Post by Keller on Mar 11, 2012 1:27:41 GMT -5
1) Rosters need to be "molded" on XFN. Every team must be at or below 48 players BEFORE the draft. This is very important. If you do not do this, I will do it for you - and trust me, you don't want that.
Basically, once you're signed up on there, go into the front office and use the sign and release tab. In there you'll see that some of your players are in red. It will look something like this...
RED means that a players contract is expiring. In the CMFL, you have the very first crack at re-signing your players before they become free agents. We call them, "restricted" free agents. It doesn't work exactly like it does in the NFL but the principle is the same - essentially you have the first right to sign these guys BEFORE anyone else. You decide whether or not you want to sign a guy BEFORE he enters unrestricted Free Agency.
Okay, lets go to the sign release tab and start getting rid of guys you don't want. There are a few very important things to keep in mind:
VERY IMPORTANT - DO NOT SIGN ANY FREE AGENTS OTHER THAN YOUR OWN PLAYERS THAT ARE IN RED. FA BIDDING WILL OPEN AFTER THE DRAFT.
A) Players that are re-signed MUST NOT be signed to contracts longer than 3 years. If you need an explanation as to why we do this, I will provide it to you. If you accidentally break this rule, let me know, I can fix it for you. If I find that you broke this rule intentionally, I will force a yet to be determined contract penalty upon you AND restructure the players contract accordingly.
B) Contracts/Salary cap are very important to consider when cutting players. If the player is RED then he will no longer be under contract next season so releasing him causes no penalty. However, cutting a player in BLACK means he is under contract and IF he has a signing bonus the REMAINDER of that signing bonus will be accelerated to your cap as a cap penalty. To expand on that, if a player signed a 3 year 17 million dollar contract with a 4.5 million dollar signing bonus his contract MIGHT look like this... of course, this is just an example.
Year 1
2mil Salary
1.5mil Signing Bonus
Year 2
5mil Salary
1.5mil Signing Bonus
Year 3
10mil Salary
1.5mil Signing Bonus
This players cap hit in year 1 is 3.5 mil or 2+1.5.
This players cap hit in year 2 is 6.5 mil or 5+1.5
This players cap hit in year 3 is 11.5mil or 10+1.5
So if you cut this player after year 1, before season 2, you would owe him 1.5mil Signing Bonus over 2 years, or 1.5x2 or 3 Million. Your cap penalty for cutting this player is then equal to that amount. However, this may be beneficial to you because this player is owed for season two, in addition to his 1.5mil signing bonus, 5mil worth of salary. That means that while you would suffer a 3mil cap penalty, you're also not paying him 6.5mil out of your cap. That means your cap relief for cutting that player is 6.5mil - 3mil or 3.5mil. Simple math.
Okay so lets get back on topic - to "re-sign" a player, just click the green + sign next to his name and start negotiating a contract. Remember that players may NOT be given contracts longer than 3 years. 3 years is the max. To release or cut a player, press the red - sign next to him and confirm your selection. Thats it!
Obviously if any of you have questions about this or need clarification or help with your rosters, PLEASE ASK. I am here to help you guys understand this process - I know you'll love it once you get the hang of it.
C) You must NOT drop below "roster minimums" that are required by the console. You basically are not allowed to have ZERO players at a particular position on the console. That means that if you only have 1 FB, you're not going to be able to release him if his contract is up. To get around this, we sign what we call "dummy" players. In the sign release tab, sign the VERY WORST player at the position in question (in this case, FB) and make sure you sign him to a 1yr deal with no signing bonus. That way when he is cut in the future, there is no cap penalty. Once you have a "dummy player" you can release the player you no longer want. Down the road, you will sign a player you actually want and then you can remove the dummy player. Make sense?
Again feel free to ask questions if you need to. Here's a break down of the roster minimums:
QB - 1
HB - 1
FB - 1
WR - 2
TE - 1
LT - 1
LG - 1
C - 1
RG - 1
RT - 1
LE - 1
RE - 1
DT - 1
LOLB - 1
MLB - 1
ROLB - 1
CB - 2
FS - 1
SS - 1
K - 1
P - 1
To summarize this section above, this is the "get rosters down to 48 players" stage.
3) Restricted Free Agency. You will finally get to see the post-progression/regression of the players on your team and make final decisions on ALL of the players in RED on your roster. Your roster still must be below 48 players. Again, if I have to do this for you, I will, but I won't be happy about it.
4) We collectively have to pick a night to run the rookie draft. In the past, I have found that Sunday is typically the best day to run this. Is everyone okay with this Sunday, maybe around 6pm EST?
5) Sign rookies
6) Unrestricted Free Agency
7) Season Open
Basically, once you're signed up on there, go into the front office and use the sign and release tab. In there you'll see that some of your players are in red. It will look something like this...
RED means that a players contract is expiring. In the CMFL, you have the very first crack at re-signing your players before they become free agents. We call them, "restricted" free agents. It doesn't work exactly like it does in the NFL but the principle is the same - essentially you have the first right to sign these guys BEFORE anyone else. You decide whether or not you want to sign a guy BEFORE he enters unrestricted Free Agency.
Okay, lets go to the sign release tab and start getting rid of guys you don't want. There are a few very important things to keep in mind:
VERY IMPORTANT - DO NOT SIGN ANY FREE AGENTS OTHER THAN YOUR OWN PLAYERS THAT ARE IN RED. FA BIDDING WILL OPEN AFTER THE DRAFT.
A) Players that are re-signed MUST NOT be signed to contracts longer than 3 years. If you need an explanation as to why we do this, I will provide it to you. If you accidentally break this rule, let me know, I can fix it for you. If I find that you broke this rule intentionally, I will force a yet to be determined contract penalty upon you AND restructure the players contract accordingly.
B) Contracts/Salary cap are very important to consider when cutting players. If the player is RED then he will no longer be under contract next season so releasing him causes no penalty. However, cutting a player in BLACK means he is under contract and IF he has a signing bonus the REMAINDER of that signing bonus will be accelerated to your cap as a cap penalty. To expand on that, if a player signed a 3 year 17 million dollar contract with a 4.5 million dollar signing bonus his contract MIGHT look like this... of course, this is just an example.
Year 1
2mil Salary
1.5mil Signing Bonus
Year 2
5mil Salary
1.5mil Signing Bonus
Year 3
10mil Salary
1.5mil Signing Bonus
This players cap hit in year 1 is 3.5 mil or 2+1.5.
This players cap hit in year 2 is 6.5 mil or 5+1.5
This players cap hit in year 3 is 11.5mil or 10+1.5
So if you cut this player after year 1, before season 2, you would owe him 1.5mil Signing Bonus over 2 years, or 1.5x2 or 3 Million. Your cap penalty for cutting this player is then equal to that amount. However, this may be beneficial to you because this player is owed for season two, in addition to his 1.5mil signing bonus, 5mil worth of salary. That means that while you would suffer a 3mil cap penalty, you're also not paying him 6.5mil out of your cap. That means your cap relief for cutting that player is 6.5mil - 3mil or 3.5mil. Simple math.
Okay so lets get back on topic - to "re-sign" a player, just click the green + sign next to his name and start negotiating a contract. Remember that players may NOT be given contracts longer than 3 years. 3 years is the max. To release or cut a player, press the red - sign next to him and confirm your selection. Thats it!
Obviously if any of you have questions about this or need clarification or help with your rosters, PLEASE ASK. I am here to help you guys understand this process - I know you'll love it once you get the hang of it.
C) You must NOT drop below "roster minimums" that are required by the console. You basically are not allowed to have ZERO players at a particular position on the console. That means that if you only have 1 FB, you're not going to be able to release him if his contract is up. To get around this, we sign what we call "dummy" players. In the sign release tab, sign the VERY WORST player at the position in question (in this case, FB) and make sure you sign him to a 1yr deal with no signing bonus. That way when he is cut in the future, there is no cap penalty. Once you have a "dummy player" you can release the player you no longer want. Down the road, you will sign a player you actually want and then you can remove the dummy player. Make sense?
Again feel free to ask questions if you need to. Here's a break down of the roster minimums:
QB - 1
HB - 1
FB - 1
WR - 2
TE - 1
LT - 1
LG - 1
C - 1
RG - 1
RT - 1
LE - 1
RE - 1
DT - 1
LOLB - 1
MLB - 1
ROLB - 1
CB - 2
FS - 1
SS - 1
K - 1
P - 1
To summarize this section above, this is the "get rosters down to 48 players" stage.
3) Restricted Free Agency. You will finally get to see the post-progression/regression of the players on your team and make final decisions on ALL of the players in RED on your roster. Your roster still must be below 48 players. Again, if I have to do this for you, I will, but I won't be happy about it.
4) We collectively have to pick a night to run the rookie draft. In the past, I have found that Sunday is typically the best day to run this. Is everyone okay with this Sunday, maybe around 6pm EST?
5) Sign rookies
6) Unrestricted Free Agency
7) Season Open