Please Help Me

[UK Rookie]

Hi Guys,

Please can you help me or direct me to a previous thread (ive tried to find one) regarding signing players on your team that are coming to the end of their contract and so become free-agents.Im new to the FOF game so I played until after SuperBowl,expecting I would get a list or prompt to sign these players...I didn`t,and a box came up saying i should have to signed them before SuperBowl.

Now in season two, im in the Wild Card weekend so thought id try and sign the ones I was going to loose.Its not clear when you go to the Make offer screen and see their demands what your actually paying them(to me anyways)They`re demanding money for THIS SEASON,but there allready being paid this season!!
Don`t understand this atall!!

Maybe Im missing something as I thought players in NFL signed an extention to their contracts so they get money owed to them this year ,plus say $10 Million over next 4 years.

Please again can someone tell me in laymans terms how this works in the FOF game.

Thanks in advance.......UK Rookie

[gstelmack]

You are doing the right thing, but the NFL is different from MLB or the NBA. Contracts are not guaranteed, aside from the signing bonus, so when you sign a new contract it replaces the old one. There are complications when you've played part of a season because salary has already been paid out, plus you've got whatever signing bonus is left from the old contract hanging around, but pay attention to the screen before and after you make the offer and you should get a feel for how it works.

This also means the you can renegotiate guys before the last year of the contract, which can be a big help in controlling your salary cap.

[UK Rookie]

Thanks gstelmack for your reply.

But when is the best time to re-sign players in the last year of their contract?

[gstelmack]

That depends. If you need cap room, doing it at FA1:1 can clear cap for the season. If they are veterans, waiting until after Training Camp lets you wait and see if they tank, either helping you decide to let them go, or getting them cheaper. If you wait until near the end of the season, you can avoid having a guy take a big injury just after signing his lucrative extension. Just depends on the risks you want to run, and you'll find players do a mix of the above. In many cases, if you don't need to clear cap space, you might as well wait until near the end of the year to resign them.