"Realistic" Restricted Free Agency for Multiplayer FOF 2007 Leagues

[QuikSand]

Restricted Free Agency For MP FOF 2007 Leagues

As I was reading recent reports about the early stages of free agency in the NFL we’re seeing, I started thinking about this… and eventually came up with this idea. Honestly, I’m a little bit surprised that nobody has thought of it before, at least that I know of.

[QuikSand]

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In an actively-managed FOF league, create a system of restricted free agency that more closely mirrors the system used by the NFL. This should result in it being more difficult to retain all your young out-of-contract players, and should also inflate the salaries of the better ones to more realistic levels.

System basically allows you to “tag” your young out-of-contract players – this costs you a guaranteed lucrative contract offer, but entitles you to match any competing offer from another team, or else gain compensation for the player.

[QuikSand]

PROS

-More like the NFL RFA system, “realistic”

-Adds some additional cap-related difficulty for teams with promising players

-More things to consider in the offseason, even for teams not actively pursuing big money free agents

-May provide a new means for lower-talent teams to obtain quality young players

-Adds much more value to the longer-term rookie contract options, currently ignored by many FOF gamers

-Adds to potential strategy to contracts for undrafted rookies

CONS

-Administrative burden is probably significant

-Complexity opens door for user error, at several levels

-May exacerbate current have/havenot worries if the complexities end up only benefiting those who have the time/inclination to avail themselves of the new opportunities

[QuikSand]

IMPLEMENTATION

To implement my envisioned RFA system, here are the new rules a league should adopt:

-No team may renegotitate with any player in his first 3 years of experience

Maybe the core issue underlying this whole system is that it’s simply too easy and cheap to retain your young players in FOF. This is the essential rule to push more players to the meaningful RFA stage envisioned in this system

- No team may offer contracts to its own RFA players other than as prescribed under this system

Simply put, this system applies to everyone, not just select few young players…but in practice, it will be the team decision whether things get meaningfully different for any given player

-On week 1 of free agency (the renegotiation stage) each team may designate any of its RFA players (4 years or less experience, out of contract) at any of several levels of restriction.

RFA0 = no compensation
RFA4 = compensation = 4th round pick if another teams signs player
RFA3 = compensation = 3rd round pick if another teams signs player
RFA2 = compensation = 2nd round pick if another teams signs player

Any RFA player not designated as RFA4, RFA3, or RFA2 is presumed to be RFA0.

During FA stage 2, all teams may submit “bids” for any RFA players from any team. The bid is expressed as a dollar figure, and corresponds to a contract offer including that dollar amount as a signing bonus, and as a base salary for each of two years. The dollar amount of any bid must be at least as much as the minimum salary offerable in-game to players one year beyond the player’s current experience. (The standardized contract duration and structure serves to make comparing competing offers easier)

After the stage is processed, the top offer on any player is made public, and becomes a formal offer from the sending team.

During FA stage 3, the same process ensues, only including RFA players not offered during stage 2.

During FA stages 4-6, the current team of any targeted FA may submit a “matching” offer for the player by submitting a contract offer matching the terms of the RFA offer. By doing so, they retain the player at that contract level, for two years.

Any targeted RFA player not offered a matching contract by FA stage 6 shall become an exclusive rights player of the targeting team. The current team may not sign the player, and the successfully targeting team will be the only team able to bid on the player in late free agency – offering the contract detailed in the initial targeting offer.

The compensation corresponding to the level of RFA restriction, if any, shall be sent from the targeting team for the draft in the following season. The league administration shall implement this in the most sensible way possible, with the default pick being the targeting team’s own selection in the appropriate draft round, and then incrementing toward any earlier picks held by that team in that draft.

Any team holding a RFA player who was not targeted may sign that player any time beginning in FA stage 4. The contracts to be offered to RFA players varies based on the level of restriction placed by the team (let M = minimum salary allowable in-game for the player in the second year of the contract):

RFA0 = no restriction on contract offer
RFA4 = Bonus = M, 1st year salary = M, 2nd year salary = M
RFA3 = Bonus = 2M, 1st year salary = 2M, 2nd year salary = 2M
RFA2 = Bonus = 4M, 1st year salary = 4M, 2nd year salary = 4M
(in any case, if the specified contract is rejected by the player, the team shall increase within the same framework, with identical values for bonus and each year’s salary)

-No team is obligated to provide additional restrictions on any of its restricted free agents, but by doing so and agreeing to a more lucrative multi year contract, they gain protection that they will have a right to match competing offers or be compensated for the loss of the player.

[stevew]

I think it would be a great addition. I'd be interested if someone had a similar idea as to what to do with the franchise tag. To account for 120 percent raises and actually come up with realistic tender numbers as well.

[QuikSand]

...this idea basically went full circle in my mind... starting out as "I think this is great" to eventually "I think I am the only person who will even read the thread." So it goes.

I think something like this would be workable for a league with many focused and dedicated owners, but I suspect the potential for "too hard" is pretty high in just about any realistic setting.

That said, I still like it.

[stevew]

I think the compensation standards should more clearly mirror the NFL tho.

Or make it simple and just do 1st round, 2nd round or "drafted round"

[QuikSand]

I honestly don't know how RFA works in any detail in the NFL, but i'd be open to something more closely mirroring that system. Ii do like the idea (inn my system) that the current team can set the bar higher for a potential suitor by agreeing to a fatter deal of its own up front, and I don't know to what extent that's true in the NFL.

Of course, in FOF, this isn't really about top round picks... it's more relevant to the solid young players who come from the later rounds and from undrafted rookie free agency. The first rounders all sign contracts for at least four years, I believe, so they are basically out of this mix altogether if they're worth their contracts.

Much bigger focus is the guy you draft in round 6 who turns out to be a pretty useful #3/4 CB and special teams gunner. Nice player, good find in a late round, and after two years (right now) you get a free shot or two to lock him up for extra years for peanuts. What I mostly want is a system where you might lose a guy like that, and if not, you at least end up paying him what he's worth.

[Tasan]

In the NFL, only the players 2 years from free agency are RFA. Anyone under that are exclusive rights guys and can only be signed by their previous team, until like June 1 or something.

[cuervo72]

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In an actively-managed FOF league, create a system of restricted free agency that more closely mirrors the system used by the NFL. This should result in it being more difficult to retain all your young out-of-contract players, and should also inflate the salaries of the better ones to more realistic levels.

System basically allows you to “tag” your young out-of-contract players – this costs you a guaranteed lucrative contract offer, but entitles you to match any competing offer from another team, or else gain compensation for the player.

In a way, this is sort of how free agency in FOBL used to work, just not limited to young players. If a player's contract was up, he went to FA where he could be bid on by any team. A team could "win" him, but the incumbent team could trump that if they wished. If they passed there was no compensation though.

It could work, but you'd have to be careful. Commissioners would have to make sure that owners either bid what was determined on for a player, and if he changed teams that only the winning team actually bid. In the latter case it would also need to be done in FA-2, so the team would need to actually have that cap space available.

Unless the bidding took place at the same time as the FA-2 stages. In which case I wonder if teams might underbid on FA-1, holding back money for the second stage.

(Oh, I see - you're handling the offers in-game and not with an outside bidding system. You might really need a well-trained owner base to pull it off.)

[gstelmack]

I honestly don't know how RFA works in any detail in the NFL

Your wish is my command:

Definition: A restricted free agent is a player who has received a "qualifying" offer (negotiated in the CBA) from his old club, but is free to negotiate with any club through the free agent signing period. If he accepts an offer sheet from a new club, his old club can match the offer and retain him, or not match the offer and possibly receive draft-choice compensation depending on the amount of its qualifying offer.
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If an offer sheet is not executed, the player’s rights revert to his old club after the free agent signing period ends.
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Players become restricted free agents when they complete three accrued seasons and their contract expires.
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A player who has received credit for three accrued seasons in the League and whose contract expires after the 2007 season qualifies as a restricted free agent. Any player with an expiring contract but with less than three years in the League is an exclusive rights free agent.
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Tender amounts

In 2007, a second-round tender offer was added. The four tender amounts were as follows:

Low tender (round of original pick) -- $850,000
Second-round tender -- $1.3 million
First-round tender -- $1.85 million
First- and third-round tender -- $2.35 million Each player that signs their tender receives the one-year salary that corresponds with the tender level. Teams which choose not to match an offer on a player with a low tender receive a draft pick corresponding to the round in which the player was originally drafted. (For example, a former seventh-round pick requires a seventh-round pick in compensation is signed away in restricted free agency). Undrafted players require no draft-pick compensation on a low tender, meaning teams with a valued undrafted player are taking a notable risk if they place a low tender on them.

[QuikSand]

You might really need a well-trained owner base to pull it off.

Yeah, I agree, likely too steep a climb on that front.

[QuikSand]

My initial thinking is that the NFL's rule binding a team to a one-year contract has problems in FOF implementation, specifically due to the FOF system where a player on a newly-signed 1yr deal will never be open to negotiations, unless he is traded. So, unlike the in-game franchise tag (which works fine - a fixed one year contract with option to reneg) we really don't have that club in our bag given the current game's limitations. That's why my system above relies on two year deals -- the "cost" of the more expensive deal hits you for two seasons, and also (deliberately) increases the "bird in hand" effect that will hit you when you want to reneg and extend the guy in year two. To me, that's sort of the teeth in my system -- that if you get bumped up, you will be paying something a good deal closer to market value under this system than we ever do with the current system, that sounds more or less like the NFL's "exclusive rights" system that applies just to younger players.

Not a perfect mirror of the NFL system, but I think the use of two year contracts is the best way to mirror the puts and takes I'd like to add to the game.

[QuikSand]

(Oh, I see - you're handling the offers in-game and not with an outside bidding system.)

My vision is that you handle the "target" offers out-of-game, since there's no other way for Team B to approach Team A's RFA now, at least in early free agency. Then you handle the decision to "match" in game by the current teams. And for those who don't match appropriately, they lose the right to sign their guy, and he slides to late FA, where the Commissioner would post a list of "hands off" guys to only be signed by the targeting teams who won the bidding early on and were not matched. (Which a third of the league would ignore, presumably)

[gstelmack]

This is where getting me off my butt to write a utility would be handy: something that went through and auto-entered the contracts for the commish before the file ever went out to everybody else. I just can't remember what the commish can and cannot do right now.

[cuervo72]

I don't think the commish can enter any contracts. I wish they could; the ability to do that in OOTP makes FOBL possible. Calendar stops during FA and the FA process is done via bidding software. After the FA period is over, the commish assigns guys to the appropriate teams and edits the salaries. Granted this process is still tedious, but possible.

[cuervo72]

Dola - which is why Quik describes a system where players need to be "hands off". But I doubt that would work - we had one player in FOFL who needed to be signed by a specific team due to a draft snafu, and sure enough there were teams that bid on the guy even though we specifically told owners not to.

What makes this worse is that the player can be open for a number of files. In our case, there were two offers out that shouldn't have been there. We let the owners know and they withdrew them. Unfortunately, after they were pulled the guy still hadn't signed and another offer came in.

[gstelmack]

One other option is for the commish to do an "enter career" once for each team on his box, then the utility keeps opening each team and making offers for them before loading the next team. Would also have to handle making the export and saving it off before FOF overruns it.

But yes, some day the commish will actually be able to do anything he wants to any team/roster like most other text sims.

[QuikSand]

Dola - which is why Quik describes a system where players need to be "hands off". But I doubt that would work - we had one player in FOFL who needed to be signed by a specific team due to a draft snafu, and sure enough there were teams that bid on the guy even though we specifically told owners not to.

What makes this worse is that the player can be open for a number of files. In our case, there were two offers out that shouldn't have been there. We let the owners know and they withdrew them. Unfortunately, after they were pulled the guy still hadn't signed and another offer came in.

Well, I guess I'd hold out some hope that there's a difference there. The FOFL is a league where owners have no particular reason to go look for some reason not to bid on free agents. The situation you describe was an oddball thing, so it went unnoticed by many owners.

In theory, if you had a leaue - even the FOFL - that had a debate among its membership on using a system like this, and ultimately voted to do so... then in theory youu'd have the groundwork lain for every owner to enter late free agency (in this case) with his eyes open for this sort of thing. I'd like to think that if this were an accepted part of how a laegue's membership actively decided to play the game, than you'd have more people attuned to making the routine check for the "hands off" list before submitting bids.

Just keeping the smoldering alive a bit. I realize this is a longshot for any actual league to really take up.

[Dutch]

I'd be down for anything that made the salary cap relevant for more teams...and who wouldn't want a better mirror of the NFL free agency period? It's more interesting than what FOF offers, that's for sure). Unfortunately, I think I agree with everyone on the complications that will arise from implementing this out of the game. As alluded to above, too many of us can't remember our "one-line" rules each season, so logic would dictate that this system would be a pain in the ass to administer if not implemented in-game. The vulnerability to fail here would be even greater for those owners in 7 or 8 different leagues.

[cuervo72]

Well, I guess I'd hold out some hope that there's a difference there. The FOFL is a league where owners have no particular reason to go look for some reason not to bid on free agents. The situation you describe was an oddball thing, so it went unnoticed by many owners.

In theory, if you had a leaue - even the FOFL - that had a debate among its membership on using a system like this, and ultimately voted to do so... then in theory youu'd have the groundwork lain for every owner to enter late free agency (in this case) with his eyes open for this sort of thing. I'd like to think that if this were an accepted part of how a league's membership actively decided to play the game, than you'd have more people attuned to making the routine check for the "hands off" list before submitting bids.

Just keeping the smoldering alive a bit. I realize this is a longshot for any actual league to really take up.

This is a good point, and it could well work like that at first with enough dedication.

You might run into problems with new owners though. How many recent FOBL participants (who seem like otherwise bright individuals - VPI, BEL, DC, RKG) signed on, took a more in-depth look at FOBL's financial setup and then said "WTF??!?"

There's also the "which league is this again?" problem.

[QuikSand]

Agreed on all counts.

[jdavidbakr]

I'd be down for anything that made the salary cap relevant for more teams...and who wouldn't want a better mirror of the NFL free agency period? It's more interesting than what FOF offers, that's for sure). Unfortunately, I think I agree with everyone on the complications that will arise from implementing this out of the game. As alluded to above, too many of us can't remember our "one-line" rules each season, so logic would dictate that this system would be a pain in the ass to administer if not implemented in-game. The vulnerability to fail here would be even greater for those owners in 7 or 8 different leagues.

+1

I'm only in 1 league (vNFL House) that has any restrictions outside of the game, that being that in the first 8 weeks of free agency you can't make a 1-year offer. That's a simple rule, and yet it is still incredibly difficult to keep straight. If I ever decide to join another league I am going to look closely at the rules and will not join a league with any outside-the-game rules, just because it is too hard to keep straight.

That said, I would absolutely love it if Jim would rework the FA market as you describe above, or even in his own way. I think it's far too easy to keep your best players around and far too difficult to improve your team in FA with other players. Even a simple calculation where really good players demand to be the highest-paid player at their position - which happens in real life and more or less guarantees that every team is going to have to worry about the cap or let really good players hit FA - rather than what appears to be just a general position-value based on the percentage of the overall cap (which could still be used for the less-than-60 rated players). But I like your ideas, I just wouldn't want to try to implement them outside of the game.

[Surtt]

IMPLEMENTATION

To implement my envisioned RFA system, here are the new rules a league should adopt:

-No team may renegotitate with any player in his first 3 years of experience




Is this realistic?

I haven't dug into it but, if a player is any good aren't they signed to long term deals or franchised before they can make it to RFA?
It seems mostly "bubble" players end up as RFAs.


Also, players with 1 or 2 years service are "exclusive rights" FA and not able to sign with other teams.

[QuikSand]

Is this realistic?

In my view, what is most unrealistic is the way-too-low salary demands of most RFA players in FOF. That is the underlying problem -- that the guys who are actually good enough to play and contribute to even a good team are almost always willing to sign up, even for multiple years, for merely a trifle beyond minimum salary. It's a huge hole in the game logic, and that's what I'm trying to address with this idea.

I think the notion that this is not perfect has been spelled out pretty well at this point. I'm also aware that it does not perfectly mirror the NFL. Got it.

My primary goal is here to add some more decision-making to the retention of fairly promising young players, and to extract a bit more of a price than the game does for teams who choose to do so.

[Surtt]

In my view, what is most unrealistic is the way-too-low salary demands of most RFA players in FOF. That is the underlying problem -- that the guys who are actually good enough to play and contribute to even a good team are almost always willing to sign up, even for multiple years, for merely a trifle beyond minimum salary. It's a huge hole in the game logic, and that's what I'm trying to address with this idea.

I think the notion that this is not perfect has been spelled out pretty well at this point. I'm also aware that it does not perfectly mirror the NFL. Got it.

My primary goal is here to add some more decision-making to the retention of fairly promising young players, and to extract a bit more of a price than the game does for teams who choose to do so.


I didn't mean to criticize the whole idea, I know it is a problem in the game.
I was wondering if something like "you must sign players to 3 year deals at realistic levels or let them go through RFA" wouldn't be a better fit.

[QuikSand]

I didn't mean to criticize the whole idea, I know it is a problem in the game.
I was wondering if something like "you must sign players to 3 year deals at realistic levels or let them go through RFA" wouldn't be a better fit.

Might be, indeed.

Though I admittedly think the NFL's system of matching offers and compensatory picks is pretty cool.

[stevew]

If you could somehow flash contract values into the game I don't think it would theoretically be too hard to take the whole financial structure out of the game entirely.

I mean, can you imagine how sweet it would be to have a util like jdb's to do a real time 5 day free agency period. Something that focuses more on value compared to other comparables at the position.

There's enough stats like wants winner and loyalty already built into the game. Plus locations. Couple that with the current likelyhood of a player to get playing time and I'd think generating a guys top 5 favorite destinations would be fairly easy.

And to the flipside of quik's original post, sometimes the RFA logic is fucked. Like in WooF I had to franchise a 4th year player cause otherwise he wouldn't sign ANY contract cause he was pissed about PT. In the real world I would have just slapped a 1 year 2.5M tender on him and he'd have reported or went and became a bus driver.

[gstelmack]

Before anyone asks:

In theory, we know how transactions are structured, where the current team assignment is for a player, and where the contract values are.

However, we don't know how things like cohesion are updated, and there may well be other little tidbits floating around that screw things up (see some of the issues with offers in some of the early FOWL/test leagues had). So it's not something I even want to attempt.

Better would be to create exports directly, but since those are encrypted they are not an option either.

So we're stuck with the whole "utility to open up each team and enter the appropriate offers via the UI", plus hope that the players actually take them.

In other words, unworkable.

[Chubby]

Just what leagues need, more rules that will not be policed...

[MalcPow]

It might ease the owner/policing learning curve a bit if this were built into an FA1 stage 12 "matching" file set aside solely for this purpose. Commish sims through FA1-11 as usual (anyone with an outstanding offer will have signed) then void releases any RFAs that are changing teams under the system. Anyone who has won an RFA then needs to download the file and export for the FA1-12 stage with the requisite offer and they will sign immediately.

It might add another day to offseason schedules, but it would save a lot of headaches with worrying about who to bid/not bid on in FA2.