Extensions Question

[robster1225]

When I go into a players contract, and he doesn't have anything requested past this season, and he has turned down multiple contracts, because I really don't know what he wants after this year, can I assume that he doesn't want to resign and I may have to throw a franchise tag on him? (wow, what a horribly long run-on sentence)

[Eaglesfan27]

Not necessarily. If you offer him a large enough signing bonus and a high enough base salary, most players will resign for multiple years. Exceptions are if he is upset about playing time or being franchised and not renegotiated quick enough (in which case, you'll get a message about past injustices or playing time.)

[robster1225]

Unfortunately we don't get those messages, right?

[Guest]

Unfortunately we don't get those messages, right?

Oh no, you'll see em alright. That first one, past injustices thing, is one I see all the time.

[robster1225]

Oh, I was told we don't get those kind of messages in MP leagues. I'm glad we do, thanks.

[Cotton]

If they're young and have less than 4 years of experience, you don't need to worry about their contracts too much because they'll be RFAs. Restricted.

You get first dibs on them until after the draft.

It's the older guys you need to extend if you want to keep them, if possible, but you need big bonuse$ to do that. Again, take a look at the franchise player costs screen and the right column to get an idea of what they might want as a salary and then expect to pay a big ass bonus over the top of that, too.

Remember that veterans make their biggest bucks with signing bonuses. So a lot of them don't mind taking single season contracts year after year after year... and will often turn down (if they're smart) longer term deals that may look more lucrative and take a small one year deal. This causes as much head scratching as anything I've seen in FOF. But it makes sense to me. If he goes from one year deal to one year deal, every off season he gets another shot at a big bonus payday, whereas the guys locked into long term deals don't always have that possibility unless they get renegotiated deals.

If you're trying to sign a guy for five years, remember that his biggest payday is always the one up front and all those pretty numbers you pad out the deal with in the later seasons are completely unguaranteed to him.

[Cotton]

Hope that helps. :)

Obviously, at 0-4, I'm not giving advice about gameplanning, but I do know my way around free agency a little. :D

[robster1225]

Ok, thanks for the advice.

One more question, Cotton, are you saying that the signing bonus gets paid out at the beginning of the deal? Because it looks like the game pro-rates it over the whole contract, but I could be reading that wrong.

[Cotton]

It's pro-rated as far as the salary cap is concerned. That's all.

But in terms of the actual money, once you pay the bonus, it's gone.

If you sign a guy to a deal with a big bonus, you pay the bonus up front and the league splits that across the length of the deal to determine how it effects your cap alone. You've already paid it, but the league doesn't count it for just that one season. That allows you a lot of wiggle room in how you manage your cap.

That's part of where the term 'dead money' comes in. You can't get rid of that used cap space, so if you then let a guy go, you save on the salary, yes, but the impact of the bonus is still there, and 'dead cap room'. You'll always have that part of your cap taken up by that bonus for as long as the last deal was agreed to, even if you cut the guy the next day. If it's a five year deal and a 25,000,000 bonus, you're stuck with 5,000,000 in dead cap room for the next five years whether you keep the guy or not.

[Cotton]

By the way, managing a salary cap is something I'm trying to improve on in my own game.

I took my DFL team to two straight championships and three straight conference titles, but it eventually came to an end because keeping the team together was a major strain on the salary cap.

After four straight seasons of making the playoffs, I was about $25,000,000 OVER the cap in my fifth season and had to dismantle the team - it was PAINFUL - and I think the DFL was pretty glad about that. ;)

I'm notorious for overspending on my own players even though I'm a cheapskate with free agents. That's why I set my Preference Draft settings to lean on potential instead of experience. I like to homegrow my teams. I'm not really good with free agents and trades, but I'm trying to get better. The Bees look ugly as sin right now, but I think they'll be good next season.

[Guest]

By the way, managing a salary cap is something I'm trying to improve on in my own game.

I took my DFL team to two straight championships and three straight conference titles, but it eventually came to an end because keeping the team together was a major strain on the salary cap.

After four straight seasons of making the playoffs, I was about $25,000,000 OVER the cap in my fifth season and had to dismantle the team - and I think the DFL was pretty glad about that. ;)

I'm notorious for overspending on my own players even though I'm a cheapskate with free agents.

Glad? Glad about what? :D

[Cotton]

LOL. The Titans. The Team You Love To Hate.

I hope the Bees will have that honor someday! :D

[Guest]

LOL. The Titans. The Team You Love To Hate.

I hope the Bees will have that honor someday! :D

Well, somewhat hesitantlly I might add, I think I've got the Riders postiioned well for the rest of the season. . . It will be nice when the Bees can put a Buzz in the Division instead of giving you a bad case of the hives. (collective groan issuing from the ranks of the OSFL) #-o

[Cotton]

I just hope the reverse of 'No Pain, No Gain' is true. Lots of pain, lots of gain? My vague recollection of modus ponens says that's not necessarily true. I sure hope so, though.