Questions about contract negotiations

[Cole]

Maybe this is something about football contract negotiations that I don't understand... but I'm in the 2020-2021 season and the Bowl game is about to be played (I am not in it) ... I have several key players with expiring contracts after this season, so I want to try to extend them..

When I bring up their "Negotiate salary" page it is making me offer them a salary for future years, but also for the year we are currently in.. including the bonus...

The year is basically over.. should I not be able to offer them a contract only for the following season(s)?

And then once I click "End season" I am no longer able to offer contracts to my expiring guys.. So I'm a bit confused when it is I'm supposed to offer contract extensions?

Or is it not possible to give a guy an extension without giving him a raise and new contract in the current season as well (even if it's pretty much over) ?

[aston217]

This is a contract renegotiation. The salary in the current year may be adjusted from what it already was (it doesn't *have* to be a raise, but often is).

There will be additional bonus that will count partially against the current year. That's the nature of signing bonuses. They are paid in full immediately (and show up that way on the income sheet) and their cap impact is spread out evenly over the years of the deal.

[Cole]

This is a contract renegotiation. The salary in the current year may be adjusted from what it already was (it doesn't *have* to be a raise, but often is).

There will be additional bonus that will count partially against the current year. That's the nature of signing bonuses. They are paid in full immediately (and show up that way on the income sheet) and their cap impact is spread out evenly over the years of the deal.

Ahh ok, pardon my ignorance.. My main sport (both in general life and in a simulation management game standpoint) is baseball and when you offer someone an extension in a baseball game it's always for the NEXT year and those after it, not the season you are currently in.

Am I then to assume such a contract isn't possible in football/NFL .. that any contract extension must also include new terms for the current year as well?

I haven't tested this myself, but I wonder if the AI takes into consideration the time of year I'm asking... I mean if a superstar actually made say $2 million in the current year and I offer him an extension right before the Super Bowl, it doesn't make much sense that all of a sudden he should expect I am going to pay him $10 million instead for the current year when we are already done playing..

[aston217]

Yeah, I'm not entirely sure this is how it works in the NFL, either -- it's just how it works in the game. It seems to me that NFL teams sometimes get a "first crack" at their free agents with expired contracts, where there's a brief period where the two sides can come together or the player can decide to test the market.

Here, that only happens with young players who are restricted FAs. Otherwise, they always end up on the open market.

Contract demands can change over the course of a season, but I don't think this is a very deep aspect of the game. It can reflect big changes in player stock (for example, if they suddenly start a lot of games) but won't take into consideration how many games have already been played.

[Dutch]

Contract extensions are not a part of FOF, only renegotiations.

The UI does take into account the time of year. Salaries are based on the 17 regular season games and post-season play is essentially played "for free" and thus all salaries for that year have already been paid. All renegotiations for that season after the last regular season game will only include the bonus money addition while no base-salary changes will be made (IRT the cap).

From the Help File...

Contracts which reduce the player's salary once the regular season has begun may not fit under the cap even if the cap cost of the proposal is less than the cap value available. This is because contracts are paid out each week.

For example, if a player is making a salary of $1.7 million, or $100,000 per week (the season has 17 weeks), and you are renegotiating in week 15, $1.5 million of that salary has already been paid, and will still count under the cap.

So, if you renegotiate him down to $1,020,000, or $60,000 per week, this will only reduce the contract by $40,000 per week, and you will only save $80,000 under the cap. Since any bonus still would apply to the current year, you might not be able to keep a new offer under the cap under these conditions.