Uh-oh. A new twist on holdouts.

[Ben E Lou]

So, my stud SLB decides to hold out on me in the final year of his rookie contract. I knew that my team could probably make the playoffs with him on the bench and then rusty in the early season, so I decide to wait it out. He makes me sweat a bit, not signing until Week 2 of the regular season. He goes on to register 88 tackles in fifteen games, another very strong season. We lose in the Conference Championship game, and I go to extend his contract. Uh-oh. It appears he was pretty pissed at me for not anteing up.






I'm guessing his wife is named Marcee, huh?


Seriously, this adds yet another layer to the decision-making process on holdouts. This guy will be entering only his fifth season, so continually franchising him isn't really an option, due to that 120% rule. I'd imagine he'll be franchised next season, then I'll try to franchise and trade in year 6.

I LOVE this game!!!!

[stevew]

IIRC, in '04 holdout's usually would give you the past injustices message if you don't try to sign them before camp. The 120% rule is a neat twist to the situation however. It should add quite a bit to MP especially.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by stevew

IIRC, in '04 holdout's usually would give you the past injustices message if you don't try to sign them before camp.

Heh. Interesting. I never saw it happen, although I didn't have that many holdouts with FOF2K4.

[Ksyrup]

I'm playing the Lions in my career right now, and Brian Calhoun and Roy Williams have both developed into absolute studs. With 2 years left on their deals, I franchised James Hall the DE, thinking I would renegotiate with him that year and Calhoun, leaving Williams for the franchise designation (or vice versa, if one of them held out). Wrong. I got Hall at a decent figure, but both Calhoun AND Williams held out on me going into their final years. I ended up caving in and now Williams, in particular, has a monstrous cap figure. But he's nearly maxed out and I'm still doing well, so it's worth it.

[MizzouRah]

The more I play, the more I see little things like this here and there. I also don't mind Jim letting us discover these things for ourselves.

I love the summer league option, but at first I was unsure whom I should send. First year I sent a lowly potentially rated guy to see if maybe he could develop into something... next time I think I'll send a more promising 2 year player.

[RedKingGold]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

Heh. Interesting. I never saw it happen, although I didn't have that many holdouts with FOF2K4.

On that note, I've seen holdouts happen with greater frequency in FOF2K7.

Also, it used to be roughly automatic that these holdouts would end once the regular season begins. Now, I'm seeing some players hold out well into the regular season costing their teams games. Specifically, one all-stud QB held out til week 10 before he ended his holdout and his team sputtered to a 3-7 start. When he came back, the team won the rest of their games and made a strong showing in the playoffs until losing in the conference championships.

I heart this game.

[dbd1963]

I had a guy hold out until the playoffs. I had forgotten about him by then.

[kcchief19]

Has anyone had success trading franchised players? I had a DE that I franchised because I didn't have the cap space at to extend his contract. I went to renegotiate and he was already pissed I franchised him and gave me the ol' horse face. I franchised him a second time planning to trade him, but didn't get a single offer. Granted, he was in his ninth season, but he was still a top-rated DE, about 68/68. I would have settled for a late round pick at that point, but no takers. I'm assuming the AI teams see the cap number and freak out.

I also had my veteran middle linebacker hold out on me one season. He had been with me for a while and was generally signed to a pretty cheap deal. He put up more than 100 tackles every year but one. He was getting near the end of the road and I didn't want to extend him, but I had gone out and spent a fortune on a free agent running back and wide out to try and go for the Super Bowl. I decided to call his bluff, figuring he would eventually give in. Up to that point, everyone I'd had hold out caved before the start of the season. Not this guy. I found myself at 3-3 in week six with my defense struggling and decided I had to give in and gave him his contract. Ugh.

[kingfc22]

Originally Posted by stevew

IIRC, in '04 holdout's usually would give you the past injustices message if you don't try to sign them before camp. The 120% rule is a neat twist to the situation however. It should add quite a bit to MP especially.

Can someone explain to me the 120% rule?

[Pyser]

if you are tagged for a 2nd consecutive year, you make either the top 5 average at your position, or a 120% raise - whichever is greater.

keeps going like that every consecutive year you tag someone.

[mrsimperless]

So if you franchise a guy is he automatically pissed at you or is there a certain time limit you have to negotiate a "real" contract with him where he won't be upset if you are able to do so? Like say, before training camp starts?

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

Granted, he was in his ninth season, but he was still a top-rated DE, about 68/68. I would have settled for a late round pick at that point, but no takers. I'm assuming the AI teams see the cap number and freak out.

I have tried to trade quite a bit, and in my estimation, the poison pill for AI trading is the years in. I have had a very difficult time trading players past their 8th year. I am sure there is some sort of sliding cap vs exp scale, but I can trade guys with huge cap figures in their 5th year, just not the long term vets.

[Ben E Lou]

Update. I franchised this jerk to keep him around the following year. We get to FA-2...

Originally Posted by In-game E-mail

From: Robbie Cox

I have decided to hold out until I receive a new contract.

Being the team's franchise player unfairly limits my income, and I will not report to camp until I have a multi-year deal.

Of course, he won't sign, due to past injustices.


Jerk.


Lovin' it.

[SunDevil]

So how are you suppose to sign this guy, if he won't sign because of past injustices?

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by SunDevil

So how are you suppose to sign this guy, if he won't sign because of past injustices?

You Jermiah Trotter him!

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by SunDevil

So how are you suppose to sign this guy, if he won't sign because of past injustices?

Well, the lesson to be learned here is that if a guy has Loyalty=19 BEFORE he holds out, it isn't a good idea to try to string him along. I definitely dug this hole myself, by trying to play this out like I would have in FOF2K4.

[AZSpeechCoach]

Change him to a punter and cut his ass!

[DolphinFan1]

I just had my starting RDE holdout because he was franchised. Well, I had two starting caliber LDE on my roster. I moved one to RDE, (Only a small experience hit), now that sucker can hold out all he wants.

I love this game. I never would have moved that other guy if this one hadn't held out.

Of course you do know, someone is now due to get a season ending injury. It just has to happen.

[NYURDRMS]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

Has anyone had success trading franchised players? I had a DE that I franchised because I didn't have the cap space at to extend his contract. I went to renegotiate and he was already pissed I franchised him and gave me the ol' horse face. I franchised him a second time planning to trade him, but didn't get a single offer. Granted, he was in his ninth season, but he was still a top-rated DE, about 68/68. I would have settled for a late round pick at that point, but no takers. I'm assuming the AI teams see the cap number and freak out.

I also had my veteran middle linebacker hold out on me one season. He had been with me for a while and was generally signed to a pretty cheap deal. He put up more than 100 tackles every year but one. He was getting near the end of the road and I didn't want to extend him, but I had gone out and spent a fortune on a free agent running back and wide out to try and go for the Super Bowl. I decided to call his bluff, figuring he would eventually give in. Up to that point, everyone I'd had hold out caved before the start of the season. Not this guy. I found myself at 3-3 in week six with my defense struggling and decided I had to give in and gave him his contract. Ugh.

I agree with everybody that the new holdout logic and the 120% rule are very nice additions, however I am very frustrated with a RB that I traded for. Gave up two first round picks for a Stud RB in his 3rd year. Well he had a phenominal year his 3rd year with me and held out going into the 4th year, the final of his rookie contract. I also didn't give in and he ended up playing. I have since franchised him 3 times and his cap figure is very high now.

The problem I have is the logic for the AI trading. I have no GM that wants to take on his high salary, however, he is willing to renegotiate to a 1/6th of his current salary for a long term deal. I think this is a flaw in the game, as if I were going to trade for this guy I would realize that I wouldn't be taking on the huge hit of the salary and he would renegotiate. The AI doesn't seem to recognize this. This RB is still one of the top in the league going into his 7th season and has consistantly turned out 1600-1700 yards/season. Doesn't seem right.

[MizzouRah]

I have my best team yet and now Willis McGahee wants to holdout on me and will not accept ANY contract due to me franchising him for 3 years.

Glad I drafted a HB this year. !!

I assume there's a chance he'll play.. I mean he's only getting $7.5 million this year. If he doesn't play, do I still pay him?