More flexibility with contracts

[SilverBullet19]

Quote: Originally Posted by BTW

On top of this, would be great if we could see our current total payroll numbers for future seasons. MLB The Show does this and it is fantastic, and really allows you to plan for and anticipate the future of your team's finances without having to break out a calculator and do it yourself. Hopefully next year this will be a major focus for the dev team. B

this. It woudl be great to see cap impact multiple years out, instead of waiting for week 2-3 of the season to see how much cap space you have for the next year while negotiating.

[SpyPirates]

This ranks pretty high on my list of things to add to Madden 18. I'm not an IRL cap expert, but I believe you can also roll cap space over from year to year, which seems like another big aspect of cap management the game is missing.

I would point out that you can currently make your contracts have relatively flat cap hits from year to year if you make the salary as low as possible and put the bulk of the value of the deal in the bonus. Only the salary escalates over time (but you're required to put in at least some salary). I've used it on occasion, but the problem of course is that the signing bonus is also the only source of guaranteed money in madden, so you're essentially handing out a nearly fully guaranteed contract.

[Ueauvan]

but logic says that if you have either cash or cap now, front load because otherwise its wasted. players union will love you

[ParaAut]

Quote: Originally Posted by ajra21

while i agree with your overall point, your last paragraph reflects how accurate madden can be to the real NFL. nearly all big signing will causes issues down the road.

I agree with you on that point. Big signings should cause some issues and you should think about how to do it - problem: You can't decide on that now.

Example:
I am playing with the Raiders. First year you have to sign Derek Carr and Khalil Mack, both cornerstones for the franchise and normally you want to keep them. Both of them asks for about 20M/year, but you can't influence how the money is distributed. If you give them both 5-year contracts the cap hit for both in the first year is just 15M (for both) I think, but in the last year 50M. Why would a GM give such a contract other than a win now team where you know you will cut them after 2-3 years? That's just stupid, but in Madden you have to take it.

[zmonkey]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ueauvan

but logic says that if you have either cash or cap now, front load because otherwise its wasted. players union will love you

But in real life what often happens with this is players get to the last year of their contract and hold out for more money since they have everything to gain and nothing to lose

But I agree with everything else. Unfortunately I had a conversation with an employee once that basically intimated that in order to implement this EA would have to completely scrap and rewrite the AI logic that dictates contracts and that it's not very likely to happen.

[Ueauvan]

so in their last year i trade them, they would be entering year 8 so starting to regress if they hadn't already

[SilverBullet19]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ueauvan

so in their last year i trade them, they would be entering year 8 so starting to regress if they hadn't already

Depends on the guy, and how he does every year. A player will regress faster after a poor season. Dez Bryant was a 92 when I started. I'm in year 5, and hes 31 or 32 (Can't remember). He's lost 2-3 points on speed, but is a 93 overall now and still dominant.

On the flip side, Terrance Williams missed half of each of the last two seasons. He peaked at 82, but hes a 76 now. Brice Butler is now rated better than him despite much less playing time (due to lower season expectations).

Trading in contract years is a good salary cap move though. I traded away Byron Jones because he was in a contract year, and I couldn't afford him. He was an 87 overall. Two years later I traded and got him back, hes still an 87.

A word of advice, from someone who has done it: don't load up on draft picks. It may sound nice to have 3,4, or 5 picks in a round (especially the first few rounds), but realistically you probably don't need all those picks to fill needs. I wind up trying to trade down, and I can't sign free agents because my rookie reserve leaves almost nothing in cap room (I've only been able to sign one free agent in 5 years. The first 2-3 was due to standard Cowboys cap issues anyway though). I've started trading the picks for players to fill needs.

[ajra21]

managing the cap is way too easy in M17 but it's harder than in previous madden.