diff --git a/verl/workers/rollout/vllm_rollout/vllm_async_server.py b/verl/workers/rollout/vllm_rollout/vllm_async_server.py
index 0437c0c23c3..bd17db117bc 100644
--- a/verl/workers/rollout/vllm_rollout/vllm_async_server.py
+++ b/verl/workers/rollout/vllm_rollout/vllm_async_server.py
@@ -83,12 +83,49 @@
 logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)
 
 
+class _DeferredZmqFuture(Future):
+    """Future that defers ZMQ recv() until result() is called.
+
+    This allows vLLM's EngineCore to overlap work (e.g., grammar bitmask computation)
+    with remote model execution when using non_block=True.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, sockets: list["zmq.Socket"], unique_reply_rank: int | None = None):
+        super().__init__()
+        self._sockets = sockets
+        self._unique_reply_rank = unique_reply_rank
+
+    def result(self, timeout=None):
+        if not self.done():
+            try:
+                outputs = []
+                for socket in self._sockets:
+                    outputs.append(pickle.loads(socket.recv()))
+                for output in outputs:
+                    if isinstance(output, Exception):
+                        raise output
+                if self._unique_reply_rank is not None:
+                    self.set_result(outputs[self._unique_reply_rank])
+                else:
+                    self.set_result(outputs)
+            except Exception as e:
+                self.set_exception(e)
+                raise
+        return super().result(timeout)
+
+
 class ExternalZeroMQDistributedExecutor(Executor):
     """An executor that engines are launched by external ray actors."""
 
     uses_ray: bool = False
 
     def _init_executor(self) -> None:
+        # _DeferredZmqFuture relies on ZMQ REQ/REP send-recv ordering (one request in-flight).
+        # This is only safe when max_concurrent_batches == 1 (which is the default in Executor).
+        assert self.max_concurrent_batches == 1, (
+            f"ExternalZeroMQDistributedExecutor requires max_concurrent_batches=1, got {self.max_concurrent_batches}"
+        )
+
         dp_rank_local = self.vllm_config.parallel_config.data_parallel_rank_local
         tp_size = self.vllm_config.parallel_config.tensor_parallel_size
 
@@ -119,24 +156,22 @@ def _init_executor(self) -> None:
         def execute_model(
             self, scheduler_output: "SchedulerOutput", non_block: bool = False
         ) -> "ModelRunnerOutput | None | Future[ModelRunnerOutput | None]":
-            output = self.collective_rpc("execute_model", args=(scheduler_output,))
-            result = output[0]
-            if non_block:
-                f = Future()
-                f.set_result(result)
-                return f
-            return result
+            return self.collective_rpc(
+                "execute_model",
+                args=(scheduler_output,),
+                non_block=non_block,
+                unique_reply_rank=0,
+            )
 
         def sample_tokens(
             self, grammar_output: "GrammarOutput | None", non_block: bool = False
         ) -> "ModelRunnerOutput | None | Future[ModelRunnerOutput | None]":
-            output = self.collective_rpc("sample_tokens", args=(grammar_output,))
-            result = output[0]
-            if non_block:
-                f = Future()
-                f.set_result(result)
-                return f
-            return result
+            return self.collective_rpc(
+                "sample_tokens",
+                args=(grammar_output,),
+                non_block=non_block,
+                unique_reply_rank=0,
+            )
 
     def collective_rpc(
         self,
@@ -144,8 +179,10 @@ def collective_rpc(
         timeout: Optional[float] = None,
         args: tuple = (),
         kwargs: Optional[dict[str, Any]] = None,
+        non_block: bool = False,
+        unique_reply_rank: int | None = None,
         **kwargs_extra: Any,
-    ) -> list[Any]:
+    ) -> Any | list[Any] | Future[Any | list[Any]]:
         if isinstance(method, str):
             sent_method = method
         else:
@@ -156,6 +193,9 @@ def collective_rpc(
         for socket in self.sockets:
             socket.send(message, zmq.DONTWAIT)
 
+        if non_block:
+            return _DeferredZmqFuture(self.sockets, unique_reply_rank=unique_reply_rank)
+
         outputs = []
         for socket in self.sockets:
             outputs.append(pickle.loads(socket.recv()))
@@ -163,6 +203,9 @@ def collective_rpc(
         for output in outputs:
             if isinstance(output, Exception):
                 raise output
+
+        if unique_reply_rank is not None:
+            return outputs[unique_reply_rank]
         return outputs
 
     def check_health(self):