Signing Rookies

[Hammer]

I've managed to work out that when given four options (the first few rounds) rookies prefer the high paid 3 year contract, and least prefer the low paid 4 year contract. But whats their 2nd choice, low paid 3 year or high paid 4 year? Or do I just need to get out more? ;)

Secondly, whats the attitude to signing guys that want bonuses, midway in the draft. I'm finding these guys barely deserve a spot on my roster, yet because they want a bonus it tends to hurt a bit if things don't work out and you want to waive them. At the moment I'm inclined not to waste the bonus money and just become particularly active at the mid to bottom end of the FA market, where guys are available cheap and don't want bonus money. Thoughts? Yeah, I know, get out more ;)

[flere-imsaho]

On your first question, in my experience it's a toss-up. Generally-speaking players go for the bigger bonus, but I think the difference between the 2nd & 3rd options with regard to how likely they are to sign the contract, is hair-splitting.

Your second question is a little more complicated. Depending on the draft class in question, I sometimes find that by the 4th or 5th round the quality of guys available roughly approximates what I'm going to find in the FA pool. In really terrible draft classes this can even start in the 3rd round, and in great draft classes I can still find decent picks until the 7th.

However, if you reach this point, I think you have 3 options:

1. Trade away those picks. If this is MP, there may be an owner or two who still needs picks in those rounds, for whatever reason, and a straight trade may work. If this is SP, it's generally easy to do a straight trade.

2. Draft random guys and cut them immediately (i.e. before they sign a contract). Immediately after you draft the guy, click the "Team Roster" button and cut him. It's sad, of course, but you're not going to use him anyway.

3. Draft guys with higher "current" ratings and sky-high volatility. A total gamble. Occasionally one of these guys will boom immediately after the draft, and now you have a guy who's worth signing to that contract. If he doesn't boom, just cut him before offering him a contract. I say high "current" ratings because even if a low-current/high-future guy booms, it's likely he'll still have crap current ratings and it may take years for him to fill a decent spot on your team. If that's OK with your current team, though, it can be worth it.

Generally I prefer Option #1, then #3, then #2.

[wishbone]

When I get to the point that the players all start looking the same and they all suck, I start looking for high volatility and one great rating. Usually I end up with inactive fodder, sometimes I get a very good situational guy and once I had a FS who started for 3 years and picked off 20 passes before signing for big money elsewhere.

[Cotton]

It's the most annoying part of the game for me. Signing rookies usually the most common thing I delegate to the scouts. Sometimes (well, a lot of times), I think, a holdout is a blessing in disguise. Gives you a chance to do the 'injustice' before training camp and move on with your lives. It's annoying as hell to have some mediocre or inexperienced guy disgruntled, unhappy, or angry for three years as a back up to one of your best players.

Great insight from wishbone and flere. And a good question from Hammer. And I should get out more, too.

[stevew]

I recently started a career, and decided beforehand that I was willing to have a player hold out through the first 2 weeks of the regular season if I could get him to ink the longer, more expensive contract(option 2) instead of the short expensive one. After about 10 years, I've been able to get most guys inked in preseason, with maybe 2 of 10 not signed until week 3(and the expensive contract). The 5th, or 6th(top 11) year of the contract is very important to get, especially for expensive positions like DE/T/QB/RB. Figure if you have a bad year, and nab a RB in the top 11, 6 years is about all the time that he will actually be very very good....at that point you can franchise him maybe one or two times, and then let him go. If my pick is in the teens, I almost always try to trade into the top 11, just for the longer contract.

[WebEwbank]

I hadn't realized that about the top 11 picks. I want my front office to sign everyone, and I let them have first shot, but when they don't, I quicklly go manual, siogn the laggards and then reset to autosign. I absolutely feel that I need to know my precise signing budget post-draft because the holdouts are often the most expensive (and best) picks, and I don't want to sign several mid-tier FAs, then have to cut someone decent to sign a rookie late in the process....

Thoughts on ways to circumvent this pain & uncertainty ?