Hi. I have several players I would like to renew or extend their contracts. When is the best time to start contract talks? I would think it would be at the end of the season so there is no distractions during the season. What do you think?

you can renew contracts any time from the 1st week of preseason Stage to End of Season Stage

If you wait until after end of season stage you could lose them to someone

This is a question that deserves some attention. A few things to keep in mind.

*There isn't a "chemistry" kind of rating so "distractions" really aren't a thing like they might be IRL.

*Players don't sustain any career ending injuries (24+ months). Most I've seen is maybe 10 weeks or so.

*All players sign for 4 years, there is no 5th year option or tag. Bonuses start in round 5 of the draft.

now some meat (there are always exceptions)

*RB's, WR's. Careers are usually over in year 9 or 10. They almost always hit their first reduction in ability during TC of the 9th year. If they were good before they are usually still viable in the 9th year, but the reduction in speed going into year 10 is usually to much. What does this mean? You're keeping an RB or WR 9 years.. so I resign them in the 3rd year for a 6 year extension, and let them walk after the 9th played year. 2 contracts at most

*QB's K's P's. They play forever, there is no point is resigning them in the 3rd year as they will most likely play to 12 years or longer. So, expect that one of these positions may have 3 contracts with your team if you draft them. 4 years on the rookie deal, 6 years after.. then reevaluate and based on where they are, make a decision. Still looking good go another 6. Possibly 3 contracts

*FB's TE's. They fall off about a year after RB's and WR's.. see above and don't resign them until the 4th year as 10 years is about what you will get from them. 2 contracts at most

*OL. This group can play for 12+ years, especially centers. Don't resign OL until the 4th year, then go for 6 and that takes you to year 10.. if they are still going strong go another 6. Possibly 3 contracts.

*DL. This is a tricky group. Like OL, they can play 12+ years productively, but most will start falling off TC of year 10. With this group (and with the others just to a lesser extent) I will resign in the 3rd year if the player is someone I'm not going to let go no matter what, this will take them to year 9 and then I reevaluate. If they haven't hit the retirement mark, I resign for 6. Possibly 3 contracts.

*LB's. The group gets to year 10 and then promptly becomes unplayable after the reductions hit. Now in some cases they were so good before even father time can't stop them so they go to 11 and 12 years, They are so wildly unpredictable I just assume 10 years. 2 Contracts.

*DB's. A DB doesn't usually retire until the 10th or 11th year however they usually start hitting reductions at 9. This is the one group were I will resign a guy in the 3rd year to extend to 9 years.. even though I know he may have one more year before the retirement reaper shows up. If this is the case I will generally resign the guy for another contract, which will depend on the overall cap situation and need etc. 2 contracts most of the time.

Because there aren't any career ending injuries, or at least they are so rare I've never seen it, there is no reason not to sign a guy for 6 years, unless of course he's in his 14th year or something. You can still pay the minimum bonus no matter the contract length This will also help if you are looking to trade the guy a few seasons in, as the offer becomes more appealing if the other guy doesn't have to resign and can roster the guy with no bonuses attached. This also helps you stretch your cap longer.

Now, managing this way can lead to a FANTASTIC problem if you are a good drafter, which is eventually you get to a point where you don't have enough guys retiring/leaving and your draft picks start to overwhelmingly outnumber your openings. If this starts happening. Congratulations, you just hit max level, now all you have to do is get good =)


Extra Credit: Something to keep in mind with MFN, at least right now is the value of defensive backs, especially corners. Outside of your QB, this position group is the most important for a number of reasons in MFN. They get injured the least (by far) and have a tremendous impact on the game as most of the successful, game changing plays are passes to WR's on hooks and slants. If you can't stop these plays at least reasonably, it's gonna be tough to build a record that gets you in the playoffs if your league is competitive.

Obviously every Gm is going to have a different experience with the players and may not agree with the always sign for 6 years part. I don't mean you should literally sign every contract at 6 years, but in most cases this is correct to do with star/starting players.

Holla

Thanks everyone! Very helpful and useful!

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Also if you haven't already, find anything posted by Setherick and read it.

I did tell you Duval, that you were no "noob" :)

Some very solid advice there !

Another good time to extend a players contract, and even save some "same year" cap room, is to look over the players Duval has mentioned about that trend down at a slow pace.....QB, K, P...particularly QB. If you take over a team, and you have a solid young QB with decent output, then you can sign him up to a 6-year deal and actually save cap from for the current season. I have done this many times and was surprised the player took a season loss in income for a longer deal.

A topic for another day is the renegotiating wizard, it is perhaps the single worst tool in the game that is to be of an "aid".

LOL Kaba! I do agree the wizard is.. no wizard. Don't use it.

Yes, a lot of times you can renegotiate a contract on average skilled players and save money not only in the current season, but the next as well. I do this sometimes just to reduce the cap knowing for certain I'm not keeping the player for the full 6, but it gets me cash now and next season. This works with older players and... FA's!! If you sign some dude out of FA for a massive contract to land him, you can renegotiate it the following year for something a lot more reasonable, you just need the ability to actually sign him initially.

This reminds me to mention, plan your dead cap ahead of time. If you use a similar method to what I've posted above, and again it's just a general guideline I use, you will get into a situation 5-6 seasons down the road in which you have to be able/willing/ready to release players flat out which leads to dead cap, as these players being released have a few years to go with a bonus attached. Generally, generally,.. most GM's aren't going to be interested in "player for player" trades, or backups. Because of this, signing my backups for max contracts is important to keep role players on the team. You really won't find much in FA outside of the initial placement if your league is remotely competitive. Plan out a few years how you plan to draft and move players so you can either keep a little dead cap each year, or make moves to dump a lot of it in a season you can afford to take the hit. I've had some seasons where I was able to plan to dump off 30+mil in dead cap the following year.. still sign everyone and improve my team.. allowing me the next several season that follow to go bananas in FA.

Managing an NFL roster in something like the ocean tide, it ebbs and flows.