay because you've got a copy of it in a spreadsheet.

4. Once that is done, trades can immediately be done, if they would like. I set a date for my owners to start picking up free agents (usually the day after the league flips).

5. From this point up until our rookie draft, owners are allowed to trade draft picks for the current draft. However, since the current draft's draft picks won't show on the website (only the next 3 years will show), I tell the owners that if they trade a pick in the current draft, they'll need to let me know which ones, that way I can update the draft order on the spreadsheet accordingly. After each draft pick trade involving picks in the current draft where I have to update the spreadsheet, I then post a screenshot of the latest draft order on the message board. This way, everyone is always up to date on the latest draft order and there is no confusion.

6. Upon completion of the NFL Draft, FleaFlicker will soon begin adding the rookies into the FA pool. Once they do this, yes, rookies can be added by anyone. However, I have a rule in place where owners are not allowed to pick up rookies from FA, as I would like to be the one that adds each player to each team (you can do this quickly in the "Edit Rosters" option in the settings.

7. Once the rookie draft begins, I call each owner to let them know they are on the clock. If they don't make a pick in exactly 1 hour, they get skipped, just like in the NFL, though that's never been an issue. Then, at some point while they are on the clock, they will call or text me their pick. I then post on the message board the Pick and the Round, and then what owner selected what player. Then, I update the spreadsheet and add the rookie's name next to the owner's name that drafted them. If there is a trade of picks during the draft, I post the trade on the message board so all owners are aware, and then continue the draft until it's complete.

8. Once complete, the spreadsheet is fully filled out, and I will go into the Edit Rosters option in League Settings, and import each rookie that each team drafted. Only takes a couple minutes. I do this until all rookies drafted are on their teams.

Here is a screenshot of an example of what last year's draft looked like upon completion. This is also the spreadsheet that I was referring to. Keeps everything neat and organized, and I also am able to keep it for historical purposes. As you can see at the bottom, I also have tabs where I can go back and look at previous years' drafts if need be.