[QuikSand]

Offseason 2021:

I don't make any changes with my staff (uninteresting, at least for now)

Into free agency. This year there are several other teams with cap space, but my $51M is tops (w/46 players signed). We did let our top two WR walk (well, let them do so by not figuring out how to keep them) but I'm hopeful we can boss around the market and get at least Parker back.

So, in free agency - now there is a decent spread of players out there. The fossils are still sitting around, CB Terence Newman remains a 96-rated player at age 43 and year of rust... I'll continue to just skip over these guys, and assume the AI teams will also. But there are some quality still-playable guys here now... T Tyron Smith is a 98, LB Bobby Wagner is a 98, WR Devant Parker is a 94. Details aside, at least this looks and feels like a legitimate "free agent market." I'm guessing that the AI teams still over the cap will continue to sit it all out, which stinks, but I expect to make moves on at least a few guys here.

(Again, the on-screen message on how to offer a contract is either misleading or I'm missing something... it says I can do so from the player page, that seems to be false. I have to click "Open Bidding" and do it from that screen... which is fine, but not at all obvious)

I make offers:
WR Parker (94) Key, 4yr $8.2m/yr
LT Smith (97) Key, 3yr $6.8m/yr (lowballing on purpose)
RB Derrius Guice (89), Rotation, 4yr $2.4m/yr (lowball)
DE Leonard Williams (90), Rotation, 4yr $4.0m (lowball)

Oh... yes, I remember now... I double check my roster, and I see that I only have four 2nd year players, after drafting eight. Sure enough, those guys are sitting in free agency, I didn't extend their initial 1yr deals. That would have been nice to know about, but I didn't hunt down those particular acorns enough, I guess.

It kinds feels like cheating to go out and try to sign up every other teams' castoffs like this, so for now I'll just go after my own guys:

TE Sparks... oh, wow. He wants around $2m/yr to sign. I don't see that making sense. So, not now, at least.

***This seems like a major flaw in game logic. I drafted this guy, and he turns out to be pretty good (though only TE3 on my depth chart). By some unlucky dice roll (?), he gets assigned a 1yr contract. And his contract demands are based on his perceived skill level (and maybe potential) and I have no advantage, other than being able to extend him at basically market rate. In the real NFL, the main advantage of drafting quality contributors (or signing them as rookie free agents) is that you have them for a few years under your control, before market forces take effect. So... I got somewhat lucky with this guy as my 7th round draft pick, and because of that I receive... dirt squat nothing. Bad game logic. **

So, back to "what to do here?" Do I use this window to go out and sign up young guys who want to actually get paid, and pay up for their market-level demands? Doesn't seem as much line an exploit, now. I decide to split the baby here... I'll wait until after the draft, and if the AI teams haven't snapped someone up, I'll consider him fair game.

(Incidentally, I haven't paid attention to cap space effects of contracts and cuts... so I don't yet know if there's any downside to just cutting some of the cheap bums I have on my roster... but this offseason we'll aim to figure that out)

So... I run through the early free agent stages with those four targets. In an ideal world, I think I should be outbid on my lowballs... but optimism isn't that high. Last year I tried to lowball a guy and he just never signed with me or anyone, maybe that happens here too.

Day 1: 4 players sign with random teams, including Jared Goff (1yr 4.3m) to New England, who must have lost Brady. The Jets pay more on a 1yr deal with a TE I havent heard of, Hale Hentges... another of these bozos who's an afterthought in real life but a legit building block in this roster set. Sigh.

Day 2: Okay, good news is we signed DE Williams for $4m/yr. Bad news is we were outbid on WR Parker, he goes for $10m to Atlanta on a 1yr deal... almost all the AI deals are 1yr offers, except for Adrian Peterson - that spring chicken is definitely a 2yr at $8.6/yr kind of guy. Big future there. Weird news is that Patrick Mahomes gets signed by the Giants on a mediocre 1yr deal, befitting his unimpressive 86 overall ratings. (Faithfulness to perceived real players is not my focus, but WTF)

(In between stages) I go to my FA summary page, and see that BUF is offering much more money to T Smith. I should have known to check this for WR Parker, I guess. I bump to $9.4m - I want this guy. Now I'm told the 49ers are offering a LOT more money or RB Guice. Hmmm, ok. I focus on RB Rashad Penny (88) for $3.2m, who has no other offers. This feels like it's working about right, to me.

I check out other wide receivers, and now I realize... I must have a "maximum salary" option still checked. $10m is the max. Good lord, how awful is that, I dig up the "Settings" page, and will change it after these early FA stages, but before the draft. Why oh why would this be a default setting?

Day 3: T Smith gets the $10m max from Cleveland. I move on to LT David Bakhtari (97 overall) and try to go in with $7.25m, he seems to have no suitors. I also put in 2/6.7 for LB Bobby Wagner, best guy out there but 31y/o. I have no idea when players start to fade here, so I'll stay short term even on a cheap-o deal. (If over time it becomes clear cuts are no-consequence, then I'd make every under-market offer a long term one, I just don't know how that works here... there is no mention of bonus money, just side bonuses that look like performance incentives, which I haven't explored yet)

Day 4: WR Antonio Brown (100) gets 1yr/$10m from New England, heh. Other guys sign, like a ho-hum Lamar Jackson, etc - no more on that. We're listed as the leading offers for our 3 remaining targets, but none have signed with us - they were all under their requests, so that actually makes some sense. I decide to get serious with T Bakhtari, and up his offer to $8.75m, in hopes of landing him next stage and getting a key position settled.

Day 5: Pretty long list of free agents, that's realistic. Bakhtari gets the $10m max from Buffalo, RB Penny gets over $4m from KC, and I'm left out in the cold. Serves me right for fooling around... I presume offers closer to, or matching, their requests would have gotten me a solid addition or two.

I adjust the maximum salary number from $10m to $25m, leaving the maximum draft number at $10m. No idea how important that number is to the game's offer logic... I hope not that much. Would hate to see every 90+ player start getting offered 15% of the cap or something. I'll try to keep an eye on that.

Now I see more in Settings - Financial" that I want to tweak... next season:
-Allow Teams To Exceed Cap for Extensions (YES, want NO)
-Penalty % for Dropping Players (0%, I want something non-zero)
-Force Strict Cap (unchecked, I want it checked)

Okay... with those changes a lot of this ought to make more sense. And now I'm leaning toward racing through this second "learning season."

Note: despite the various warts, I am starting to get a feel for how the game is supposed to work, and with the things I'm spotting along the way, I think this might be a viable game to play in career mode.