View Full Version : New Season Test
I've started a new season, and I'm going to track the salary caps for all teams in this thread over the course of the years. I will also do my best to point out anything that appears strange. To handicap myself I chose New Orleans with an uneven economic playing field. Salary cap is the default, and the injuries are at 200, difficulty Wall Street. I did a full draft, but let my scout choose the entire team. I will draft my own rookies in each draft after this. I will sign my own free agents. My next post is the current salary cap situation at the beginning of season 1.
Joker
12-20-2006, 03:27 PM
Pass the popcorn I wanna see how this plays out!
Note: Many solid players after the draft on 1 year contracts. These should be renegotiated now but since AI doesn't, I wont either. I will only renegotiate contracts in new years like the AI does.
Key:Room Under = RoomU, Cap used next year = CapUsedNY, Human = (H)
Current Salary Cap: $102,000,000
Team: -----Current Year----- / --------Next Year--------- / Record this year / Record last year
----------------------------------------------------------
ARI: RoomU:$10.56M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$65.46M, Lost: $0 / 11W - 5L - 0T
ATL: RoomU:$11.41M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$86.28M, Lost: $0 / 4W - 12L - 0T
BAL: RoomU:$ 9.99M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$87.60M, Lost: $0 / 11W - 5L - 0T
BUF: RoomU:$13.04M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$89.93M, Lost: $0 / 5W - 11L - 0T
CAR: RoomU:$12.18M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$71.46M, Lost: $0 / 4W - 11L - 1T
CHI: RoomU:$12.56M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$81.03M, Lost: $0 / 2W - 14L - 0T
CIN: RoomU:$11.79M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$83.35M, Lost: $0 / 3W - 13L - 0T
CLE: RoomU:$10.78M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$87.36M, Lost: $0 / 7W - 8L - 1T
DAL: RoomU:$11.13M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$79.34M, Lost: $0 / 14W - 2L - 0T
DEN: RoomU:$12.65M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$83.51M, Lost: $0 / 13W - 3L - 0T
DET: RoomU:$10.75M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$82.63M, Lost: $0 / 9W - 7L - 0T
GBY: RoomU:$11.96M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$76.91M, Lost: $0 / 5W - 11L - 0T
HOU: RoomU:$13.51M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$60.06M, Lost: $0 / 6W - 10L - 0T
IND: RoomU:$11.88M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$79.28M, Lost: $0 / 5W - 11L - 0T
JAX: RoomU:$12.46M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$66.84M, Lost: $0 / 11W - 5L - 0T
KCY: RoomU:$14.07M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$86.53M, Lost: $0 / 5W - 11L - 0T
MIA: RoomU:$11.88M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$60.90M, Lost: $0 / 8W - 8L - 0T
MIN: RoomU:$11.23M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$72.62M, Lost: $0 / 11W - 5L - 0T
NED: RoomU:$10.55M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$74.49M, Lost: $0 / 10W - 6L - 0T
NJY: RoomU:$10.27M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$84.13M, Lost: $0 / 7W - 9L - 0T
NOS: RoomU:$10.85M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$82.71M, Lost: $0 / 8W - 8L - 0T (H)
NYK: RoomU:$13.12M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$66.45M, Lost: $0 / 10W - 6L - 0T
OAK: RoomU:$10.50M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$83.42M, Lost: $0 / 9W - 7L - 0T
PHI: RoomU:$13.13M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$83.59M, Lost: $0 / 5W - 11L - 0T
PIT: RoomU:$ 9.57M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$82.88M, Lost: $0 / 13W - 3L - 0T
SDO: RoomU:$12.06M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$80.75M, Lost: $0 / 6W - 10L - 0T
SFO: RoomU:$11.79M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$85.32M, Lost: $0 / 11W - 5L - 0T
SEA: RoomU:$12.31M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$84.60M, Lost: $0 / 7W - 9L - 0T
STL: RoomU:$11.60M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$87.34M, Lost: $0 / 7W - 9L - 0T
TBY: RoomU:$11.83M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$73.29M, Lost: $0 / 11W - 5L - 0T
TEN: RoomU:$12.53M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$76.10M, Lost: $0 / 10W - 6L - 0T
WAS: RoomU:$12.27M, Lost: $0 / CapUsedNY:$65.85M, Lost: $0 / 7W - 9L - 0T
Entering Year 2 here is what happened from FA / Retirements.
Note: Some teams lost a little cap space due to some minor retirements. In one case it was due to a QB retirement, but since we're still in the early years of the game the salary wasn't too high. One oddity, that I haven't been able to track down is that STL lost over $2M in cap space without a single player retiring. However, they are also missing thier #5 preference draft pick. I'm assuming he died during the season or something. I dont know if this happens, but it's the only logical explanation I can think of. I cant find this missing player on any team or in the free agent pool.
Key:Room Under = RoomU, Cap used next year = CapUsedNY, Human = (H), P = # of players
Current Salary Cap: $106,100,000
Team: ----------Current Year---------- / --------Next Year--------- / Record this year / Record last year
----------------------------------------------------------
ARI: RoomU:$48.57M, Lost: $4.90M, P:27 / CapUsedNY:$39.99M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 11W - 5L - 0T /
ATL: RoomU:$20.85M, Lost: $0.00M, P:35 / CapUsedNY:$45.08M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 4W - 12L - 0T /
BAL: RoomU:$18.66M, Lost: $0.00M, P:36 / CapUsedNY:$76.58M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 11W - 5L - 0T /
BUF: RoomU:$16.46M, Lost: $0.00M, P:32 / CapUsedNY:$52.54M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 5W - 11L - 0T /
CAR: RoomU:$36.15M, Lost: $0.57M, P:28 / CapUsedNY:$35.78M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 4W - 11L - 1T /
CHI: RoomU:$26.05M, Lost: $0.00M, P:32 / CapUsedNY:$51.52M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 2W - 14L - 0T /
CIN: RoomU:$23.35M, Lost: $0.00M, P:29 / CapUsedNY:$71.18M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 3W - 13L - 0T /
CLE: RoomU:$23.79M, Lost: $2.12M, P:31 / CapUsedNY:$42.64M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 7W - 8L - 1T /
DAL: RoomU:$27.30M, Lost: $0.00M, P:34 / CapUsedNY:$37.46M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 14W - 2L - 0T /
DEN: RoomU:$23.65M, Lost: $0.00M, P:32 / CapUsedNY:$77.98M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 13W - 3L - 0T /
DET: RoomU:$24.08M, Lost: $0.00M, P:31 / CapUsedNY:$60.37M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 9W - 7L - 0T /
GBY: RoomU:$30.76M, Lost: $0.00M, P:27 / CapUsedNY:$33.81M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 5W - 11L - 0T /
HOU: RoomU:$46.65M, Lost: $0.00M, P:26 / CapUsedNY:$52.73M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 6W - 10L - 0T /
IND: RoomU:$28.94M, Lost: $0.81M, P:33 / CapUsedNY:$30.80M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 5W - 11L - 0T /
JAX: RoomU:$41.50M, Lost: $0.81M, P:28 / CapUsedNY:$45.60M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 11W - 5L - 0T /
KCY: RoomU:$19.78M, Lost: $0.00M, P:34 / CapUsedNY:$61.18M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 5W - 11L - 0T /
MIA: RoomU:$45.35M, Lost: $0.00M, P:27 / CapUsedNY:$53.84M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 8W - 8L - 0T /
MIN: RoomU:$33.63M, Lost: $0.00M, P:33 / CapUsedNY:$55.14M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 11W - 5L - 0T /
NED: RoomU:$34.22M, Lost: $0.81M, P:31 / CapUsedNY:$35.82M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 10W - 6L - 0T /
NJY: RoomU:$29.10M, Lost: $3.73M, P:32 / CapUsedNY:$57.95M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 7W - 9L - 0T /
NOS: RoomU:$26.48M, Lost: $0.97M, P:35 / CapUsedNY:$43.09M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 8W - 8L - 0T / (H)
NYK: RoomU:$40.16M, Lost: $0.00M, P:32 / CapUsedNY:$41.86M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 10W - 6L - 0T /
OAK: RoomU:$25.85M, Lost: $1.63M, P:32 / CapUsedNY:$52.13M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 9W - 7L - 0T /
PHI: RoomU:$23.47M, Lost: $0.00M, P:32 / CapUsedNY:$57.83M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 5W - 11L - 0T /
PIT: RoomU:$26.05M, Lost: $1.63M, P:32 / CapUsedNY:$50.42M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 13W - 3L - 0T /
SDO: RoomU:$27.66M, Lost: $0.57M, P:28 / CapUsedNY:$34.47M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 6W - 10L - 0T /
SFO: RoomU:$23.96M, Lost: $0.32M, P:30 / CapUsedNY:$57.90M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 11W - 5L - 0T /
SEA: RoomU:$26.21M, Lost: $2.44M, P:30 / CapUsedNY:$72.28M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 7W - 9L - 0T /
STL: RoomU:$23.07M, Lost: $2.44M, P:32 / CapUsedNY:$49.99M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 7W - 9L - 0T /
TBY: RoomU:$32.89M, Lost: $0.00M, P:34 / CapUsedNY:$56.94M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 11W - 5L - 0T /
TEN: RoomU:$29.78M, Lost: $0.00M, P:33 / CapUsedNY:$61.36M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 10W - 6L - 0T /
WAS: RoomU:$48.00M, Lost: $3.09M, P:23 / CapUsedNY:$49.62M, Lost: $0 / --------------- / 7W - 9L - 0T /
Sef0r
12-20-2006, 09:25 PM
Missing player? Funny you should mention this because Carson Palmer was no longer with the Bengals in the 3rd Year of my SP game. I could not find him, not even in the Transaction logs, absolutely weird.
flere-imsaho
12-20-2006, 09:53 PM
Probably doing time, I should think.
Following the scout/coach selection and the ticket prices settings the computer released some scrub type players. There was no major impact on any team from this so I will continue to the next steps. Following stage 1 of the first free agent period the AI made many salary negotiations. I will make negotiations for my team and then post the updated financial situation here. 2 Notes Below.
Note: The AI overall made decent decisions in over 90% of it's signings, however, it made some specific very bad decisions. Check out the following 6 decisions. (#1) Baltimore resigned a 10th year SLB with ratings of 81/81 for 5 years and $66 Mil. The scary part is in the final year 2011 the contract costs the team $25 Mil for that season. Obviously, this player will be way past his prime at that point. (#2) Buffalo made the same mistake with a 9th year 83/83 RB. Same exact contract. Same exact huge final year. (#3) New England signed a 10th year NT with 68/68 stats for $43 Mil over 6 years. The contract was balanced, but signing a player into his 16th year for $7 Mill / year is insane. (#4) Jacksonville signed a 5 year contract for a 51/51 LT for $25 Mil. The final year in 2011 is $7 Mil. (#5) Oakland signed a 32/32 Year 7 QB for 19 Mil over 5 years. The final year is 5.5 Mil in 2011. In this situation it's not the age of the player that's appalling but the stats. I mean 5.5 mil for an aging 32/32. Something doesn't add up. (#6) Dallas signed a 9th year TE for $17.5 Mil over 6 years. The contract was balanced at $3 Mil per year, but this player will be a dog in 2012 probably. Seems like too long of a contract for this player.
Note 2: For my team, (NOS) I renegotiated 9 contracts for players who had contracts that we expiring in the next year mostly. In a couple cases I believe they went 2 years. All of these players were between years 3 and 7 in thier respective careers. The largest contract I signed was $26.5 Mil to my 3rd year star WR (FL). It was over 4 years with a fairly balanced 8-9 Mil yearly total value. I also resigned a (hopefully) backup QB (23/50) for a 1 year contract. All 3 of my QB's were on 1 year deals, but they were all no better than this guy. I'm hoping to get a stronger prospect from the draft. I have the 18th pick. There are 2 players I did not extend contracts to, and they will expire in 2007. My 9th year C, at 88/88. I will probably be forced to franchise him as he wants a 5 year $27 Mil deal which seems way too long for his length of time at his position. The other player is a 14th year 61/61 SLB. He only wants an extra year, but he wants more money in the current system as well, so there is no realistic deal to construct.
The least number of renogotiations was 4 by Washington, the most was 18 by Dallas. My 9 was definitely within the range of fairness.
Key:Room Under = RoomU, Cap used next year = CapUsedNY, Human = (H), P = # of players
Current Salary Cap: $106,100,000
Team: ----------Current Year---------- / -----------Next Year----------- / Record this year / Record last year
----------------------------------------------------------
ARI: RoomU:$38.42M, Lost: $4.90M, P:27 / CapUsedNY:$54.95M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
ATL: RoomU:$20.35M, Lost: $0.00M, P:34 / CapUsedNY:$81.75M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 4 W - 12L - 0T /
BAL: RoomU:$20.11M, Lost: $0.00M, P:34 / CapUsedNY:$96.37M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
BUF: RoomU:$22.38M, Lost: $0.16M, P:31 / CapUsedNY:$83.35M, Lost: $0.16M / --------------- / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
CAR: RoomU:$34.96M, Lost: $0.57M, P:26 / CapUsedNY:$66.20M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 4 W - 11L - 1T /
CHI: RoomU:$20.61M, Lost: $0.00M, P:32 / CapUsedNY:$75.47M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 2 W - 14L - 0T /
CIN: RoomU:$24.63M, Lost: $0.00M, P:26 / CapUsedNY:$86.24M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 3 W - 13L - 0T /
CLE: RoomU:$20.78M, Lost: $2.28M, P:27 / CapUsedNY:$75.41M, Lost: $0.16M / --------------- / 7 W - 8 L - 1T /
DAL: RoomU:$20.49M, Lost: $0.00M, P:31 / CapUsedNY:$77.04M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 14W - 2 L - 0T /
DEN: RoomU:$27.23M, Lost: $0.00M, P:32 / CapUsedNY:$93.60M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 13W - 3 L - 0T /
DET: RoomU:$13.72M, Lost: $0.00M, P:28 / CapUsedNY:$86.12M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 9 W - 7 L - 0T /
GBY: RoomU:$26.44M, Lost: $0.00M, P:26 / CapUsedNY:$69.26M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
HOU: RoomU:$35.82M, Lost: $0.00M, P:27 / CapUsedNY:$65.76M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 6 W - 10L - 0T /
IND: RoomU:$25.24M, Lost: $0.81M, P:33 / CapUsedNY:$73.95M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
JAX: RoomU:$35.63M, Lost: $0.81M, P:29 / CapUsedNY:$66.60M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
KCY: RoomU:$24.29M, Lost: $0.16M, P:33 / CapUsedNY:$88.63M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
MIA: RoomU:$45.76M, Lost: $0.16M, P:25 / CapUsedNY:$63.33M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 8 W - 8 L - 0T /
MIN: RoomU:$23.09M, Lost: $0.00M, P:33 / CapUsedNY:$75.28M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
NED: RoomU:$23.04M, Lost: $0.81M, P:30 / CapUsedNY:$68.40M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 10W - 6 L - 0T /
NJY: RoomU:$29.79M, Lost: $3.73M, P:27 / CapUsedNY:$73.18M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
NOS: RoomU:$30.64M, Lost: $0.97M, P:37 / CapUsedNY:$59.29M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / (H)
NYK: RoomU:$28.11M, Lost: $0.00M, P:31 / CapUsedNY:$68.76M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 10W - 6 L - 0T /
OAK: RoomU:$14.08M, Lost: $1.63M, P:31 / CapUsedNY:$82.15M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 9 W - 7 L - 0T /
PHI: RoomU:$21.74M, Lost: $0.00M, P:31 / CapUsedNY:$83.94M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
PIT: RoomU:$19.06M, Lost: $1.63M, P:30 / CapUsedNY:$79.95M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 13W - 3 L - 0T /
SDO: RoomU:$20.75M, Lost: $0.57M, P:28 / CapUsedNY:$71.84M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 6 W - 10L - 0T /
SFO: RoomU:$23.24M, Lost: $0.32M, P:29 / CapUsedNY:$84.51M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
SEA: RoomU:$32.51M, Lost: $2.60M, P:28 / CapUsedNY:$74.78M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
STL: RoomU:$22.75M, Lost: $2.44M, P:31 / CapUsedNY:$69.13M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
TBY: RoomU:$33.21M, Lost: $0.00M, P:34 / CapUsedNY:$75.23M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
TEN: RoomU:$20.82M, Lost: $0.00M, P:34 / CapUsedNY:$82.30M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 10W - 6 L - 0T /
WAS: RoomU:$39.44M, Lost: $3.09M, P:22 / CapUsedNY:$57.65M, Lost: $0.00M / --------------- / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
There are some trends to notice here. First of all, my team has the most players on it by default. I didn't release anyone, since it doesn't really make sense before the draft. Secondly, my cap used next year is almost the lowest of any team. Given that information, I should in theory get a low power ranking. We'll see how it turns out in reality though. I expect to be near the top, since the AI doesn't manage it's cap well at all.
A couple other things that stand out. Denver and Baltimore have over $90M already committed for next season with a salary cap of $110 million. They both will need 20 players each. So they will need 20 players with only $15 Mil of cap space, and who knows if they will lose more cap space from retires/releases next year. It will be interesting. I see this happen with winning teams a lot. They overuse thier cap space and blow up at some point. Both these teams have exceptional rosters. Denver has the #1 QB in the league. Baltimore has the #1 SLB, #1 LT, and the #3 SS stats wise in the entire league.
The other interesting thing is that Detroit and Oakland have to sign about 20 players for less than $15 Mil this year. Expect to see a huge number of rookies on these squads, given that 33% of thier cap is already commited to the draft. This doesn't mean they will be awful if they have good starters, but injuries could destroy them quickly.
The rest of the free agent stages proceeded as usual. Teams did the best they could to pick up good players I guess. My huge cap space allowed me to enhance my team greatly. I'm stacked in most places outside of QB. Keeping my fingers crossed about the draft. The average AI grabbed 3 decent FA's. I got 8 though. I dont think the AI goes for the FA's strong enough. I picked up 4 of the top 10 FA's according the Grey Sheet, if you exclude franchised players. I will analyze the teams after the rookie draft.
kamacdon
12-21-2006, 07:41 AM
An idea about the disappearing players - is it possible that they had career ending injuries and took an injury settlement? And the injury settlement ends up including the bonus money. Just a thought.
The rookie draft is complete. The AI traded a few picks around and made thier choices. I think I got my QB, although he hasn't signed his contract yet. At this point there are 3 teams with over $100 Mil in cap space used next year. Sounds like they are going to have problems. I will post all the cap space after the exhibition games since there shouldn't be any major changes to the teams during this time. If there is I will post it.
Regular season is underway and every team has 53 players. There is still 1 first round pick holding out. It's a DT drafted by Jacksonville. The cap used information is below.
Key:Room Under = RoomU, Cap used next year = CapUsedNY, Human = (H), P = # of players
Current Salary Cap: $106,100,000
Team: ----------Current Year---------- / -----------Next Year----------- / Record this year/ Record last year
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARI: RoomU:$17.15M, Lost: $5.08M, P:53 / CapUsedNY:$ 77.46M, Lost: $0.35M / 7 W - 9 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
ATL: RoomU:$ 4.45M, Lost: $0.16M, P:53 / CapUsedNY:$ 92.98M, Lost: $0.16M / 12W - 4 L - 0T / 4 W - 12L - 0T /
BAL: RoomU:$ 8.12M, Lost: $0.04M, P:53 / CapUsedNY:$106.32M, Lost: $0.04M / 7 W - 9 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
BUF: RoomU:$ 7.72M, Lost: $0.29M, P:55 / CapUsedNY:$ 90.33M, Lost: $0.51M / 7 W - 9 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
CAR: RoomU:$ 9.77M, Lost: $1.20M, P:53 / CapUsedNY:$ 91.06M, Lost: $0.00M / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 4 W - 11L - 1T /
CHI: RoomU:$ 4.27M, Lost: $0.00M, P:53 / CapUsedNY:$ 87.15M, Lost: $0.00M / 4 W - 12L - 0T / 2 W - 14L - 0T /
CIN: RoomU:$ 6.62M, Lost: $0.00M, P:54 / CapUsedNY:$ 95.44M, Lost: $0.00M / 4 W - 12L - 0T / 3 W - 13L - 0T /
CLE: RoomU:$ 4.76M, Lost: $2.31M, P:54 / CapUsedNY:$ 83.13M, Lost: $0.22M / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 7 W - 8 L - 1T /
DAL: RoomU:$ 4.77M, Lost: $0.16M, P:54 / CapUsedNY:$ 89.95M, Lost: $0.24M / 11W - 5 L - 0T / 14W - 2 L - 0T /
DEN: RoomU:$12.16M, Lost: $0.04M, P:54 / CapUsedNY:$104.23M, Lost: $0.01M / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 13W - 3 L - 0T /
DET: RoomU:$ 2.67M, Lost: $0.00M, P:53 / CapUsedNY:$ 92.42M, Lost: $0.00M / 6 W - 10L - 0T / 9 W - 7 L - 0T /
GBY: RoomU:$ 5.53M, Lost: $0.03M, P:53 / CapUsedNY:$ 86.31M, Lost: $0.06M / 10W - 6 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
HOU: RoomU:$19.83M, Lost: $0.00M, P:54 / CapUsedNY:$ 73.23M, Lost: $0.00M / 3 W - 13L - 0T / 6 W - 10L - 0T /
IND: RoomU:$11.15M, Lost: $1.10M, P:53 / CapUsedNY:$ 83.81M, Lost: $0.32M / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
JAX: RoomU:$18.12M, Lost: $0.81M, P:54 / CapUsedNY:$ 87.77M, Lost: $0.00M / 12W - 4 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
KCY: RoomU:$ 9.69M, Lost: $0.79M, P:54 / CapUsedNY:$101.34M, Lost: $1.26M / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
MIA: RoomU:$24.07M, Lost: $0.21M, P:54 / CapUsedNY:$ 82.41M, Lost: $0.00M / 5 W - 11L - 0T / 8 W - 8 L - 0T /
MIN: RoomU:$ 7.59M, Lost: $0.00M, P:53 / CapUsedNY:$ 89.17M, Lost: $0.00M / 11W - 5 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
NED: RoomU:$ 6.22M, Lost: $0.81M, P:54 / CapUsedNY:$ 80.98M, Lost: $0.00M / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 10W - 6 L - 0T /
NJY: RoomU:$11.24M, Lost: $4.81M, P:53 / CapUsedNY:$ 83.47M, Lost: $0.91M / 10W - 6 L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
NOS: RoomU:$ 1.90M, Lost: $0.97M, P:54 / CapUsedNY:$ 96.93M, Lost: $0.00M / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / (H)
NYK: RoomU:$13.87M, Lost: $0.00M, P:54 / CapUsedNY:$ 76.97M, Lost: $0.00M / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 10W - 6 L - 0T /
OAK: RoomU:$ 3.89M, Lost: $1.63M, P:53 / CapUsedNY:$ 86.84M, Lost: $0.00M / 10W - 6 L - 0T / 9 W - 7 L - 0T /
PHI: RoomU:$ 6.72M, Lost: $0.00M, P:55 / CapUsedNY:$ 91.65M, Lost: $0.00M / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
PIT: RoomU:$ 5.15M, Lost: $1.68M, P:53 / CapUsedNY:$ 86.42M, Lost: $0.10M / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 13W - 3 L - 0T /
SDO: RoomU:$ 6.29M, Lost: $0.60M, P:53 / CapUsedNY:$ 79.18M, Lost: $0.06M / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 6 W - 10L - 0T /
SFO: RoomU:$ 3.38M, Lost: $1.03M, P:53 / CapUsedNY:$111.09M, Lost: $2.84M / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
SEA: RoomU:$14.25M, Lost: $2.60M, P:55 / CapUsedNY:$ 99.80M, Lost: $0.00M / 13W - 3 L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
STL: RoomU:$ 4.62M, Lost: $2.44M, P:53 / CapUsedNY:$ 85.23M, Lost: $0.00M / 7 W - 9 L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
TBY: RoomU:$23.30M, Lost: $0.00M, P:53 / CapUsedNY:$ 91.64M, Lost: $0.00M / 4 W - 12L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
TEN: RoomU:$ 7.54M, Lost: $0.14M, P:54 / CapUsedNY:$ 95.46M, Lost: $0.00M / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 10W - 6 L - 0T /
WAS: RoomU:$17.37M, Lost: $3.09M, P:53 / CapUsedNY:$ 76.53M, Lost: $0.00M / 4 W - 12L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
As we can see above 4 teams appear to be heading for cap problems in the future. Also, you can see that the human controlled team spent the cap money most effectively for the current year. Since it's only year 2 it's too hard to make too many judgements so we'll wait and see what happens. Houston and Cincinati have the 2 worst teams in power ratings starting the season. New Orleans and Denver have the 2 best. I will update the win/loss once the season has been completed. I expect my team to go far in the playoffs even though we have a rookie QB.
Update. New Orleans won the bowl game. The regular season record was bad 9-7. They only scraped into the playoffs because Philadelphia lost it's last game to Washington and also finished 9-7 missing the playoffs. Washington finished 4-12. It was surprising to see Philadelphia lose. Each game in the playoffs the line showed my team losing, but it pulled off a win every time in pretty ugly fashion. Until the bowl game they didn't have a game where they led in yards. They were consistently upside down by over 100 yards, but thier red zone defense was amazing. I will check through the caps, and update the records above before ending the season.
Note: 1 thing that definitely was weird is that Tampa Bay completely switched thier offensive strategy this year and did terrible. The odd thing was that thier coaches were the same too. They had the best RB in the game and they played a passing game the whole season. They had a horrible record because of it.
Note: I researched the other teams who had major record swings. Here is the details regarding those changes. Atlanta won 8 more games from a QB switch and the best draft of the year with a 60/90 LT. Green Bay's 3rd year QB continued to improve and led them to a better record. Pittsburgh got a lot worse because they lost 2 OL players (72/72 RG and 63/63 C) and their starting QB was on the IR most of the season. Seattle made some excellent FA choices as well as improved performance from thier QB. Washington had 3 starters retire and lost another during FA. They had no major FA signings. This made them a terrible team.
The only team with a major swing that didn't make sense was Tampa Bay. Every other team made perfect sense. I dont know why the AI did a passing game with a 85/85 RB on thier team who played all 16 games and barely got 200 rushes.
Entering Year 3 here is what happened from FA / Retirements.
Note: There were 2 things I noticed going into this year with 2 teams each. First, both Detroit and New York took major cap hits this year from retirements. They both were weak teams last year. It will be interesting to see how they do this year with over 10% less cap space to work with than the other teams.
Secondly, I noticed that both Baltimore and San Francisco appear to be headed towards a major cap issue. Neither team even has enough cap space to sign free agents. Watching this unfold I think I may have figured out why computer teams explode from cap space issues. I believe the routines go in the following order. Renogotiate contracts, sign FA's, rookie draft, fill roster. And this is where the problem may lie. I think the computer tries to renegotiate every contract by pushing everything to next year. In a later stage it realizes it still doesn't have room and starts releasing people. However, since it just renegotiated the contract the release savings in the current year is nothing, and the problem escalates. That's why entire roster dumps may occur. This may be incorrect though so I will continue analyzing to see how it plays out.
Update: This assumption so far appears to be innaccurate. The teams with low cap space did release some players to free up some room. The most extreme case was Baltimore who released 5 starters.
Key:Room Under = RoomU, Cap used next year = CapUsedNY, Human = (H), P = # of players
Current Salary Cap: $111,200,000
Team: ----------Current Year---------- / -----------Next Year------------ / -------------- / Record last year / Record 2 yrs ago
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARI: RoomU:$34.17M, Lost: $ 0.83M, P:28/ CapUsedNY:$ 63.42M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 7 W - 9 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
ATL: RoomU:$18.95M, Lost: $ 0.75M, P:30/ CapUsedNY:$100.41M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 12W - 4 L - 0T / 4 W - 12L - 0T /
BAL: RoomU:$ 4.97M, Lost: $ 2.37M, P:28/ CapUsedNY:$105.69M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 7 W - 9 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
BUF: RoomU:$19.85M, Lost: $ 0.51M, P:27/ CapUsedNY:$ 85.17M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 7 W - 9 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
CAR: RoomU:$22.69M, Lost: $ 3.33M, P:27/ CapUsedNY:$ 59.37M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 4 W - 11L - 1T /
CHI: RoomU:$23.01M, Lost: $ 0.00M, P:29/ CapUsedNY:$ 70.75M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 4 W - 12L - 0T / 2 W - 14L - 0T /
CIN: RoomU:$16.24M, Lost: $ 0.16M, P:24/ CapUsedNY:$ 25.44M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 4 W - 12L - 0T / 3 W - 13L - 0T /
CLE: RoomU:$28.51M, Lost: $ 0.70M, P:24/ CapUsedNY:$ 86.51M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 7 W - 8 L - 1T /
DAL: RoomU:$20.23M, Lost: $ 0.24M, P:30/ CapUsedNY:$ 92.49M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 11W - 5 L - 0T / 14W - 2 L - 0T /
DEN: RoomU:$ 9.23M, Lost: $ 1.52M, P:27/ CapUsedNY:$ 64.48M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 13W - 3 L - 0T /
DET: RoomU:$21.74M, Lost: $21.74M, P:22/ CapUsedNY:$ 30.58M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 6 W - 10L - 0T / 9 W - 7 L - 0T /
GBY: RoomU:$23.87M, Lost: $ 0.06M, P:27/ CapUsedNY:$ 98.52M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 10W - 6 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
HOU: RoomU:$36.91M, Lost: $ 0.00M, P:25/ CapUsedNY:$ 42.77M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 3 W - 13L - 0T / 6 W - 10L - 0T /
IND: RoomU:$27.53M, Lost: $ 1.06M, P:25/ CapUsedNY:$ 97.10M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
JAX: RoomU:$20.58M, Lost: $ 0.00M, P:27/ CapUsedNY:$ 70.91M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 12W - 4 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
KCY: RoomU:$12.10M, Lost: $ 2.89M, P:30/ CapUsedNY:$ 94.54M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
MIA: RoomU:$27.77M, Lost: $ 0.00M, P:27/ CapUsedNY:$ 70.53M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 5 W - 11L - 0T / 8 W - 8 L - 0T /
MIN: RoomU:$21.28M, Lost: $ 0.48M, P:31/ CapUsedNY:$ 78.22M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 11W - 5 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
NED: RoomU:$30.82M, Lost: $ 1.06M, P:29/ CapUsedNY:$ 61.53M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 10W - 6 L - 0T /
NJY: RoomU:$26.71M, Lost: $ 0.91M, P:26/ CapUsedNY:$ 54.53M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 10W - 6 L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
NOS: RoomU:$14.99M, Lost: $ 0.16M, P:29/ CapUsedNY:$ 87.42M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 8 W - 8 L - 0T /(H)
NYK: RoomU:$34.30M, Lost: $11.70M, P:25/ CapUsedNY:$ 13.85M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 10W - 6 L - 0T /
OAK: RoomU:$27.42M, Lost: $ 5.46M, P:27/ CapUsedNY:$ 31.78M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 10W - 6 L - 0T / 9 W - 7 L - 0T /
PHI: RoomU:$26.16M, Lost: $ 3.25M, P:28/ CapUsedNY:$ 50.29M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
PIT: RoomU:$26.24M, Lost: $ 1.48M, P:26/ CapUsedNY:$ 42.52M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 13W - 3 L - 0T /
SDO: RoomU:$30.99M, Lost: $ 0.06M, P:25/ CapUsedNY:$ 62.37M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 6 W - 10L - 0T /
SFO: RoomU:$ 5.44M, Lost: $ 6.09M, P:30/ CapUsedNY:$ 79.50M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
SEA: RoomU:$10.37M, Lost: $ 0.00M, P:28/ CapUsedNY:$ 67.32M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 13W - 3 L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
STL: RoomU:$26.04M, Lost: $ 1.43M, P:29/ CapUsedNY:$ 49.13M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 7 W - 9 L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
TBY: RoomU:$18.50M, Lost: $ 0.00M, P:28/ CapUsedNY:$ 86.52M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 4 W - 12L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
TEN: RoomU:$14.68M, Lost: $ 0.00M, P:31/ CapUsedNY:$ 72.87M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 10W - 6 L - 0T /
WAS: RoomU:$33.65M, Lost: $ 0.00M, P:25/ CapUsedNY:$ 72.56M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 4 W - 12L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
Following the scout/coach selection and the ticket prices settings the computer released some scrub type players in most cases. There was some minor impact on a few teams from thier release choices, but not enough to repost all the cap info so I will continue to the next steps. Baltimore released 5 starters and lost $8 million in cap space for the year. San Francisco released 3 starters, Cincinatti released 2 low rated starters, and Denver released 1 low rated starter. Most teams released 1 or 0 players total. The exceptions were Baltimore with 9, Cincinati with 5, Denver with 6, Seattle with 6, and San Francisco with 10.
Following stage 1 of the first free agent period the AI made many salary negotiations. I will make negotiations for my team and then post the updated financial situation here. Something interesting I noticed is that the AI only renegotiates salaries for players with contracts during this stage. I found over 20 examples of high level players in years 3 and 4 who were available to be signed by thier AI team, but not offered contracts at this point. If these players end up on the FA market after the rookie draft that would be dissapointing. I see no good reason these players weren't signed. They were starters last year, and generally these kind of players have low salary expectations.
Note: The AI overall made decent decisions in over 90% of it's signings, however, it made some specific very bad decisions. Check out the following 4 decisions. (#1) Baltimore renegotiated thier 11th year SLB with ratings of 72/72 for 4 years and $58.5 Mil. The scary part is in the final year 2011 the contract costs the team $28 Mil for that season. This was the same player that I pointed out last year. His ratings have dropped 9 points so far in 1 year. (#2) Buffalo made the same mistake with thier 10th year 74/74 RB. Same exact contract. Same exact huge final year. Same exact 9 point drop so far in 1 year. (#3) Tenessee signed a 9th year 72/72 RDT for $49 Mil. While the contract is balanced at $10 Mill per year it's going to be way too much in a couple years. (#4) Cincinatti signed a 10th year 69/69 C for $28.4 Mil over 5 years. 6 Mil per year in those final years for who knows what kind of ratings.
Lastly, to update the 4 players from last year. Thier ratings have changed from the following. NT (68 -> 64), LT (51 -> 50), QB (32 -> 33), and TE (64 -> 65). Outside of the TE they all look to be long term bad decisions.
Note 2: For my team, (NOS) I renegotiated 13 contracts and signed 5 new contracts. The renegotiations were mostly cap out offers to create cap room. A couple of them were to extend contracts. All the new contracts were 3rd and 4th year players who wanted new 1 year contracts. I franchised the C I talked about last year, and my 14th year SLB retired.
The maximum number of renegotiations was 16 by Carolina, the least number was 4 by both Tennessee and San Francisco. My 13 appears to be right in line with that.
Key:Room Under = RoomU, Cap used next year = CapUsedNY, Human = (H), P = # of players
Current Salary Cap: $111,200,000
Team: ----------Current Year---------- / -----------Next Year------------ / -------------- / Record last year / Record 2 yrs ago
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARI: RoomU:$25.38M, Lost: $ 1.38M, P:28/ CapUsedNY:$ 86.27M, Lost: $1.10M / -------------- / 7 W - 9 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
ATL: RoomU:$25.30M, Lost: $ 1.07M, P:29/ CapUsedNY:$112.61M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 12W - 4 L - 0T / 4 W - 12L - 0T /
BAL: RoomU:$22.91M, Lost: $ 8.85M, P:18/ CapUsedNY:$107.15M, Lost: $5.19M / -------------- / 7 W - 9 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
BUF: RoomU:$25.82M, Lost: $ 0.51M, P:27/ CapUsedNY:$105.48M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 7 W - 9 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
CAR: RoomU:$23.28M, Lost: $ 3.33M, P:27/ CapUsedNY:$ 93.24M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 4 W - 11L - 1T /
CHI: RoomU:$19.46M, Lost: $ 0.42M, P:28/ CapUsedNY:$ 99.85M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 4 W - 12L - 0T / 2 W - 14L - 0T /
CIN: RoomU:$14.70M, Lost: $ 1.05M, P:19/ CapUsedNY:$ 59.08M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 4 W - 12L - 0T / 3 W - 13L - 0T /
CLE: RoomU:$21.03M, Lost: $ 1.27M, P:24/ CapUsedNY:$102.98M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 7 W - 8 L - 1T /
DAL: RoomU:$24.02M, Lost: $ 0.24M, P:30/ CapUsedNY:$111.46M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 11W - 5 L - 0T / 14W - 2 L - 0T /
DEN: RoomU:$14.43M, Lost: $ 4.02M, P:21/ CapUsedNY:$ 81.47M, Lost: $0.03M / -------------- / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 13W - 3 L - 0T /
DET: RoomU:$17.16M, Lost: $21.90M, P:21/ CapUsedNY:$ 64.02M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 6 W - 10L - 0T / 9 W - 7 L - 0T /
GBY: RoomU:$22.95M, Lost: $ 0.06M, P:27/ CapUsedNY:$110.00M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 10W - 6 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
HOU: RoomU:$23.80M, Lost: $ 0.00M, P:26/ CapUsedNY:$ 70.03M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 3 W - 13L - 0T / 6 W - 10L - 0T /
IND: RoomU:$26.24M, Lost: $ 1.06M, P:25/ CapUsedNY:$108.65M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
JAX: RoomU:$21.31M, Lost: $ 0.00M, P:27/ CapUsedNY:$ 92.17M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 12W - 4 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
KCY: RoomU:$14.10M, Lost: $ 3.31M, P:29/ CapUsedNY:$ 98.91M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
MIA: RoomU:$35.55M, Lost: $ 0.00M, P:27/ CapUsedNY:$ 94.80M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 5 W - 11L - 0T / 8 W - 8 L - 0T /
MIN: RoomU:$17.98M, Lost: $ 0.48M, P:31/ CapUsedNY:$100.00M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 11W - 5 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
NED: RoomU:$22.41M, Lost: $ 1.07M, P:29/ CapUsedNY:$ 82.57M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 10W - 6 L - 0T /
NJY: RoomU:$23.36M, Lost: $ 0.92M, P:25/ CapUsedNY:$ 84.51M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 10W - 6 L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
NOS: RoomU:$19.39M, Lost: $ 0.16M, P:34/ CapUsedNY:$ 93.11M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 8 W - 8 L - 0T /(H)
NYK: RoomU:$16.24M, Lost: $13.03M, P:25/ CapUsedNY:$ 54.27M, Lost: $1.33M / -------------- / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 10W - 6 L - 0T /
OAK: RoomU:$17.23M, Lost: $ 5.46M, P:27/ CapUsedNY:$ 79.52M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 10W - 6 L - 0T / 9 W - 7 L - 0T /
PHI: RoomU:$21.42M, Lost: $ 3.25M, P:28/ CapUsedNY:$ 81.84M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
PIT: RoomU:$12.13M, Lost: $ 1.48M, P:27/ CapUsedNY:$ 68.48M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 13W - 3 L - 0T /
SDO: RoomU:$21.99M, Lost: $ 0.06M, P:25/ CapUsedNY:$ 90.32M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 6 W - 10L - 0T /
SFO: RoomU:$14.17M, Lost: $14.18M, P:20/ CapUsedNY:$ 87.83M, Lost: $0.03M / -------------- / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
SEA: RoomU:$14.16M, Lost: $ 0.78M, P:22/ CapUsedNY:$ 89.16M, Lost: $0.03M / -------------- / 13W - 3 L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
STL: RoomU:$15.61M, Lost: $ 1.43M, P:29/ CapUsedNY:$ 90.31M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 7 W - 9 L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
TBY: RoomU:$16.49M, Lost: $ 0.00M, P:28/ CapUsedNY:$101.07M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 4 W - 12L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
TEN: RoomU:$13.39M, Lost: $ 0.00M, P:30/ CapUsedNY:$ 87.21M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 10W - 6 L - 0T /
WAS: RoomU:$24.21M, Lost: $ 0.00M, P:26/ CapUsedNY:$ 81.97M, Lost: $0.00M / -------------- / 4 W - 12L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
Lets look at trends. First of all, the human controlled team has the most players with an average available cap space this year and next. This means the team will improve some, but not a lot. Given that the team won the super bowl though any improvement should keep them a strong contender.
There are many teams who have less than $15 mil in cap space to work with. The teams that are really concerning are the ones with less than 25 players. They need to sign like 30 players at an average of $500K per player. These 30 players are going to be quite bad most likely, and these teams are going to be bad. Teams in this situation that I expect to be bad are SEA, SFO, DET, DEN, CIN, and probably BAL.
The other situation that is developing is shrinking future cap space. Last year BAL, DEN, KCY, and SFO had cap problems going into the next year. KCY is the only one who appears to have survived it. The others have like 20 players right now. SEA and CIN also had fairly high cap issues from last year. DET has a problem because of thier back luck on retired players with big contracts.
9 teams appear to be headed for cap problems next year already. The biggest standout is of course BAL with only 18 players on the roster and over $100 Mil committed. The other teams with future problems appear to be ATL, BUF, CLE, DAL, GBY, IND, MIN, and TBY. We'll see how it all shakes out after the rookie draft.
The first FA period is over. Some teams had some cap changes from it. Also, only 1 player of those 20 I mentioned were signed. So 19 other very very good year 3 and 4 players are going to be available during the second FA period.
The new teams with crazy cap space for next year are ATL with $128 Mil (signed a 61/61 QB away from MIN, probably going to screw thier team from it though), and BUF $117 Mil (signed a 69/69 LT). The other ones still have high cap space issues. 7 teams still have 25 players or less going into the draft.
Time for the rookie draft.
Rookie draft is over and FA period 2 is over. There are still a bunch of teams with less than 30 players on thier roster going into camp. These teams will truly be terrible most likely. The teams with under 30 are BAL, PIT, DET, SEA, CIN, DEN, and SFO.
Key:Room Under = RoomU, Cap used next year = CapUsedNY, Human = (H), P = # of players
Current Salary Cap: $111,200,000
Team: ----------Current Year---------- / -----------Next Year------------ /Record this year/ Record last year / Record 2 yrs ago
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARI: RoomU:$ 4.18M, Lost: $ 1.67M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$104.24M, Lost: $1.18M / 12W - 4 L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
ATL: RoomU:$ 4.33M, Lost: $ 1.26M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$133.18M, Lost: $0.00M / 12W - 4 L - 0T / 12W - 4 L - 0T / 4 W - 12L - 0T /
BAL: RoomU:$ 2.31M, Lost: $ 8.85M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$117.96M, Lost: $5.19M / 5 W - 11L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
BUF: RoomU:$ 3.46M, Lost: $ 1.01M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$126.13M, Lost: $0.54M / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
CAR: RoomU:$ 4.96M, Lost: $ 5.00M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$ 99.63M, Lost: $3.34M / 6 W - 10L - 0T / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 4 W - 11L - 1T /
CHI: RoomU:$ 2.58M, Lost: $ 0.42M, P:54/ CapUsedNY:$109.73M, Lost: $0.00M / 4 W - 12L - 0T / 4 W - 12L - 0T / 2 W - 14L - 0T /
CIN: RoomU:$ 2.12M, Lost: $ 7.33M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$ 68.78M, Lost: $0.03M / 6 W - 10L - 0T / 4 W - 12L - 0T / 3 W - 13L - 0T /
CLE: RoomU:$ 2.77M, Lost: $ 1.27M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$110.05M, Lost: $0.00M / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 7 W - 8 L - 1T /
DAL: RoomU:$ 6.90M, Lost: $ 1.15M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$119.83M, Lost: $1.09M / 10W - 6 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T / 14W - 2 L - 0T /
DEN: RoomU:$ 2.61M, Lost: $ 5.90M, P:54/ CapUsedNY:$ 88.19M, Lost: $0.03M / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 13W - 3 L - 0T /
DET: RoomU:$ 2.72M, Lost: $21.90M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$ 72.52M, Lost: $0.00M / 5 W - 11L - 0T / 6 W - 10L - 0T / 9 W - 7 L - 0T /
GBY: RoomU:$ 2.72M, Lost: $ 1.55M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$121.80M, Lost: $0.31M / 14W - 2 L - 0T / 10W - 6 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
HOU: RoomU:$ 2.39M, Lost: $ 2.37M, P:55/ CapUsedNY:$ 84.14M, Lost: $0.00M / 4 W - 12L - 0T / 3 W - 13L - 0T / 6 W - 10L - 0T /
IND: RoomU:$ 6.48M, Lost: $ 4.49M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$116.53M, Lost: $0.52M / 11W - 5 L - 0T / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
JAX: RoomU:$ 5.15M, Lost: $ 0.05M, P:54/ CapUsedNY:$101.43M, Lost: $0.05M / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 12W - 4 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
KCY: RoomU:$ 2.95M, Lost: $ 3.31M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$105.95M, Lost: $0.00M / 10W - 6 L - 0T / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
MIA: RoomU:$12.78M, Lost: $ 0.46M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$106.86M, Lost: $0.09M / 5 W - 11L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T / 8 W - 8 L - 0T /
MIN: RoomU:$ 3.75M, Lost: $ 0.73M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$107.53M, Lost: $0.18M / 7 W - 9 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
NED: RoomU:$ 4.57M, Lost: $ 1.93M, P:54/ CapUsedNY:$ 97.46M, Lost: $0.65M / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 10W - 6 L - 0T /
NJY: RoomU:$ 2.76M, Lost: $ 1.01M, P:54/ CapUsedNY:$ 99.32M, Lost: $0.06M / 6 W - 10L - 0T / 10W - 6 L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
NOS: RoomU:$ 0.66M, Lost: $ 0.16M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$ 99.37M, Lost: $0.00M / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 8 W - 8 L - 0T /(H)
NYK: RoomU:$ 3.13M, Lost: $13.03M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$ 62.64M, Lost: $1.33M / 6 W - 10L - 0T / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 10W - 6 L - 0T /
OAK: RoomU:$ 1.58M, Lost: $ 5.46M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$ 93.52M, Lost: $0.00M / 7 W - 9 L - 0T / 10W - 6 L - 0T / 9 W - 7 L - 0T /
PHI: RoomU:$ 4.30M, Lost: $ 4.10M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$ 94.86M, Lost: $0.68M / 6 W - 10L - 0T / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 5 W - 11L - 0T /
PIT: RoomU:$ 2.48M, Lost: $ 2.21M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$ 74.47M, Lost: $2.08M / 8 W - 7 L - 1T / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 13W - 3 L - 0T /
SDO: RoomU:$ 3.20M, Lost: $ 0.06M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$100.79M, Lost: $0.00M / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 6 W - 10L - 0T /
SFO: RoomU:$ 1.69M, Lost: $14.99M, P:55/ CapUsedNY:$ 95.59M, Lost: $0.03M / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 8 W - 8 L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
SEA: RoomU:$ 1.80M, Lost: $ 0.94M, P:54/ CapUsedNY:$ 95.64M, Lost: $0.03M / 10W - 6 L - 0T / 13W - 3 L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
STL: RoomU:$ 1.18M, Lost: $ 1.43M, P:54/ CapUsedNY:$ 99.24M, Lost: $0.00M / 6 W - 10L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
TBY: RoomU:$ 1.50M, Lost: $ 0.04M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$113.56M, Lost: $0.08M / 11W - 5 L - 0T / 4 W - 12L - 0T / 11W - 5 L - 0T /
TEN: RoomU:$ 2.33M, Lost: $ 0.00M, P:55/ CapUsedNY:$ 93.40M, Lost: $0.00M / 5 W - 11L - 0T / 9 W - 7 L - 0T / 10W - 6 L - 0T /
WAS: RoomU:$ 4.10M, Lost: $ 0.14M, P:53/ CapUsedNY:$ 92.09M, Lost: $0.08M / 9 W - 6 L - 1T / 4 W - 12L - 0T / 7 W - 9 L - 0T /
As we can see above 7 teams (ATL, BAL, BUF, DAL, GBY, IND, TBY) are now heading towards cap problems. Up from 4 the previous year.
The power ratings are the following. DET and NYK are the worst by far. SFO and BAL are also very bad, as well as CIN. The first 2 is due to the retirement cap hit. The second 2 is from thier cap explosion last year. The final 1 appears to be a cap issue as well although it wasn't apparent the previous season.
The best teams are NOS, ATL, BUF, IND, and NED. Outside of NED, and NOS (H) the other 3 teams are cap problems. So while they have a great roster it's poorly managed.
I will update when the season is over.
The human controlled team missed the playoffs. 9-7 record wasn't good enough this year. It was good enough for the AC, but the NC had too many strong teams. NOS schedule was the second toughest of all teams in the league.
2 very strong teams made it to the Bowl. Indy and Atlanta. Both teams had a ton of stars. Indy had an incredible QB and won the game. Atlanta had just picked up it's star QB in the FA last year. It was MIN's old quarterback. The quarterback led MIN to two 11 win seasons in the previous years. I will update the win/loss records and mention any that are strange.
Tampa Bay went back to thier running game and won 12 games again. Hopefully, they keep doing that considering they have such a star on thier roster. I looked at 5 teams with significant record swings.
ARI: Signed a new starting QB and running back during free agency. Lost no major starters. Greatly improved thier team this year.
GBY: 3rd year star QB imrpovement and a strategic CB signing. Lost no major starters. Great improvements.
NJY: Lost many players in FA including thier starting QB. Lost over 5 players.
TEN: Didn't resign starting QB, Lost 70+ starting CB. That appears to be the major difference.
WAS: New QB and a new starting rookie WR. Huge improvements over last year.
Entering Year 4 there were no major team hits from retirements. Just minor ones. Below is the cap situation for all team. Definitely pay close attention to ATL and BUF. I will edit this post with the details shortly
nilodor
12-23-2006, 09:15 PM
Interesting, keep up the good work.
I voted it a 7.0, however my vote was only for the single player part of the game. I would vote the multiplayer part of the game a 10.0. All my concerns with this game are related to the AI.
There is a very simple reason for me to give the game a 7.0 for single player. It all comes down to the AI salary management. They consistently screw up thier teams from bad management and it's like ping pong every season with star players going everywhere, and many teams full of rookie scrubs. Then the next year those teams who picked up the stars blow up and it happens again. It's a never ending cycle once it starts.
In order for the game to reach a 10.0 for single player the AI truly needs to manage it's teams much better. It should never have these kind of cap problems #1. It shouldn't do stupid things like sign old players to insanely long contracts. It shouldn't draft a QB with it's first pick in the draft when it already has a 70+ QB in his first 7 seasons on thier team. This would be ok if the AI would trade the QB, but it doesn't. I think fixing this problem is very difficult. I would imagine the programming related to the cap management for the AI is intense. However, if it were able to be fixed in a way where the FA pool wasn't so rediculous every year, this game would truly become legendary in my mind. Your team would go through years of success and years of failure due to actually needing to draft rookies well. At the moment it's too easy to be good every year because of the huge number of over qualified FA's.
It would be cool to research the real NFL to see how many players considered over rank 60/60 hit the FA market every year. I would think this number is very small. Maybe 10 to 20 total. In FOF2K7 it's like 30-50 from my experience. Especially, once teams start exploding.
Ben E Lou
12-24-2006, 01:20 PM
I voted it a 7.0, however my vote was only for the single player part of the game. I would vote the multiplayer part of the game a 10.0. All my concerns with this game are related to the AI.
There is a very simple reason for me to give the game a 7.0 for single player. It all comes down to the AI salary management. They consistently screw up thier teams from bad management and it's like ping pong every season with star players going everywhere, and many teams full of rookie scrubs. Then the next year those teams who picked up the stars blow up and it happens again. It's a never ending cycle once it starts.
In order for the game to reach a 10.0 for single player the AI truly needs to manage it's teams much better. It should never have these kind of cap problems #1. It shouldn't do stupid things like sign old players to insanely long contracts. It shouldn't draft a QB with it's first pick in the draft when it already has a 70+ QB in his first 7 seasons on thier team. This would be ok if the AI would trade the QB, but it doesn't. I think fixing this problem is very difficult. I would imagine the programming related to the cap management for the AI is intense. However, if it were able to be fixed in a way where the FA pool wasn't so rediculous every year, this game would truly become legendary in my mind. Your team would go through years of success and years of failure due to actually needing to draft rookies well. At the moment it's too easy to be good every year because of the huge number of over qualified FA's.
It would be cool to research the real NFL to see how many players considered over rank 60/60 hit the FA market every year. I would think this number is very small. Maybe 10 to 20 total. In FOF2K7 it's like 30-50 from my experience. Especially, once teams start exploding.When you run a test with the settings that are going to produce the least realistic results possible, you're going to think things are much worse than they really are. In a mature league, I have exactly thirteen players rated 60 or better, and five of those are punters or kickers, and one of the FA's has a CEI. The sky isn't exactly falling.
What settings do you suggest? I have leagues 15 years in having these problems. Looking at the most recent rookie draft only there are over 25 players with future ratings over 60. And that was just last years draft. Only 2 of them were P/K. Looking at 2 drafts ago there are also over 25 players rated over 60. Again only 2 of them were P/K.
So why is this happening to me and not happening to you?
Ben E Lou
12-24-2006, 02:06 PM
What settings do you suggest? I have leagues 15 years in having these problems. Looking at the most recent rookie draft only there are over 25 players with future ratings over 60. And that was just last years draft. Only 2 of them were P/K. Looking at 2 drafts ago there are also over 25 players rated over 60. Again only 2 of them were P/K.
So why is this happening to me and not happening to you?Draft? What in the world are you talking about?
I've checked all my leagues and this is consistently the case. I just started 2 new leagues. 1 with the default player file and 1 with a generated player file. In all cases there were over 25 rookies with potential ratings well over 60. So there must be something about your game that's very different than mine.
I would love for other people to do a roster search on thier leagues and see how many future 60+ players there are. I have never had a league with less than 25 per year of drafting.
Skydog,
I went to recommend player and set it to recommend all non kickers for all teams. I then set the years to year 2, 3, and 4. That would cover the drafts from the previous 3 seasons. In all cases there are over 25 60+ rated players per draft year.
I dont know how you could have a league with only 13 60+ rated players, when my league consistently has over 25 per year. Something doesn't add up.
Ben E Lou
12-24-2006, 02:19 PM
So...now you are complaining that there are too many good players? At first you were complaining about how many players hit free agency. :confused:
Skydog,
If you are referring to the FA periods you have to use both periods to analyze this number I'm talking about. As teams explode they offload all thier starters to try and fix the problem.
Are teams exploding in your league? They overcommit thier salary caps so far they cant recover and thier entire team gets unloaded. This happens in my leagues pretty much every year to at least 1 team. And that puts thier entire team up on the FA list. It happened for 15 years in my Oakland Raiders league. And it's already starting to happen in my NOS league. It gets worse the further you get into the years from my experience.
Ben E Lou
12-24-2006, 02:31 PM
Hmmmm....I just fast-forwarded to FA2, and there are a grand total of THREE players over 60 available:
a 63/63 RDE
a 62/62 15-year punter
a 61/61 TE who has a CEI
There are no other non P/K even rated over 55; the next-best position player is a 55/55 11th-year offenisve guard. Not exactly a ton of talent out there. Are you using default cap ranges, and are you using 6.0d?
I'm complaining that the AI cant manage it's cap space. And because it cant manage it's cap space way too many FA's end up on the FA list every year. There should never be a situation where any team is over 50% rookie (sometimes 90%) scrubs because of cap problems. But this happens every year to at least 1 team, and in many cases it's like 3+ teams. And when one team experiences the problem it makes others have the problem.
I will explain what I'm saying. AI team #1 overcommits it's cap next year by over 20%. The only way to get back under the cap for them is to release players. However, by releasing players they are also losing cap space. So they keep releasing players. Until practically all thier starters have been released to the FA pool. When they have finally achieved a fiscal sanity they have like 5 players and they've lost insane cap room for 2 years. Well now all these awesome players are on the FA market. They get snapped up by new AI teams #2, #3, etc. All of a sudden a couple of these teams are now way overcommited for cap space next year. And of course they blow up the following year, unloading thier entire roster. This cycle continues from my experience. I've simulated out 12 years and dont see it changing.
The only reason a FA should end up a FA is for 2 reasons. #1 they dont want to resign with thier current team and want to test the market. #2 they are released because thier performance ratings are so bad that the AI team doesn't want them anymore.
However, the AI shouldn't just be unloading all it's starters because it cant manage it's cap space.
Let me know if what I'm saying is making sense. You can experience exactly what I'm talking about if you closely watch the AI's salary management. I've started a thread about it on the forums where I'm 3 years in. In a few weeks I will show it through 10 years and the problem will not change. It's a consistent AI problem.
How does the cap space for the AI teams in your league look Skydog. It's possible you aren't experiencing the explosion situation. I'm not sure why I am and your not, but I wish I could be in your situation, because this problem is maddening.
Are there any AI teams with less than 10 players signed to thier rosters at the moment? You will notice this occurence right before the FA starts. If you just ended the season what you'll notice is AI teams with $0 of available cap space starting the season.
I am using default cap numbers 28 to 80, and I do have version D and every single season has been played with version D. There was no version crossover in either my 12 year career or this new 4th year one.
Ben E Lou
12-24-2006, 02:50 PM
How does the cap space for the AI teams in your league look Skydog. It's possible you aren't experiencing the explosion situation. I'm not sure why I am and your not, but I wish I could be in your situation, because this problem is maddening.
Are there any AI teams with less than 10 players signed to thier rosters at the moment?I'm in year 21, and am seeing nothing like that. At the beginning of FA-2, the lowest team has 18 players under contract, and 2 draftees yet unsigned. That team has around $30M in cap room available, with the total cap at $188M, and veteran minimum discount at $880K. Plenty of room to fill the roster out just fine. What's more is that 20 teams have 30 or more players under contract (and again, not all draftees are signed). The team with the least cap room has $12.99M, and 49 players under contract, not exactly in big trouble there. If you're seeing this later in careers (as in after around 15 years), I ask what are your cap ranges, and are you using 6.0d?
I was seeing this every year for 12 years in my old career. I just couldn't keep playing more years because it was driving me nuts.
I've started a new career and I'm posting the details of every year in a thread on the site. I will play it out for 30 years no matter what happens just so the data is there. However, I don't know what would change between years 12 and 15. I mean at 12 years the entire roster for every team was pretty much from 12 years of draft picks. There was almost nobody from the original rosters of 2006.
I'd like you to check something for me once you get to week 1 of your current year. Look at the cap space used next year for all teams in your league. You have to go team by team, which is a major pain, but please do it. If you are finding that all the teams are under $188 Mil commited for next year then you are definitely not experiencing the problems that I am.
kcchief19
12-24-2006, 03:01 PM
I continue to confess that I'm bewildered by some of the things I've seen people report regarding cap management and available players. I'm just starting free agency in a season 20 years in and there are five player rated 60 or above in it -- three punters, a 9-year wide receiver out 61 more weeks with concussion. There is a 13-year stud vet out there, but his case was unique. Two years ago he suffered an ACL injury and missed most of last season. I looked at him last year, but he was asking for a multi-year deal with a big bonus. He ended up signing with a team at the end of last season for a min-sal deal, now he's back and looking for his payday.
More significantly, we're entering week one of free agency and I have $16 million in cap room, which is $7 million less than anybody else. I have 30 players under contract. Only two teams have fewer than 20 players under contract, and they have $35 million and $49 milion in cap room. The team with the most lost cap space is Denver, which had their franchise QB and all-world offensive lineman retire in the off-season.
I can't explain why some people have more frequent problems than others do in this regard. I know that when you have everyone on this board playing the game, you're going to have more seasons played in a single day than the NFL has total, and that is dwarfed even more if you just include the salary cap era. Law of large numbers says that people will see things that haven't happened in the NFL ... yet.
kcchief19
12-24-2006, 03:09 PM
If you're seeing this later in careers (as in after around 15 years), I ask what are your cap ranges, and are you using 6.0d?
I think these are key factors. If you're using non-default rosters, tinkering with the salary cap numbers and whatnot, it anecdotally appears that you may run into problems.
And I'm not saying this about Bode or anyone in particular, but I often wonder on patches and difficulty setting how often people don't realize what version or setting they are on. I've seen people reporting issues that were clearly addressed in a patch, or report ridiculous results that I don't believe can happen unless you're cooking the settings.
Ben E Lou
12-24-2006, 03:14 PM
Matt's experience is much like mine. For both of you, another few questions: what are your other settings, such as injuries, and are you doing anything unusual, such as trading with the AI teams a lot?
Also, I'm going to move this discussion into Bode's thread, to keep this thread for overall thoughts about the game.
Kcchief and Skydog,
Did you start both your careers with the default rosters from the NFL. Like you just picked up a team that already existed?
It's possible this problem only exists for people who choose to generate random player teams. Maybe the algorithms for the AI only work with the default roster and any kind of variation on that from the beginning dooms leagues that don't use the default NFL players on thier default teams. If you didn't do this then this theory doesn't apply.
For my team I generated a random player file and then had a scout choose my team for me so it was completely random starting point. However, by doing that maybe the talent balance gets out of whack for the AI and it just cant handle it's salary resignings and just gets messed up.
This theory could make sense because when 1 team explodes it puts players with ratings as high as 80 on the FA market. The AI then signs this rated 80 player to a huge contract and then screws it's cap space for the next year. Leading to it's explosion and that rated 80 player being back on the FA market again to explode another team.
I always use injury setting 200. I haven't seen any major releases from this setting though to cause the salary mess.
I never ever trade with the AI because the trade system doesn't seem to work well. I never feel like the AI will make a good decision, and making any trade feels like cheating to me.
Ben E Lou
12-24-2006, 03:28 PM
That was my comment earlier about using the settings that are least realistic. When you generate a random player file, it takes a while for the AI teams to recover from it, but they appear to recover somewhat after around 7-8 years (first contracts run out), and to fully recover after around 15 (all initial players retire). I started my career with the fictional start. It doesn't bother me if one AI team per year does this, especially *after* the draft, because it's very easy to play with a house rule that I won't sign any of the guys who get cut at that stage; it's right there on their player cards. And, as I said, it just isn't a big issue after a while any way. As far as level of competitiveness, I had an AI team go to seven Front Office Bowls (and win five) from 2008-2016, so this obviously doesn't happen to every AI team. What's more impressive about that particular AI team is that it kept its marquee QB-WR combo together for ten years, including that entire five-championship run.
kcchief19
12-24-2006, 03:42 PM
Matt's experience is much like mine. For both of you, another few questions: what are your other settings, such as injuries, and are you doing anything unusual, such as trading with the AI teams a lot?
Injuries at 200, default rosters and default cap settings on Wall Street are my routine settings. In my current career of 20 seasons, I've probably made about a half dozen trades -- one time I traded away three No. 1s and two No. 2s for the No. 1 pick in the draft. A few seasons ago, I traded up in the first round, then made another trade to move down in the second round. I've made a couple of trades for things such as moving a backup QB for a fourth-round pick. If it's more than a half dozen trades, I'd be suprised.
Bode, I haven't played with FOF-generated rosters at all in this version, but my experience in the last version was that the problems you are seeing were common with non-defaul rosters.
My impression is that because you are starting with randomly generated teams, you also start with randomly generated contracts. Since the default rosters and contracts very closely reflect reality, they are a product of NFL GMs managing the cap and putting the teams together. With random rosters, you'll end up with players with contracts that are not in line with their ratings and teams that don't have a logical cohesion. Personally, I think you'll see the same problems with the default players with a draft -- the teams are just not created with the same logic as the real-life rosters.
With computer-generated rosters, an additional problem is that the drafts tend to create players better than the original roster players. As a result, you'll see teams release players with outstanding bonuses because there are undrafted FAs available who are better than what they already have. I don't know if that problem occurs in 2k7, but it did in the last version.
Down the road, those problems did improve. But you would see some teams who continually had those problems -- they buried themselves in cap problems early and then the problem perpetuated itself after that until equilibrium returned. But like Ben said, it took a while for that to happen.
Skydog,
I'm just hoping a solution can be found where no team ends up with so many rookies if you know what I'm saying. They end up with so many because of their salary cap issues. If you have the time do a rookie check on each team in your league for the next 3 seasons. I cant think of a situation where a team would ever have more than 20 rookies. I believe the average in the NFL is around 10-15.
In my last season in this league 3 teams had over 25 rookies. One with 29. I've had years in my Oakland career where teams have had 48 rookies. :-)
Kcchief19,
If the salaries theory beginning a career is truly the problem this would be a very easy fix for Solesmic I would think. All they would need to do is make the salaries from that first season line up and all the problems would go away in theory?
I would have to run a career with the default rosters to see what happens. I'm not exactly sure how much different it is from the generated rosters. It seems that the randomness of drafts would create this problem no matter what though?
No team in a generated league has salary problems in thier first year. They create thier salary problems when they sign players to rediculous contracts that they cant afford. They can afford them in the current season, but they pay no attention to thier cap room for the following year.
I will fast Sim a career like this and see if the results are different.
Ben E Lou
12-24-2006, 03:55 PM
It's Solecismic!
Ben E Lou
12-24-2006, 03:58 PM
Skydog,
I'm just hoping a solution can be found where no team ends up with so many rookies if you know what I'm saying. They end up with so many because of their salary cap issues. If you have the time do a rookie check on each team in your league for the next 3 seasons. I cant think of a situation where a team would ever have more than 20 rookies. I believe the average in the NFL is around 10-15.
In my last season in this league 3 teams had over 25 rookies. One with 29. I've had years in my Oakland career where teams have had 48 rookies. :-)
I'll look.
kcchief19
12-24-2006, 04:04 PM
As far as level of competitiveness, I had an AI team go to seven Front Office Bowls (and win five) from 2008-2016, so this obviously doesn't happen to every AI team. What's more impressive about that particular AI team is that it kept its marquee QB-WR combo together for ten years, including that entire five-championship run.
Here's a story about your chickens coming home to roost. San Diego and my Chiefs have had quite a rivalry the last few seasons. Both of us have finished first and second in the AFC West in four of the last five seasons -- I finished third during their 14-2 season. They've gone to three Super Bowls in that time, me one. We've met in the playoffs each of the last two years, splitting those games.
The bane of my existence has been Cole Heim, the No. 1 draft pick nine years ago. He's been helped out by the No. 10 pick in that same draft, Marcus Manning. All he's one is average over 1,100 yards receving per season with 9 TDs -- including 17 TDs two years ago. They have been quite the dynamic duo.
That No. 10 pick they used on Manning? Yeah, that was one of my five draft picks I sent to San Diego to get my franchise QB. Making matters worse is that while Heim is the No. 1 rated player and Manning their No. 3 rated player, their No. 2 rated player is TE Clifton Owens -- he was the player the chose with another pick I sent them in that trade. That's quite a trio of players they have kept together for 8 years and still going strong.
kcchief19
12-24-2006, 04:22 PM
Skydog,
I'm just hoping a solution can be found where no team ends up with so many rookies if you know what I'm saying. They end up with so many because of their salary cap issues. If you have the time do a rookie check on each team in your league for the next 3 seasons. I cant think of a situation where a team would ever have more than 20 rookies. I believe the average in the NFL is around 10-15.
In my last season in this league 3 teams had over 25 rookies. One with 29. I've had years in my Oakland career where teams have had 48 rookies. :-)
In my current career I've got four teams with high numbers of rookies last season -- two with 30, one with 28 and one with 27. Everybody else is a much more narrow and smaller range. I have 10, and there are several teams with less than that. One had four rookies. Those teams last season went 9-7, 8-8, 7-9 and 3-13. All appeared to be in that shape because they took serious salary cap issues the previous seasons.
One other note -- while I see more salary cap hell than you might see in the real NFL, I don't see marquee players getting cut loose. I'm seeing those teams cut loose overpaid vets that I might try to keep so I don't get the salary cap hit quite as much, but they are definitely borderline calls.
But the main culprit continues to be huge cap hits from retirements. I avoid that problem from rarely offerring big contracts to guys over 30 -- I don't disagree that the AI factoring age more into its salary decisions wouldn't be a bad thing so the retirements wouldn't be such a factor.
Ok I am in the 3rd season of a real nfl leage and Carolina has 36 rookies. Thier team exploded from cap problems and they released like crazy to cover it.
Now their team is destroyed basically. They have about half thier starters left, but the rest are gone. They were 11-5 for 2 seasons. I think they will suck this year.
Also, they had no retirements. So while I agree retirements are a problem, the salary management is still bad.
They finished 6-10. They were terrible. Moving into year 4, but it appears NFL rosters vs generated roster makes no difference. The problem is clearly future year cap management. The AI just needs some improvements in it's decision making long term. Putting itself so far over the salary cap in future years is killing it.
I continued this test and no teams exploded in season 4. I think 1 is going to explode for season 5 but we'll see. I will udpate more in a couple days when I have time to simulate it.
And when no teams exploded I absolutely loved the whole FA process. There were no FA's that shouldn't have been on the market. Nobody released a bunch of players. It was truly what I am looking for every season. It was perfect. If only it could be this way every season!!
molson
12-25-2006, 01:52 PM
Increase your salary cap increase ranges - to something like 60/80 or 70/80. It gives the AI teams more money to work with, decreases the amount of players entering free agency, and increases the overall challenge of building a team.
That being said, I'm seeing what Skydog is seeing in terms of this not being as big a deal as some are saying.
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