My GM didn't invite ANYONE to camp. 
The new arrivals were the three FAs I hired during bidding and the 10 draftees I selected! I started camp with only 48 players, after I signed my draft class!
I think it was a cap problem. I had set aside $12M to sign draftees and have about $3M left over for an in season extension where the player's price rated to go up. The rest either rated to extend for about the same amount or I wasn't planning to extend them.
I don't normally worry about the cost of the camp FA's. The cap during camp is based on the most costly 53 players on the roster. Adding a $290K rookie doesn't cost anything if the lowest paid player in the 53 already makes $290K. Adding $900K vets cost a bit more but it's usually temporary and can be "borrowed" from the reserve for extensions.
Two things went wrong;
1) My #1 pick cost me $1M more than planned.
2) I had only 38 players on my roster AFTER I added the three free agents during pre-draft bidding.
This meant the first 15 players added at full price instead of the difference between that player and a less costly player.
I think the my GM was allowing for the possibility that all of my draft picks might receive maximum cost contracts. I never pay more than minimum, sometimes with extra bonuses or incentives to hurry the process along.
I finally got my roster up to 56 by hiring all the undrafted rookies available.
I thought this would let me hire more rookies as the other teams cut them since they wouldn't add anything to the cap but the program apparently checks first to see if I have enough cap room to cover the new FA, not how much impact the new FA will have on my cap!
I even resorted to panning for gold among the other teams' rejects. Once I gave up on a rookie I could drop him and pick up a rookie some other team had cut. I did find an 80/88 DE this way. He'll be a starter once I negotiate a real contract with him.
After much wiggling and squirming I entered the season with $40K cap room!
Did I mention that I just took over the Green Bay Franchise in 2015.
Their finances were a mess!
The new arrivals were the three FAs I hired during bidding and the 10 draftees I selected! I started camp with only 48 players, after I signed my draft class!
I think it was a cap problem. I had set aside $12M to sign draftees and have about $3M left over for an in season extension where the player's price rated to go up. The rest either rated to extend for about the same amount or I wasn't planning to extend them.
I don't normally worry about the cost of the camp FA's. The cap during camp is based on the most costly 53 players on the roster. Adding a $290K rookie doesn't cost anything if the lowest paid player in the 53 already makes $290K. Adding $900K vets cost a bit more but it's usually temporary and can be "borrowed" from the reserve for extensions.Two things went wrong;
1) My #1 pick cost me $1M more than planned.
2) I had only 38 players on my roster AFTER I added the three free agents during pre-draft bidding.
This meant the first 15 players added at full price instead of the difference between that player and a less costly player.I think the my GM was allowing for the possibility that all of my draft picks might receive maximum cost contracts.
I never pay more than minimum, sometimes with extra bonuses or incentives to hurry the process along.I finally got my roster up to 56 by hiring all the undrafted rookies available.
I thought this would let me hire more rookies as the other teams cut them since they wouldn't add anything to the cap but the program apparently checks first to see if I have enough cap room to cover the new FA, not how much impact the new FA will have on my cap!
I even resorted to panning for gold among the other teams' rejects. Once I gave up on a rookie I could drop him and pick up a rookie some other team had cut. I did find an 80/88 DE this way. He'll be a starter once I negotiate a real contract with him.
After much wiggling and squirming I entered the season with $40K cap room!
Did I mention that I just took over the Green Bay Franchise in 2015.
Their finances were a mess!
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