help needed to mange raider cap
 

hey all, I would really appreciate some help if anyone knows a solution or two to my problem.

I am playing offline franchise mode and seem to have an unmanagable cap siuation. Crazy Al Davis has given out so many stupid contracts that, now I have got to the end of season 1, I dont seem to be able to resign a full roster or sign my draft picks.

Is there a way to restructure contracts and minimise damage to cap?

Is the end of season 1 too late to do it?

Woul really appreciate any advice (other than pick a different team:wink:) shoudl anyone be able to help.

I have looked through the forum for similar threads and wil continue but havent found anything that helps with this specific problem.

Thanks in advance

Matt

Re: help needed to mange raider cap
 

I roll with the raiders too, and I have been through year 1, and the bottom line is that you are going to have to cut or trade some of those big contracts. Either that, or you can't sign the draft picks.

For instance, Justin Fargas might be trade bait (maybe for a late draft pick). Michael has a big contract that could be dropped, perhaps (if I remember correctly) and of course, the shammockery that is Russell (probably wouln't be realistic to trade him, so you might just have to eat some of that contract.

Say more about your sitch, tho' and I can try to help. Love helping fellow Raider owners.

Re: help needed to mange raider cap
 

Okay this is totally cheating, but if you are in a total bind and salary cap hell is going to ruin your franchise anyway- desprate times call for desprate measures:




For guys who are about to become free agents at the end of the year, change their position to Kicker so they are like a 14 overall, then you can sign them for cheap.


For guys that have an ungodly contract like Russell or walker, just before the off season, you can sign them to a 1 year deal (unfortunately you need some cap space to do this), then they will become free agents in the off season and you are off the hook.


On a side note for draft picks- it's not worth it to me to sign first round players to huge contracts. I would trade out of the 1st to the beginning of the 2nd- you can still find value because of the late round gems (also avoid overpaying a bust like Al always does)- plus the difference between late 1st rounders and early 2nd rounders can be as high as $3-4 million a year.

Re: help needed to mange raider cap
 

do it like this and you feel like your cheating. during the offseason the raiders restructured a few contracts that madden is not taking in to account. they are gallery- warren- walker-and i also think huff. release these players in the main rosters before you start your season. start season and sign the players off the fee agent market before your first preseason games! there salaries will come to about what they are in real life now. trade fargas! but be careful. fad gets injured alot.

Re: help needed to mange raider cap
 

Well if you went and released a lot of the "dead weight" (Walker, Warren etc) then you will experience a cap situation because of penalties.

You might just have to sign the worst of the worst to get by this season and start your rebuilding next offseason.

Oh also trade all your high picks for 5th, 6th, and 7th rounders and sign those guys to long term deals. That way if they turn out to be sleepers, you can keep them without paying them a lot of money. If they turn out to be duds you can release them without penalty since they don't have a signing bonus.

Re: help needed to mange raider cap
 

this is what i did at the end of my first year, i had like 100 k left over, lol.

i couldn't wait to get rid of walker, warren and kelly. hell, kelly isn't even starting anymore and walker was the 4th guy on the depth chart.

Re: help needed to mange raider cap
 

Take a long hard look at warren, walker, huff, gallery and to a lesser degree russell, mcfadden and tommy kelly. Let seymour walk without compensation.

I personally would get out the scalpel and then play with a JV squad for a few years.. at least you can try to keep some core players (kirk morrison comes to mind) if you start the surgery early.

heyward-bey ftw.

Re: help needed to mange raider cap
 

Thats exactly what I did, I cut the dead weight took about $76 million in cap hits, signed the cheapest players I could find to fill the roster and simmed year 1 and 2, after year 2 is when I began rebuilding. Unfortunately after offseason of the 2nd year I lost interest, so I never was able to complete the rebuild.