Confused about re-signing players.

[Pat]

Ok, here is an example: Player A

Current cap cost: $4.8 mill
Signing bonus request: $2.98
Wants: 4 years, $10.5 Mill
This: 760K
07: 1.9
08: 2.2
09: 2.6

Why am I resigning him for this season? As in, why is his financial # changing for 2006?

Example: Player B

Current cap cost: $1.3 Mill
Singing bonus request: 700K
Wants: 1 year, 990k
This: 290K

He doesn't have anything listed for years after. So if I sign him to this, he will just sign for the rest of this season? Why would he request that offer?

[HWessinmouse]

They want more money.

Wouldn't you? I THINK, just because the player WILL negotiate, doesn't necessarily mean you SHOULD.

I could be very, VERY wrong. #-o

[Eaglesfan27]

He requests that offer because he wants to test the FA market. However, if you offer him a GOOD deal with a nice signing bonus and a decent base salary, he will sign a multi year deal. Part of the game is figuring out what he will take to convince him not to test out the FA market :)

[Pat]

He requests that offer because he wants to test the FA market. However, if you offer him a GOOD deal with a nice signing bonus and a decent base salary, he will sign a multi year deal. Part of the game is figuring out what he will take to convince him not to test out the FA market :)

Interesting.

I better get on it, running out of time.

[kingfc22]

Don't forget that players are restricted FA's for their first 3 seasons. I'm pretty sure about that is the length of time that they will still be RFA's.

[Pat]

Can I get some clarification on that?

So, if a guy is a rookie, one year vet, two year vet, or three year vet, they are restricted?

[kingfc22]

From the help file:

During the first stage of early free agency, you may only conduct renegotiations with your own players already under contract or your own restricted free agents (four years of experience or less).

[Andrew]

Maybe I'm dense but I still don't understand why a player who is going to be a Free Agent is asking for a contract for the current year when I try to re-sign him. The season is over!

[Cotton]

Technically it's not over. But, yeah. I wonder about that, too. I think it's just some default because you should still have the ability to redo a deal at this point and they have to put something in those requested fields. So, I look at it like this: He doesn't want to think about a multi-year now, but I can certainly give him a nice bonus for being so special. :)

[Cotton]

They're not requesting it, by the way, in the sense that they're calling you up and saying 'I want this'. They're just telling you when you are looking to redo the contract that you're probably not going to make much headway, but, like I said, you're more than welcome to give then another bonus while you still have a chance. For whatever reason, I don't know. But you could.

[Andrew]

Yah, I'm still not getting it. And from talking to others, I'm not the only one. :D

Let me put it this way...

If it says I'm signing a player to a 4 year deal, am I signing him to a 4 year deal or a 3 year deal?

Also, am I costing my team money for the current year by re-signing these players that have the current season listed in the first year of a deal?

[Guest]

You are basically signing a player to a deal which is one year less than if you were to sign them the next year, because it counts this year as the first year of the deal. For instance, I re-signed S Jon Banks to a 2 year deal, and now he is signed through next season.

I wouldn't be too worried about costing this seasons cap room to sign a guy, because this season is over, and you won't really feel the effect of the signing til next season.

Also, if a player is in year 3 or lower right now, next season he will be considered an RFA if his contract is up. So, you don't have to worry about that player being poached in free agency. You will have all the time in the world to sign him next offseason.

[Cotton]

Bingo. The option exists if you want to change a contract, but there's only a few examples where you'd even really want or need to.

The first season is this season still. You can still change it, even though the salary change doesn't matter much. The bonus does matter.

So your first question: It's essentially a three year deal but the signing bonus is now instead of after staff hiring and counts toward your cap proration. Which is a little bit of a bonus, since prorating across four seasons (including this) instead of three is easier on your cap. The bonus is really the only thing that matters if you rework a deal now. The guy might have one or two paychecks left from the salary, but he walks away with that bonus in one lump sum.

So, redoing a one year deal is like a Christmas bonus at this point. Doesn't mean much, but you can do it. Who knows? Maybe his loyally will rise a little. I don't know.

A multi year deal is to keep that guy from becoming a free agent in a few weeks, and it's often a hard sell. A good example would be the Patriots waiting until the playoffs to extend the contract they inherited from the Bengals for Corey Dillon. He kept what the Bengals were supposed to pay him all season while he shattered the Pats' rushing record, then at the brink of the playoffs, they gave him a whopper of a deal to keep him around for next season. They wanted to see how he'd work out - and 1,600 yards later, finally figured they had a keeper, I guess. (I will totally miss that dude.)
A quarter of the bonus still went toward the 2004 cap, aleviating the hit and finances of the Pats a bit in 2005.

Julio is right about RFA, but it's important to note that your RFAs become UFAs after the draft. So if you want to resign them without competition, you need to do it before the draft.

[Cotton]

Also, am I costing my team money for the current year by re-signing these players that have the current season listed in the first year of a deal?

Yes. Your bonuses will show up in the balance sheet for this season, not next. You'll see that and all your costs and profits after the season is officially over.

[HungryB]

I don't know if this is the same thing or not but..

I thought I resigned some guys during the time we could during the playoffs.. now these guys are showing up as UFA and some dont show a end contract when I thought I resigned them, do I have to send another offer or whats going on? Im clueless.