I am copying this from the league forum. Trying to find out why this player rejected my offer with bonus money to sign a contract with no bonus money.

I have a contract question that maybe someone can answer. First of all, I'm not the least bit upset that I lost out on this player, as he was gonna be a TE3.

I always thought that bonus money was king, and that a player would choose the offer with the highest bonus. Not this time, though to be fair, my total offer was less than what was accepted.



https://wfl.myfootballnow.com/player/58

As you can see, the player received no signing bonus from Norway. My contract offer was for 1 year, $336,015 but I offered a bonus of roughly $160K.

So why did the player not take the bonus? Maybe there is a "floor" number for bonuses that any offer below that, they take most total $$$???

This player was on my roster for a bit last season (signed midweek 16) and feels neutral about me.

I think it's the total amount. You may see this with FAs contracted by AI getting more base salary and less bonus than your offer but higher total amount.
You may also monitor it on your pending contract list... always listed the total sum.

A player will often take the offer with the best 'guaranteed' money. Big bonuses are usually offered when you start to have cap issues

He was signed by another human, and it was late FA 1, so offer/acceptance happened in the same sim.

There was changes awhile back, too to where it's not as clear cut.

Someone more technical may have a better nuanced response but where before anything with more bonus $$$ took the player....other variables have now been added.

Yes, there is a non-zero weight to the base salary, so the base salary of the contract he accepted was worth enough above the guaranteed money you offered that he chose that one instead.