2029 FA 1.2 SIM Complete - Next SIM Monday 05/06 = FA 1.3

[prinzar]

I've already lost 2 guys for massive deals. I'm quite tight to the cap so I had no chance of keeping those guys

[Sharkn20]

Grabbed OLB Victor Randle from New Orleans, big adquisition for us, good covering the pass and stopping the run, just the perfect complement for ILB Graham due that Farmer is getting older, Excelent pick by Prinzar and now he will play for the Sharks during the next 4 Years!!

[prinzar]

I planned on keeping Randle but needed to tag Andrews. Just didn't get the deals done before he hit FA.
Randle should be a beast for the Sharks

[Aston]

The way I see it every deal you miss out on in free agency is more money and flexibility saved for the important stuff.

[prinzar]

Yeah, I think along those lines too. With 2 $100m deals to sort last season, it became difficult to balance the books.

How have you managed to have a Superbowl team over so many seasons, yet had about 100m cap room this year? That must take a hell of a lot of forward planning!

[BradZ]

LAC (possibly on auto, or has Matt Millen taken over already?) signed both Meche, T Sedrick Shepard, and DT Fred Prior.

If these were AI signings I think they are usually left alone.

Correct, LAC is still on auto/AI control, so these deals will stand.

[Aston]

Yeah, I think along those lines too. With 2 $100m deals to sort last season, it became difficult to balance the books.

How have you managed to have a Superbowl team over so many seasons, yet had about 100m cap room this year? That must take a hell of a lot of forward planning!

It was 70M and I have a bunch of major extensions to do, but yeah, definitely some forward planning

-I don't really participate in free agency, especially not for long-term deals
-No high draft picks helps
-Not paying Randy Boone much was a huge one. Although that's not true anymore
-All my contract extensions, I bump up 1st year salary and take down later year salary in order to get the total # down to 70-80% of what they are asking. It costs more in the 1st year when I know if I can afford it or not, and makes later years easier to handle.

For major renegotiations, I made a Google Drive spreadsheet to assist me in figuring out "how good" my offer is: http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/...ad.php?t=84489

And I think 75% is usually a good number to start around, give or take, if you keep the bonus the same.

I also try to time negotiations right. Don't want to extend a guy before I have to. Sometimes rookies will redo their deal in year 2 and give you an extra year. This usually costs more for the duration of their rookie deal, BUT, you get to a) give them their first big contract later, and b) they often have less dead weight bonus in that extra year when you have to re-sign them. So it can be worth it.

Trading for players also can be nice if they come in at a lower salary. The main reason to trade for a guy is talent, of course, but I've had a few players come in and play for much cheaper than they would have otherwise commanded [RB Giang, DE Stegman, DT Lee], and I imagine other people feel the same way about the WRs I have been giving away recently and eating bonus on.