Franchise Mode - Salary Cap Penalties?

[pensan04]

In my first season as the Redskins, I had 122 million of Salary cap penalties going into Offseason Mode - Free Agent Resigning period.

I did not cut anyone with any penalty, but I did completely overhaul the roster during the season, trading Haynesworth, McNabb etc. What I think happened was that I traded Haynesworth to the Rams and he had a career ending injury during the year and had to retire. Did I get penalized for his retirement cap penalty? Is this what should have happened or a glitch or what?

I have played Madden for years, and I have always thought that the salary cap penalties came from cutting players only, so I assume it had to be the retirement.

I was pissed because I lost in the playoffs but had 70 mil in cap room, with 6 1st round picks and 2 each in the 2nd and 3rd round, and I could not sign any of them. I tried everything from gutting the roster, but at most I could make up was 10-15 mil in cap space which sucked.

Was I just screwed by the retirement or am I missing something?

Thoughts?

[RedZoneD25]

Quote: Originally Posted by pensan04

In my first season as the Redskins, I had 122 million of Salary cap penalties going into Offseason Mode - Free Agent Resigning period. I did not cut anyone with any penalty, but I did completely overhaul the roster during the season, trading Haynesworth, McNabb etc. What I think happened was that I traded Haynesworth to the Rams and he had a career ending injury during the year and had to retire. Did I get penalized for his retirement cap penalty? Is this what should have happened or a glitch or what? I have played Madden for years, and I have always thought that the salary cap penalties came from cutting players only, so I assume it had to be the retirement. I was pissed because I lost in the playoffs but had 70 mil in cap room, with 6 1st round picks and 2 each in the 2nd and 3rd round, and I could not sign any of them. I tried everything from gutting the roster, but at most I could make up was 10-15 mil in cap space which sucked. Was I just screwed by the retirement or am I missing something? Thoughts?

It was from you gutting the team in one season. Both trades and cuts cause cap penalty. Rebuilding a team is a multi-year process, and that's how you should have done it in the game. You should have restructured Haynesworth's deal to 1 year, then franchise him/trade him in the offseason. I don't even know how you got that deep in cap hell though, that's just excessive lol.

[pensan04]

I traded away everyone and stocked up on draft picks. I traded McNabb, Santana Moss, Portis, Cooley, Haynesworth, London Fletcher, among others.

Now that I know, I will be more careful. I have started a new chise now, do you know if I can see the cap penalties for trades that I have already made? Is that in the finances screen somewhere?

[Dianwei32]

You can see how much of a cap penalty trading a player will incur by selecting to release that player, then a box will come up telling you how much of a cap penalty releasing them will incur. Both releasing and trading players causes the same amount of cap penalty. If I remember correctly, cap penalty is determined by the remaining salary bonus that player is owed through their contract. So if you have a player with 3 years left on a 5-year deal with a $20M bonus, then there would be a $12M cap penalty ($20M over 5 years = $4 per year x 3 years left = $12M penalty).

Like DaveyJ said, rebuilding a team is a multi-year process. I tried doing what you did one year with the Cowboys, trading away Marion Barber, Roy Williams, Terence Newman, Andre Gurode, Leonard Davis, and Marc Colombo all in the first year. As a result, I had almost $90M in cap penalties and had $15M in cap room to try and sign my 4 first round picks. So I restarted my franchise and stretched the revuild over 3 years and only had about $25-$30M in penalties each year. Look at how much of a cap penalty each person you want to trade away incurs and try to avoid racking up more than $30-$35M per year.

[maademperor]

dammmmmmmmmmmm! 122mil! as previously said, trading/cutting is the same penalty...I cant blame you for wanting to dump the big money guys though. if someone gets injured and has to retire you do not have to pay a penalty though (I dont think)

[pensan04]

Thanks for the help. I will be aware of this when rebuilding. One other question.... Is there anyway mid season to find out your cap penalties for next year, or do you just have to keep it up in your own head?

[maademperor]

I have not found a way, one of the many issues with franchise that have not been addressed. you will notice that when you trade players it doesnt tell you that there will be a penalty either, although there is a section on the trade screen that says penalties, it never increases. its just broke. if they want me to buy madden 12 retail instead of used or not at all like I did with madden 11 and 10 then they need to get this whol franchise thing worked out....

[Winnipeg59]

May be wrong, but I did investigate this last year. I too went a little wild "re-structuring" and took a havey cap hit. Not $122-million heavy but substantial.

Consider the bonus you pay to a player as paid up front, but then spread evenly against the cap (along with the escalating salary each year).

If you cut a player...
If you trade a player...
If the player retires...
All the remaining cap then counts as a penalty for the next year.

I believe remaining bonus is also supposed to count against your next year when you "renegotiate" a current contract. So, for example, if you renegotiate a final year HUGE cap contract into a multi-year, but lower certainly in the first year, cap contract to make room, you will have the remaining bonus in the first contract as a penalty the next season.
And, of course, the first year of the contract you negotiate (if it has a bonus) will also count.

I will stand corrected if I made any errors...