Is "veteran holdouts" feature this broken? Or am I doing it wrong?

[ironsickel]

So in my single player campaign, I'm in the middle of a ridiculous run. I've been to the playoffs 18 times in a row, with 14 Bowl appearances, winning 10 of them.

Seven of those bowl wins came at the hands of my retired legend, Connor Hassell (since elected to HOF and retired jersey). Dude was a stud 82/82 OVR.
Tried like hell to find a suitable qb replacement for him, but couldn't find anybody better than low 40s.

Connor retired.

Enter Earl Knutzen, undrafted QB.
http://i.imgur.com/6yowCEu.jpg
I'll let the pictures tell the story followed by embellishment/bloviating below the pix, but basically, he's held out 3 different times in his career. He's got a current 100 mil deal with cap hit of $22mil this year and HE'S STILL HOLDING OUT! Am I enabling this dude? Or is he just F-ing with me?
http://i.imgur.com/9ArXfDM.jpg
Passing Stats:
http://imgur.com/Wyd9YzR.jpg
Quite the rushing QB too:
http://imgur.com/HeJprQM.jpg
His current demands:
http://imgur.com/3w9WVYV.jpg

Longer story:
He ended up taking over the franchise in his 3rd season and leading the team to another Bowl victory, despite only having a 23/42 OVR rating that year (2037)
So of course, he held out the next offseason, as expected. He wasn't asking for much, so I figured I'd help the dude out and gave him his requested $35.94 mil/4yr deal.
2038 season he gets hurt, only playing in 10 games but still leading team to Bowl, but losing.

2039 did not see a bowl appearance, but he managed to win League MVP, Offensive player of year and all-league 1st team quarterback.

So, with 2 years remaining on his deal, he held out. This time, he was asking for a big boy contract. At first I thought about letting him walk, but I still didn't have a suitable replacement for him and I couldn't bare to let a dude with that kinda season get away, so I enabled him a second time and gave him a 5 year 104.5 million (with 35 mil guaranteed) contract. Figured I'd go all in on the guy and see what happened, ratings be damned.

2040 was a pedestrian year, although he also led the team in rushing.

then, in 2041 and 2042 he wins back to back bowl games, winning bowl MVP both times.

So here I am, beginning of 2043 season and once again, with 2 years left on his current contract, he's holding out again.

Funny part is, I'm wondering if the contract AI is smart enough to realize that I've finally managed to draft his replacement. Because he's not asking for more annual salary, per se, but an additional year on his contract.

I'm however, done with the guy. As a President once said, fool me twice, won't get fooled again. Or something like that.

God I love this game.

PS--should I have handled things differently? I got 2 more Bowl wins out of him, so I regret nothing. But it would be cool if there's a lesson to be learned here.

[Julio Riddols]

The dude was performing at an outstanding level, I think you got what you paid for. Ratings don't always tell the story, especially when there is this kind of consistent production to back it up.

[stevew]

What is the salary cap? Also he only really wants an extra 3M over the next two years. Not that awful

[ironsickel]

What is the salary cap? Also he only really wants an extra 3M over the next two years. Not that awful

Salary Cap was $290mil. And if it was "only for an extra 3 mil...why bother holding out? Hehe.

And yeah, it wasn't that big of a deal, but as a principled GM, I was taking a stand. This dude had already held out on two separate previous occasions. The third time was the last straw. Particularly since, yet again, he had two years left on his deal.

So, I decided to take a principled stand and did not enable this bully again. Good ole Earl held out for the first 7 games of the regular season until he finally came back. By then, I had made the decision to sit him for the rest of the regular season. Teach him a lesson.

Well, he showed me. Dude retired at the end of the season, after 9 years in the league at the age of 31. Jerk still had a year left on his deal. I didn't even get the satisfaction of cutting him. :)

[ironsickel]

The dude was performing at an outstanding level, I think you got what you paid for. Ratings don't always tell the story, especially when there is this kind of consistent production to back it up.

No regrets. I would have gladly paid him his money, had he not annoyed me by bailing on his contract 2 years early...twice. Holding out in the last year of the deal doesn't really bug me. But holding out with 2 years. Come on man! That's bush league. Bush!

But yeah, he was able to lean on the running game and my fantastic WR corps for great personal gain. And hey, my franchise is three rings richer because of it.