Tips for ending holdouts?

[LondonSmith]

My quarterback decided to hold out, leaving me with paltry options at the position, and not enough cap space to honor his contract size. I have attempted trading some high contract players, but not even one team with touch them (even though they are all-pro level players???). All that to say, I'm at a loss for how I'm supposed to open up the space for him. Is there a possibility that he will simply elect to end the hold out?

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by LondonSmith

My quarterback decided to hold out, leaving me with paltry options at the position, and not enough cap space to honor his contract size. I have attempted trading some high contract players, but not even one team with touch them (even though they are all-pro level players???). All that to say, I'm at a loss for how I'm supposed to open up the space for him. Is there a possibility that he will simply elect to end the hold out?

The only options here are...


1. Sign the player to his demands. (So, yeah, free up contract space. And yes, in SP the AI simply doesn't trade much.)
2. Yes, he may end his holdout, but if he does, you'll get the "past injustices" message if you try to re-sign him in the future. (If he has two years left on his deal, you MIGHT be able to sign him in the next season, though, if his loyalty is high enough.) Holdouts can end in TC, or any stage thereafter, so if you don't meet his demand by then, you run the risk of him ending his holdout (if that's a problem.)

[LondonSmith]

Gotcha, thanks! Yeah, I guess I'll just have to wait for a few weeks. I'm not really able to move any of my high contract guys so I'll just have to wait it out and keep my fingers crossed.

[stevew]

If it’s a 4-5 year deal he wants you can just reduce his year 1 salary by a large amount and convert that into bonus. So if he wants 11 million in year 1 you can reduce it to 1 million and add 10m to his bonus demand and that’s save you 8m on this year’s cap(assuming a 5 year deal

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by stevew

If it’s a 4-5 year deal he wants you can just reduce his year 1 salary by a large amount and convert that into bonus. So if he wants 11 million in year 1 you can reduce it to 1 million and add 10m to his bonus demand and that’s save you 8m on this year’s cap(assuming a 5 year deal

Disclaimer: this cap saving approach only works in SP. In MP this doesn't work the same way, you will have to add more money to the bonus.