Contracts & Franchising

[Dirkki]

Hello from a Finnish noob.

I have a few questions I would hope to get an answer.

Regarding the contracts. I have a bunch of players on their last year of contract. When should I resign them, if I want to keep them for the next season? After the end of the season or during the current season?

Second question is about franchising a player. I don't really understand this concept. When should I use this option and why?

[QuikSand]

Franchising - this is a sort of "last chance" option to retain a player whose contract has expired, but you really want to retain. Applying the "franchise tag" means you keep him on a one year contract, equal to the top 5 at his position, rather than letting him become an available free agent. In general, it makes the player a bit unhappy (he'd rather cash in for a big long term deal) but if it's your only way to keep an important player, it can make sense. It's user sparingly in the real NFL, and probably isn't wise to overuse in FOF either.

For general contract renewals, timing matters a bit, too. In FOF, you can negotiate any contract that wasn't signed/renegotiated during the current season -- so, once per year. The "salary" for that year, however, essentially counts out like game checks, so it counts against the salary cap in weekly increments. This usually means two main ways to approach it. If you need the cap space right away to sign other players, renegotiate early (like at the start of free agency, in the offseason) to get the maximum effect on the cap right away. If your main goal is to extend the contract rather than free up cap space, then it might be better to wait until later in the season - this way you can avoid paying out a large bonus to a player who then gets seriously injured, loses value in training camp, or the like.

Hope that helps. Welcome to FOFC and to FOF.

[Dirkki]

Thanks, that helps a lot.

Still about existing contracts. I'm worried, that if I wait with renegotiation's the players will be released as FA's.

Are the players in last year of their contract released as FA immediately, when I hit End Season button?

[Sharkn20]

Thanks, that helps a lot.

Still about existing contracts. I'm worried, that if I wait with renegotiation's the players will be released as FA's.

Are the players in last year of their contract released as FA immediately, when I hit End Season button?

You´ve one last chance to Franchise one of they in Ticket Stage...

Unless they´re less than 5 years in the league who become RFAs and you have the rights until FA12 ends

[QuikSand]

Thanks, that helps a lot.

Still about existing contracts. I'm worried, that if I wait with renegotiation's the players will be released as FA's.

Are the players in last year of their contract released as FA immediately, when I hit End Season button?

I'll try to answer this a little more directly...

If you have a player on contract for the current season, and you have enough cap space to afford the renegotiation/extension you have in mind -- then you have all the way until the last stage (title game) to do the renegotiation. Assuming you do so, he will be on the extended contract after you have his "End Season" and moved into the next offseason. You will still have him on your team, under contract, all yours.

If you don't extend the contract, and he's listed (in the next year) as having at being in at least his 5th year in the league, he will become an unrestricted free agent. He will still appear on your roster until he signs a contract elsewhere, or until training camp. During that time, your team gets an edge in signing him, a function of his "loyalty" rating (though it's tough to know how much this matters) but he is fair game for anyone to pursue with a contract offer.

For younger players (in year 4 or less), if they were on your team the year before, and no longer have a contract, no other team can make an offer to them until after training camp. That's a simplified approximation of "restricted free agency" which is more complicated in the NFL, but similarly gives the initial team a first shot to extend younger players' contracts.

[Dirkki]

Thanks a lot for the answers. Those cleared the contracts for me.

Nice to see this game still going strong. Last time I played FOF was in late 90's if I remember correctly.

[Nefaro]

Another thing to keep in mind when they end up going to Free Agency is that their salary demands often lower.

Usually when re-signing them near the end of a season, they seem to ask for a lot of money, whereas the ones I've let go to the bidding of free agency don't ask for as much. Especially if other teams don't take much interest in him and there are other higher-rated players in the FA at his position.

Their loyalty rating may only affect their demands when they're reached free agency and they may just demand more than they normally would during any non-FA re-negotiations. Whatever is happening, it can often be cheaper to wait and bid on them in FA but that doesn't guarantee they'll take your offer of course.

[Andreh]

Usually when re-signing them near the end of a season, they seem to ask for a lot of money

So basically if you have a player that you dont want to risk to FA and have the cap room for it, is always cheaper to renegotiate at the start of the season than at the end?

In other words, is there any advantage of waiting the end season to give a raise, as the salary is paid weekly and not upfront?

[Firefly]

Another thing to keep in mind when they end up going to Free Agency is that their salary demands often lower.

Usually when re-signing them near the end of a season, they seem to ask for a lot of money, whereas the ones I've let go to the bidding of free agency don't ask for as much. Especially if other teams don't take much interest in him and there are other higher-rated players in the FA at his position.

Their loyalty rating may only affect their demands when they're reached free agency and they may just demand more than they normally would during any non-FA re-negotiations. Whatever is happening, it can often be cheaper to wait and bid on them in FA but that doesn't guarantee they'll take your offer of course.

Is that so in the new version? It didn't use to be like that, although a player's demands could change based on starts/playing time.

[TroyF]

Another thing to keep in mind when they end up going to Free Agency is that their salary demands often lower.

Usually when re-signing them near the end of a season, they seem to ask for a lot of money, whereas the ones I've let go to the bidding of free agency don't ask for as much. Especially if other teams don't take much interest in him and there are other higher-rated players in the FA at his position.

Their loyalty rating may only affect their demands when they're reached free agency and they may just demand more than they normally would during any non-FA re-negotiations. Whatever is happening, it can often be cheaper to wait and bid on them in FA but that doesn't guarantee they'll take your offer of course.

I've had decent success saving a little bit of money with the franchise tag. I had a stud DL who wanted 15 million a year for 5 years to reup with me both before FA and in the middle of his last year under contract. As he was in his 9th year, I really didn't want to go that high. I franchised him and then inked a deal with him for 11 million a year for 4 years. Ended up saving well over 20 million in guaranteed money. This guy had a 100 loyalty rating. Not sure if that had anything to do with it or not.

I generally try to make my biggest decisions in the during the opening round of FA. See who I have coming up next year. I might resign some guys, release some guys or let them become a FA. Either way, I then know about my cap situation for the following year and can make smart decisions about FA.

[molson]

I franchised a guy with full intention of signing him long-term during the start of free agency. So I accepted his offer, but then hit "cancel", just so I coulc record the bonus I was paying him (I was trying to keep track of bonus money I spent that year). Went I went to accept his offer again, he wouldn't sign because of past injustices. Damn it. It's my fault, I've seen this kind of thing pop up on FOF before (like you make a trade offer but then hit cancel when the other side agrees - they might not agree to the same terms again). Hopefully he'll get the fuck over it by next free agency period. Or maybe he'll blow out his knee and I'll consider myself lucky

[Nefaro]

Is that so in the new version? It didn't use to be like that, although a player's demands could change based on starts/playing time.

In my experience with FOF7, it can vary. I'm sure the Loyalty rating will have some effect, I'm just not sure exactly when or by how much. This may be more pronounced when you let them go to Free Agency next year; that could be why I'm seeing some who lower their demands. Notably if they're not the highest rated FA at their position.

It's easier on the wallet to re-sign them near the end of the season in general, but I've also found that if a player is having their best year yet stat-wise, then they will demand a lot more if you negotiate later in the season. So that may give some argument to renewing their contract early in the season if you think they're gonna be cranking out some nice numbers.

I generally only try to renew contracts during the season on some of my best players. I tend to save some contract money on the rest if I let them go to Free Agency and bid on them fairly early. The other teams will be in bidding wars for the best FAs early on, so if you just want to keep these guys for keeping your team together (Cohesion) then you can often do so on better terms. Unless they were angry in the first place, but if that's the case then they'll make a crazy demand either way. Even if you happen to lose one of these guys early in FA, there are often others as good or better in that position still up for grabs. This shouldn't be the case if it's just your regulars that you're re-signing early.

[fflix]

is there a limit to how many times a player can be franchised, is it a one time designation or can it be used in consecutive years?

[QuikSand]

is there a limit to how many times a player can be franchised, is it a one time designation or can it be used in consecutive years?

It can be done more than once, but:

-price tag escalates 20% (more than the base from other players)

-he will get irritated, and may hold out and even be unwilling to renegotiate

...so it's a possibility, but only in a dire situation to most of us.

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

Franchised this guy for six straight years because he refused to sign an extension with me. Never once held out. I can only imagine what ESPN would say if this actually happened for real.

The sixth time I was in cap trouble so I had to cut him loose. One of my favorite players. He sure was good at catching the ball out of the backfield :)

After I cut him loose he signed for pennies on the dollar with Jacksonville. Played a half season then retired. Clearly he was missing our dysfunctional relationship. I think I was George Steinbrenner to his Billy Martin lol

http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/u665/lastwhitesoxfanstanding/ScreenShot2014-09-21at22555PM_zps4196b8c9.png (http://s1327.photobucket.com/user/lastwhitesoxfanstanding/media/ScreenShot2014-09-21at22555PM_zps4196b8c9.png.html)

http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/u665/lastwhitesoxfanstanding/ScreenShot2014-09-21at22618PM_zpsc689356c.png (http://s1327.photobucket.com/user/lastwhitesoxfanstanding/media/ScreenShot2014-09-21at22618PM_zpsc689356c.png.html)

http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/u665/lastwhitesoxfanstanding/ScreenShot2014-09-21at22607PM_zpsa12163f4.png (http://s1327.photobucket.com/user/lastwhitesoxfanstanding/media/ScreenShot2014-09-21at22607PM_zpsa12163f4.png.html)

[crusher78]

Wow, that was an incredible career...32 all-purpose TD's in 2028.

[garion333]

SIX tags?!? Wow. That's impressive.

[Firefly]

I just had a player whose demands went up sometime after TC... but then went down again during the regular season. My impression is it can go either way at any time after TC.

[The Orange Man]

A comment on renegotiations.

Yes, there are advantages to doing it early or doing it late but I took a look at all of the league transactions for my previous season as it ended and as far as the AI is concerned, it only renegotiated during Stage 1 of the FA period.

There were three exceptions and these were for contract holdouts.

Makes me think that in the interest of fairness, I am going to limit myself to the same restriction and only allow renegotiations in Stage 1.

[Dutch]

I would like to see Franchise Tags limited each season. First 5 get it....using a waiver wire sorting...just to keeps its use in line with NFL use.

[stevew]

I'd like to see it implemented more correctly. 1st tag is 120% of previous cap # or the tag amount. Next year is 120% of previous tag. Third is 144% of previous year or QB Tag #

Or something to this effect IRL

[AlexB]

Is that so in the new version? It didn't use to be like that, although a player's demands could change based on starts/playing time.

Some things are definitely different in FOF7. I had Ryan Tannehill hold out for a five year contract worth > $10m/year after going 4-12 and posting a 72.9 passer rating and 27/45 scouted rating.

Unsurprisingly I wasn't that keen on this idea, so let him hold out as he was going to FA at the end of the season and signed Colt McCoy who led us to the AFC Championship game (!).

In previous FOF versions Tannehill would have cited past injustices, but after clearly eating a bit of humble pie, he was happy from EFA2 to discuss a new deal: 2 years $1.9m, including $80k signing bonus, which I took him up on.

I've never seen someone go from what must have been $60m/5 yrs to $2m/2 years before in FOF.

Obviously the end of the tale is McCoy held out the following season (but only until ExWk3), but he also got short shrift as I only had $2m cap room to play with and not sure he's not worth $49m/4 years anyway - on the one hand he's only 34/38, but 97.4 regular season passer rating, 101.4 in two playoff games, 19-9 record. He's locked in for this year and next for $2m/year, but if he keeps winning he might get a decent deal as there almost certainly won't be any better FA/rookies picking late in the draft.

[aston217]

I had a guy who I had to tag two years in a row. He did cite past injustices and refused to sign an extension. The next offseason, same story once FA hit.

However, the very stage he wanted to sign -- I believe it was Stage 5 -- he dropped it. He was willing to consider an offer all of a sudden, and accepted mine.

However, I don't know how new this is. I saw at least one player in FOF2k7 who ended a holdout, but actually got re-signed somehow the next offseason. So I don't think "past injustices" is always necessarily game over. Though often, it is; or at least, you don't get another crack before someone steals them for good.

[stevew]

Some things are definitely different in FOF7. I had Ryan Tannehill hold out for a five year contract worth > $10m/year after going 4-12 and posting a 72.9 passer rating and 27/45 scouted rating.

Unsurprisingly I wasn't that keen on this idea, so let him hold out as he was going to FA at the end of the season and signed Colt McCoy who led us to the AFC Championship game (!).

In previous FOF versions Tannehill would have cited past injustices, but after clearly eating a bit of humble pie, he was happy from EFA2 to discuss a new deal: 2 years $1.9m, including $80k signing bonus, which I took him up on.

I've never seen someone go from what must have been $60m/5 yrs to $2m/2 years before in FOF.

Obviously the end of the tale is McCoy held out the following season (but only until ExWk3), but he also got short shrift as I only had $2m cap room to play with and not sure he's not worth $49m/4 years anyway - on the one hand he's only 34/38, but 97.4 regular season passer rating, 101.4 in two playoff games, 19-9 record. He's locked in for this year and next for $2m/year, but if he keeps winning he might get a decent deal as there almost certainly won't be any better FA/rookies picking late in the draft.

Had similar thing happen with a 30/30 Kyle Orton. Started yr 1, then wanted an adjustment. I think I gave it to him, can't remember. Maybe I didn't, though. He came back, gave me injustices and wanted a fat deal. The next season he hit FA with huge dreams(iirc it was 3/24ish) By FA 2, though, I was able to get him on somethin realistic. 2/4ish.

Regardless it was a neat new wrinkle I hadn't seen.