Made a signing. Cap space *increased*.

[aston217]

I've noticed this happening before but didn't get a chance until now to compare before and after files. So here's what happened.

Week 14, I signed a guy. $1.21M salary, $0.26M bonus, $1.47M total cap cost.

Only the top 51 players count against the cap; he's in the top 35, so he does. The guy he pushes down, who is now #52, has $1.10M salary and $0.04M bonus this year, $1.14M total cap cost. I also placed a player on IR ($1.55M salary, $0.01M bonus, $1.22M cap cost with the veteran discount), but my understanding is the IR should not affect the cap in any way.

Before:
$4.96M Room Under Cap
$6.10M Max For New
$12.44M Lost Cap Room
Expenditure = Salary Cap (282.4) - Lost Cap - Room Under Cap = 265.00.

After:
$5.55M Room Under Cap (+0.59)
$6.72M Max For New (+0.62)
$11.52M Last Cap Room (-0.92)
Expenditure = Salary Cap (282.4) - Lost Cap - Room Under Cap = 265.33

By my math, I should have lost 1.47-1.14 = $0.33M in cap room. This is exactly reflected in the expenditure; I'm spending $0.33M more.

However, that's being offset by a $0.92M reduction in this year's cap penalty, so instead of losing $0.33M, I actually gain $0.59M in cap space. Where did that come from? Cap penalty is not something that should ever get lower, right? And a free agent signing, at best, should keep the cap room the same -- not increase it. Right?

[aston217]

OK, I emailed Solecismic support about this. I can't believe I didn't see this earlier, but the exact amount of my cap penalty reduction -- 920K -- is (13/17) * 1.21, or the pro-rated salary for 13 weeks' worth of pay at $1.21M, or the new guy's salary.

If I cut that guy, or anyone else earning 1.21M at this point, I would incur an additional 390k cap penalty because 920K has already been considered "paid out" over the course of the year.

However, for some reason, the game pre-emptively reduces the cap penalty by 920K beforehand. If I had released a player, I don't think I would have gained cap space. The "paid out" cap penalty of the release would have set things to normal. However, the spot opened up due to IR.

TL;DR, it seems that if you have to put a player on IR, any signing you make to replace him will reduce your team's cap penalty this year. The greater the salary, or the later on in the season, the greater the reduction in penalty.