ok. Been prepping for the off season, cut some trash players. Had 2 players that were at 1 yr remaining, one of which I was going to hopefully resign when FA began. That was when I logged off yesterday.

Today, I had basically every good player on my team waived - all of which had 2 - 5 years remaining on their contracts. Meaning they would have 1-4 yrs remaining at end of season.

I went from 1m under the cap,dead cap of ~80m, cap used next yr ~325m, and dead cap next yr ~26m and in position to have ~50+ million in usable cap space next season, to this:
Total Cap: $406,362,596
Dead Cap: $291,768,331
Room under cap: $15,478,066
Cap used next year: $285,190,637
Dead cap next year: $212,875,906
Players under contract: 46

All kinds of crazy **** city players i didn't sign have been signed to my team, and all my good players were waived.
I've made a frantic effort to claim my waived players, but it will be futile, given the crazy cap situation. ...and that is only if they aren't claimed by someone else.
What a complete, total waste of 2 months. I don't know what to do other than quit a game I was really, really enjoying, and finally starting to have a clue about. Nothing in the about, help, tour, getting started, blog, roadmap, or league/community forums mentioned any of this, or if this regularly happens, what to do to prevent it. Shouldnt players showing 2-5 yrs remaining stay on the team?
https://mfn2.myfootballnow.com/team/16

Doubt this can be reversed to yesterday?
#completelyfrustrated #totallybaffled

here = https://mfn2.myfootballnow.com/team/16

Looking at your team, it looks like you've had a ton of signings and releases in a short period of time. Which can get you into trouble if your not careful and experienced in managing a teams cap.

If it was a salary cap issue, the system will cut contracts to get you back under the cap if you don't do so yourself before the next stage. Although this clears cap for this year, your still on the hook for the remaining bonus promised to that player. This shows up as dead cap for the following year.

Example: if one of your players is released or traded, and he is owed a bonus of 1.0m per year for the next 5 yrs. 5.0m would go against your cap the following year and show up in your financials as dead cap.

Or could also be a combo of going over the roster limit(53) and cap limit. In which the ai is going to get both your roster and cap where it's supposed to be regardless of how good the players it releases are. And I don't think the ai cares about the situation it puts you in the next year by cutting these players. It only thinks about the now. The best thing is to not let the ai get involved by keeping your roster limits and cap in check the way you want it.

Note that some GM's love the challenge of taking over a cap train wreck team and others do not. Just matters how ya like to play the game.


Here's a good reference on dead cap:
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1566775-nfl-free-agency-a-basic-expliantion-of-the-complex-concept-of-dead-money

I was at 49 players, dropped quite a few midweek wild card. Was below 46 next day (I expected this). pre wild card game sim: Did not sign any players. Was not in a cap issue/over the cap/dead money current or net year situation. Was actually pleased to have ample money to fill gaps with picks and FAs. Did nothing yesterday but sort draft options, logged in today post wild card game to the above situation.
I'm am thinking it is because i cut players that were in the last year of their contract prior to the completion of the championship game? OR, I did get that message stating I had players that needed to be signed before hitting free agency a couple-3 days ago, so I "clicked here." All but 2 players were signed to 2-5 yrs remaining contracts. Looked here in forums, it was mentioned it was an error message. So, I dismissed it, figuring players with multiple yrs remaining would be ok, and I could sign the 1 player of the 2 that were in their final year when early FA started. I figured since my season was over, it was ok to start basic off season roster moves.
I just don't want to make the same mistake again. I'm guessing the mistake was making moves to early. At which point after a player's season is over can a player start making major roster moves to prepare for FA periods and draft? End of league season (championship game) / before early FA? please let me know. Thanks gang, appreciate the feedback.

You want to resign players "before" the end season stage or they will head to FA. Same goes for players that you really like like in FA. It's usually cheaper to sign them during the season. But of course they are slim pickins.

I see you signed a lot of min. 1 yr contracts. You will loose those guys to FA at the end of the year regardless. Rules dont allow us to resign players under a 1 yr min contract. I usually sign guys that might be usable even if it's only a special teams guy, to a 2 yr min contract. You have to pay a bonus then but it usually can be a small amount. Then you have control of him if he turns out to be a diamond in the rough or usable.

I also only resign players with 2 yrs left on their contract if it can help my cap and I am going to hang onto them for a long period. But I only do that in a cap pinch. Cause usually you can wait it out til their last yr. Ya never know when a good trade offer will come your way for that player so why pay all that extra bonus $$ if you don't have to.

Im puzzled as to why all your players were cut then. I was judging by your dead cap for next year. That's a lot of bonus money being paid for one season.

I believe this is your problem. Even though your team may not be in the playoffs, the game still requires your team to meet all the roster constraints on game-day spins. If your roster was below 46, the AI would have signed players for you to get back to 46. If that caused you to then go over the cap, the AI would start cutting other players during the same sim to get you back under the cap, then re-sign to get to 46, then cut to stay under the cap, etc...
Next time save your dead-weight cutting until the start of the new season.

Thanks :)
Another Q? If, during the off season (early FA/draft/late FA stages), one drops below 46 players, will the AI do it's cowabunga crazy signing thing again? Or, is it ok to have less than 46 in the off season?

I don't believe any roster/cap rules are enforced until Training Cap when you're roster must be limited to 60 players. All the other rules (i.e. 53-man, 46 active and cap) are enforced for the first time at preseason game #1.