Seven things I would like to see fixed or tweaked or added.

[mac]

Seven things I would like to see fixed or tweaked or added.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
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1. Fix the mid term signing salary bug where a player signed in week 10 still signs a minimum salary contract and therefore earns the same amount as someone who has been on the team all year. Viniateri for Prez has also commented on this anomaly.<o:p></o:p>
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2. have the time to recovery reduce during the free agent period it doesn’t make sense that a player with 8 weeks to recovery at the start of free agency still has eight weeks to recovery by the draft. <o:p></o:p>
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3. Introduce a squib kick option on kickoffs (I once won a game when the opposition scored the go ahead TD with 6 seconds left but then kicked off to my all-time great Kick returner who ran it back for the game winning TD, in real life a kick off with a few seconds left would be a squib kick.)<o:p></o:p>
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4. Don’t give drafted players numerical grades overall or for particular attributes until they have been through a training camp. Currently it is easier to scout undrafted rookies immediately after the draft than during the draft as you can search.<o:p></o:p>
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5. Make restricted free agents more like the NFL where they have to sign for the league minimum in years 1 2 and 3 (actually these are callend exclusive rights free agents in the NFL. For example I found a undrafted DT who at the start of his second season is rated 48/69 and demanded a 1 year contract of 1310K and a 700k bonus (the second year minimum was 1190k and the salary cap was 309M). In real like he would have been given a 1 year minimum salary. Possibly you could just offer all undrafted minimum salary players three year no bonus contracts at minimum salaries which is effectively what happens IRL.<o:p></o:p>
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6. It would be really cool if you could have the restricted agent procedure like in the NFL Where you would offer your 4<SUP>th</SUP> year players whose contract has run out one of a fixed range of salaries (2X, 3X, 4X the 4<SUP>th</SUP> year min salary maybe) with a draft choice attached that any team that signs them would have to compensate you. Obviously this would be difficult to program as it is a cross between a trade and a free agent signing but it would be cool (to me anyway)<o:p></o:p>
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7. Implement the NFL rule whereby 5<SUP>th</SUP> year players get paid all their salary once they make the week 1 roster so cutting them doesn’t save any money.<o:p></o:p>

[michael1123]

For me, personally, improving the staff signing and having real staff members (or an editable staff file at least) would be better than all of these put together. I think an overall rating for staff members would make things much less of a headache as well, since as is we have to scroll through the profiles of tons of staff members to find the best ones.

Also, I'm not quite sure what it is, but the free agency period is always really boring to me as well. I cruise through seasons really enjoying them but usually stop playing for days during the staff signing and UFA signing periods. If somehow these could be made more interesting it'd be a major improvement to the game in my eyes. But I'm not exactly sure how the UFA signing period could be improved.

[MizzouRah]

#2 Most definitly!!

[Ben E Lou]

On #2, the math was worked out at some point, and I believe it turned out that players do appropriate offseason injury recovering between the Front Office Bowl and the Coach/Staff Hiring stage--meaning that however many weeks there are in real life between the Super Bowl and the first week of the preseason, approximately that much recovery occurs in that one stage in FOF, making further recovery until preseason unnecessary.

[MizzouRah]

On #2, the math was worked out at some point, and I believe it turned out that players do appropriate offseason injury recovering between the Front Office Bowl and the Coach/Staff Hiring stage--meaning that however many weeks there are in real life between the Super Bowl and the first week of the preseason, approximately that much recovery occurs in that one stage in FOF, making further recovery until preseason unnecessary.

Learn something everyday.

[Ben E Lou]

Learn something everyday.Sort of. ;)

http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=33327

[yabanci]

2. have the time to recovery reduce during the free agent period it doesn’t make sense that a player with 8 weeks to recovery at the start of free agency still has eight weeks to recovery by the draft.

FOF's offseason injury recovery works differently but gives the same end result. In FOF, instead of injuries being reduced stage-by-stage during the offseason, the entire offseason injury recovery is calculated right after clicking the "end season" button of the previous year.

Usually they get about 25 weeks of recovery all at once, which works out correctly (superbowl is early February, first exhibition game is early August -that's six months, roughly 25 weeks).

So whether offseason injury recovery works the FOF method or the stage-by-stage method you suggest, a guy injured for 30 weeks at the end of 2008 is going to start out the 2009 preseason injured for about 5 weeks. I presume it's just easier from a coding viewpoint to calculate it all at once rather than trying to make offseason stages correspond with game weeks for purposes of injury recovery.

When you see a player at the first stage of free agency with an 8 week injury, you should think of it not as his injured status at that particular moment, but rather a projection of what his injury status will be when preseason games start.

[yabanci]

On #2, the math was worked out at some point, and I believe it turned out that players do appropriate offseason injury recovering between the Front Office Bowl and the Coach/Staff Hiring stage--meaning that however many weeks there are in real life between the Super Bowl and the first week of the preseason, approximately that much recovery occurs in that one stage in FOF, making further recovery until preseason unnecessary.

eh, beat me to it.

[Ben E Lou]

eh, beat me to it.

Twice. ;)

http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=22750&highlight=injuries+heal

:D

[Ben E Lou]

When you see a player at the first stage of free agency with an 8 week injury, you should think of it not as his injured status at that particular moment, but rather a projection of what his injury status will be when preseason games start.
All joking aside, that's a good way to look at it.

[MizzouRah]

Sort of. ;)

http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=33327

They say it's the memory that goes first. :D

[Vinatieri for Prez]

I had no idea no. 7 was an NFL rule until a couple of days ago when Jim told me about it in response to my email about the midseason signing cap isssues. He's got that bug on his list again, but following up on what he said in the 6.0e bug list, the game likely will eventually go to guaranteed contracts for vets after the regular season starts.

[devynd]

2. have the time to recovery reduce during the free agent period it doesn’t make sense that a player with 8 weeks to recovery at the start of free agency still has eight weeks to recovery by the draft. <O:p></O:p>
<O:p</O:p></O:p>
6. It would be really cool if you could have the restricted agent procedure like in the NFL Where you would offer your 4<SUP>th</SUP> year players whose contract has run out one of a fixed range of salaries (2X, 3X, 4X the 4<SUP>th</SUP> year min salary maybe) with a draft choice attached that any team that signs them would have to compensate you. Obviously this would be difficult to program as it is a cross between a trade and a free agent signing but it would be cool (to me anyway)<O:p></O:p>
<O:p

#2 has been explained here, but I had an odd situation in my most recent season. A player suffered a compound leg fracture in Week 11 of the 2010 season. The injury screen said he would be out 44 weeks and the e-mail said he would be full strength in 2012. After the Bowl, he was listed as out 34 weeks and still "full strength in 2012" in the e-mail. After I Ended the Season, he became listed as out 11 weeks -- which matches well with what has been said here by others, but will make the guy full strength in the early to middle part of the 2011 season, not 2012.

Other injury quirks: I lost a Wild Card game at home in 23-degree weather, then my backup safety was listed as out a week with heat exhaustion. I don't know if that's possible or not, but it was odd. Then I lost my franchise kicker for eight weeks when he separated a shoulder while kicking off for a touchback in a preseason game. For one, I'm not sure how he could have injured his shoulder while kicking a touchback -- I'm not sure he would be near any contact there. Secondly, I doubt that a shoulder injury would really make him unable to at least kick PATs and field goals. I had to sign another kicker and I was essentially capped out to begin with.

#6 above I like. I'm not unhappy with the current RFA situation, but since they can't sign with another team unless you don't sign them before preseason, they aren't really free agents. It might be hard to alter the game's code to add compensatory draft picks, but requiring a trade of picks would be a good substitute. Then RFAs could sign with other teams and you could match the offer or take the pick.

I've mentioned some of the following before, but speaking of picks, I would really like to be able to trade draft picks straight-up. Most years I find myself wanting to trade down in the first round and finding myself unable to work out a deal with anyone. Since I have to include a player in any deal, I have to either offer the other team a player they don't want or ask for a low-salary player from them that I don't want (in which case the team wants too much in return, especially since I don't even want to keep the guy). It's kind of strange going through the draft without trading, but my latest league has gone four years in a row without any teams making any deals on draft day.

I would also like to be able to trade the rights to unsigned draftees. I once had the #6 overall pick and was unable to sign him. I couldn't trade his rights since he was unsigned, but if I had signed him, the other teams would have been unwilling to trade for a player I had just signed. So I could only watch him go back into the next year's draft. (Trading rights would also help on draft day. I could draft a player that a team a few spots below me might want, then trade him to them for their pick and something extra.) And since there are only two to four options for signing each rookie, it might be helpful if a rookie holding out could ask for a specific option. It's strange when I offer a player the biggest deal and he holds out anyway -- does he want the shorter contracts, or is he just temperamental? I can't tell.

Of course, all these restrictions on trading -- only one player in the entire league is on his current team via trade -- haven't hurt my roster much, and coming off back-to-back 11-5 playoff seasons with a capped-out team and no real QB, I can't actually complain. And I finally worked down my ticket prices to where all my home games are sellouts.... :cool:

[Vinatieri for Prez]

To answer one of your questions, the rookie is holding out on you because the "biggest deal" also is the longest deal. Option 4 is always the "best" deal and most preferred by a rookie because it's the shortest. A rookie draftee will never holdout if offered option 4. You can assume the rookie is always asking for option 4.

I also could see a separated shoulder preventing a kicker from even taking field goals. Kickers are creature of habit and need the body in sync to be successful. Having a wonky shoulder affects that. Could they still kick some of them, yes. But they're accuracy would definitely be affected. I believer Josh Miller went on IR for the Pats last year for a shoulder injury because it was seriously affecting his punting ability.

[Sgran]

Ideas to make free agency more dynamic:
1. E-mail from the agents. To the Bears: "Lance Briggs will NEVER play another snap for the Bears!" or to the other team: "Lance Briggs would love to play for the Redskins, but the Bears want a high draft pick and a serviceable safety."
2. Rumor mill gossip webpage. "Friends close to McNabb say he'd love to finish his career in Chicago." "An unnamed source inside the Falcons front office say the team will agressively pursue Javon Kearse in the offseason." The MPs would have a field day with this info and it might allow humans to trade with CPU teams.
3. Rebuilding teams dealing older players for picks.

[Joe]

To answer one of your questions, the rookie is holding out on you because the "biggest deal" also is the longest deal. Option 4 is always the "best" deal and most preferred by a rookie because it's the shortest. A rookie draftee will never holdout if offered option 4. You can assume the rookie is always asking for option 4.

I was just thinking about this and had a thought. Why is option 4 always the preferred deal? In cases where you're looking at a rookie signing a 4 year contract vs. a 5 year, wouldn't he want to opt for the longer 5 year contract since at the end of it he would be a UFA (and theoretically have greater earning potential) vs. after the 4 year deal being restricted?

[Leonidas]

I'd like to see the staff signings changed. I've already created a thread explaining what I want (for it to be similar to handling player contracts and FAs basically).

I'd also like to see someway to sign guys to after FA is done to something longer than a 1-year deal. To my knowledge there is no rule in the NFL that says guys signed after camp can only get one year deals. This is a killer in fictional MP leagues in their first year of play. In one MP league literally half my team is guys just signed to one-year deals that I can't renegotiate with. It's the roster as I inheritied it. My roster will be destroyed in the offseason and nothing I did to cause nor can do to prevent it.

[Ben E Lou]

I'd also like to see someway to sign guys to after FA is done to something longer than a 1-year deal. To my knowledge there is no rule in the NFL that says guys signed after camp can only get one year deals.

I'm not sure whether or not that's an NFL rule. Back in the day (FOF2K1 perhaps), there was an issue in SP with decent players slipping through the FA cracks, and being able to sign those guys to long-term deals. The community suggested limiting them to only a one-year deal, and Jim responded by doing so. It has been that way since.

[stevew]

I had no idea no. 7 was an NFL rule until a couple of days ago when Jim told me about it in response to my email about the midseason signing cap isssues. He's got that bug on his list again, but following up on what he said in the 6.0e bug list, the game likely will eventually go to guaranteed contracts for vets after the regular season starts.

I think the actual rule is that they have to be on the roster for the first game of the season, which is why you'll see a lot of mediocre types get waived before week one, then picked back up. At that point they are week to week salary.

[stevew]

I was just thinking about this and had a thought. Why is option 4 always the preferred deal? In cases where you're looking at a rookie signing a 4 year contract vs. a 5 year, wouldn't he want to opt for the longer 5 year contract since at the end of it he would be a UFA (and theoretically have greater earning potential) vs. after the 4 year deal being restricted?

He'd be unrestricted either way though, as the 4 year deal is the quickest path to FA.

I'd like to see where picks 1-16(i think thats it, right now it's only 1-11) can be signed to a 6 or 5 year deal, and then 17-32 only a 5 or 4 year deal. But for the most part, all of those 17-32 rookies get the 5 year deal in real life...i suppose they could have some voids/escalators in there and such. And in the game unless you really play hardball, they always seem to want option 4, which just isn't the RL case as to how it works.

I also want to see some sort of RFA tendering in the next game....a year 4 player can tell you all he wants that he wants a 20m bonus, but in reality you still have the power to merely tender him for a one year deal. I just drafted a guard in the 2nd in solo, and gave him a 3 year deal. Well, he boomed into the best guard in the league, and when his contract was up, I ended up having to pony up like 6 years and 90 million for him, instead of the 1 year 2.25m tender which I could/should have been able to hand out.

[Synovia]

I also want to see some sort of RFA tendering in the next game....a year 4 player can tell you all he wants that he wants a 20m bonus, but in reality you still have the power to merely tender him for a one year deal. I just drafted a guard in the 2nd in solo, and gave him a 3 year deal. Well, he boomed into the best guard in the league, and when his contract was up, I ended up having to pony up like 6 years and 90 million for him, instead of the 1 year 2.25m tender which I could/should have been able to hand out.

A player doesnt have to take the tender, and if hes the best guard in the league, theres no way you'd get him to. You'd be looking at matching another teams offer (IE 90m), or getting a 2nd round pick.

[Noop]

1. Bring back the min. 7 year deals(I use them only for depth purposes)

2. Redo the staff signing because right now it is not fun. I offered my coach 5 mill and he signs with some other team for 7mill why didn't I get a chance to counter offer. Also I want to be able to build an entire staff instead of deal with an outdated system that has been in place since the prehaps the first incarnation of FOF.

3. Rumors would be nice. You can get this community to do the work for you. I am sure we have alot of people(myself included as long as you check my grammar) who would gladly submit sentences and what not.... even paragraphs.

4. I want more detail into training camp. If I want to go spread then I want camp all about putting in the spread. You have something similar in TCY where by year 5 in the offense pretty much anyone can put up good stats while great players perform out their minds.

5. Very Good Game Could Be Great

[stevew]

A player doesnt have to take the tender, and if hes the best guard in the league, theres no way you'd get him to. You'd be looking at matching another teams offer (IE 90m), or getting a 2nd round pick.

I'd much rather have the option to at least tender him at the first and 3rd round level, than to either have to spend 90m or let him walk.

[mac]

Thanks for all the answers to re-cap
1. Mid term salary bug - no comments (this is my personal bete noir!)
2. Injury "clock" - the drop after the superbowl includes the free agency period
3. Squib kick - no comments
4. less information on player attributes imediately after the draft- no comment (strange I thought this would interest people)
5. Exclusive rights free agents- possibly some support from leonidas (I think ) it's not a rule that you can only sign a player to a one year deal during training camp but it is that all the good players are gone and no player will accept a 2 year deal without a bonus which you wouldnt pay to a marginal player. Although in fact i have signed undrafted players to multi year deals if I offer a smallish bonus.

6. RFA tender right of first refusal - Stevew agrees that this would be nice

7. 5th year guaranteed salary- about to be fixed maybe?????