Managing The Salary Cap In Franchise Mode

For those of you that love to build a Dynasty with your favorite team in Franchise Mode, this article is for you.  It focuses on managing your team’s cap during the first season, and the first off-season.

First Season- For most Franchise players, the first 2-3 years are spent shaping your team to cater to the style of football you want to play.  Unfortunately, this is also where many players make the moves that put them in “salary cap hell” during years 4 and 5.  The best way to avoid this is to lay out a plan and know where each dollar is being spent.  For example, let’s say I’m starting my Franchise with the Miami Dolphins (with default rosters).

The first thing I want to do is identify which players have a future with my team and which players are just eating up roster spots and cap room.  After a complete and thorough analysis of my roster, I determine that the following players will have a future with my franchise…

Only 26 of my team’s 54 players have a future with my franchise beyond helping me this year.  What I want to do is identify all of the players that I do not want on my team in year two, and figure out how to get rid of them.  It’s not hard to get rid of players that have 1 year contracts because I can simply let the contract expire after the year is over.  The problem is the players that have multi-year deals with a signing bonus, if I release or trade them I will take a cap hit resulting in less money to use in the off-season.  Here are the players that prove problematic because of their contracts…

• WR- Ernest Wilford (65 OVR) – 3 yrs, $3-4 million per year
• MLB- Akin Ayodele (71 OVR) – 2 yrs, $3-4 million per year
• MLB- Reggie Torbor (65 OVR) – 3 yrs, $3-4 million per year
• ROLB- Charlie Anderson (65 OVR) – 2 yrs, $2-3 million per year
• SS- Tyrone Culver (64 OVR) – 2 yrs, $500 thousand per year

These 5 players (that I don’t want on my team) would take up about $16 million of my cap in 2010, not to mention 5 roster spots that could be used to bring in players to fit my system.  Now the question is, how do I get rid of them?  The best way to keep the $16 million and free up the roster spots is to wait until the end of the season after the Super Bowl is over.  Before you advance to the post-season release the players with $0K signing bonuses that you don’t plan on keeping in 2010.  This frees up extra cap space needed to get rid of the players with bad contracts, because it allows me to resign them to 1 year contracts for more money.

Now I can resign Wilford, Ayodele, Torber, Anderson, and Culver to 1 year contracts.  The amount of money I pay them goes up to about $21 million, but once I head into the off-season they will all be free agents, and that $21 million will be wiped clean.

As the off-season begins I have about $70 million to resign players, sign free agents, and sign draft picks.

Off-Season - Now that my player personnel is all set I can focus on resigning players, free agency, and the draft.

Resigning Players- Assign player priorities to the players you need to resign.  For example, Ronnie Brown (90 OVR) is important to my team and at 28 years old he would work well under a 4 year contract.  His contract will run out just as he starts to decline.  On the other end of the spectrum, Davone Bess (79 OVR) is a good player, but probably will never evolve into more than a 3rd or 4th wide receiver for me.  Instead of giving him a long contract, I would resign him to a 2 or 3 year deal so I’m not financially strapped down the road with a 4th or 5th string wide receiver making starter’s money.

Free Agency- Be careful, this is where a lot of Franchise players get into trouble.  You don’t necessarily need big names unless they will fill huge roles for you.  I had about $60 million left so and my free agent haul looks like this…

• CB- Marlin Jackson (84 OVR) 1 year, $10.82M – 1 year stopgap because I need a solid nickel corner and can afford to give him $11M.  Long term he wouldn’t be a good investment because I wouldn’t start him.
• DT- Mike Patterson (78 OVR) 1 year, $6.35M- 1 year stopgap DT to play nose tackle in 3-4 defense.
• K- Sebastion Janikowski (74 OVR) 1 year, $1.00M – 1 year stopgap kicker with a huge leg will fill my temporary need.
• MLB- Takeo Spikes (72 OVR) 1 year, $1,47M – 1 year stopgap MLB can provide depth at inside linebacker in my 3-4 defense.
• WR- Brad Smith (69 OVR) 1 year, $890K – Experimental signing, the former QB might give me a new dimension to the Wildcat offense.
• ROLB- Antwan Barnes (69 OVR) 7 years, $8.12M – A value pick because I can convert him to pass rushing defensive end in nickel and dime situations.  An 82 OVR rated DE.
• LOLB- Elvis Dumervil (66 OVR) 7 years, $7.07M – Another value pick that will serve the same purpose as Barnes.  An 86 OVR rated DE.
• QB- Troy Smith (66 OVR) 1 year, $1.57M – Another player that could give me more options from the Wildcat.

Overall, nothing too flashy but very solid in the grand scheme of my team, every player serves a purpose.  Most importantly, I did not sign any long term contracts that will hurt me in a few years because there was no one worth it in free agency.

NFL Draft- The draft will obviously vary depending on any draft pick trades you made and what rounds your picks are in.  If you have a top 14 pick be careful signing him long term because if he turns out to be a bust, or just a terrible fit to your system, you will be paying the price for it down the road.

A few other tips to note in regards to managing the salary cap…

- If you’re unsure about signing a particular free agent, sign him to a $0K bonus contract.  You will have to pay more in salary but if he doesn’t work out you can always release him without getting hit by a cap penalty.

- Don’t be afraid to sign high rated players that will retire in a year or two to long term contracts.  If 35 year old Ray Lewis (91 OVR) and you really want him, feel free to sign him to a 7 year deal because the first couple years will be the least expensive.  Before he becomes really expensive he will retire.

- There is no need to pay backups anything more than $3 million per season.  If your 5th string wide receiver is making more than $3 million, he probably won’t see much playing time to be worth that amount of money.  (With the rare exception if you’re a user that likes to play 5 WR sets).

- Stockpile 2nd and 3rd round draft picks.  They won’t be paid nearly as much as first round picks and there are some real steals late in drafts.

Good luck and have fun with your Franchise!