Question about Cap Penalties, HELP!!

[nayner7]

I got an option to clear all of my cap penalties for the year, in return it would severely hurt my team prestige...so I accepted since I had 29 Mil in cap penalties. (I beleive it happend when I traded Vick for 2 O-Linemen & a draft pick) I got a few questions about cap penalties:

1. Am I right in saying that when you trade away or release a player, you have to pay out the remainder of their signing bonuses of their contract, and thus incurring cap penalties at the end of the year?

2. Why was I allowed to clear all of my cap penalties? It just seems unfair to me, since I screwed up and now i get a clean slate for, in my opinion, giving up nothing (team prestige). What good is having a good team prestige?

3. Also, does anyone have a trick to signing players, like how to know when to sign for a full 7yrs vs only 2yrs? Cause if a player retires, you dont have to pay any of the remaining contract or bonuses right?

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

[Chomppig]

1. Yes, guys u don't plan on keeping for awhile don't give them a bonus.

2.I dunno I have never been given that option. But I have also never had a 29 mil cap penalty lol. My guess is that u got so deep in cap penalties it was trying to give u a chance to get out of it. Team prestige is good for sigining free agents. some will not play for u if u have low prestige.

3. That depends on the player. I use a created team for my franchise and it is the smashmouth roster. I run the ball most of the time and the smashmouth HB is a monster. I give him a 7 yr deal cuz he is very important to my offense. It all depends on his age and how important he is to your team. If he is a player in the middle or late stage in his career and he can help out but isn't that important don't give him a long deal or a signing bonus.

hope this helps

[kcchiefsno1]

yup, I have been offered to clear my cap penelties, but prestige is very important. Recenlty I got fired from the 49ers I think and went to the bills in the offseason but when I went to pick up free agents I couldnt get any decent players because of my prestige, I hade to jack up the amount of money I gave em and with some players I couldnt sign even if i gave em 3 times the amount of what they expect,.

[surlacher54]

yeah they made rebuilding a franchise very difficult in the free agency because of the impact of team prestige and success. Players will actually turn down a bunch of money in favor of a championship caliber team. Its good to have that balance but it can be frustrating when u see all the 28 yr old 90+ turn u down no matter how much u offer.

[nayner7]

If I need to resign a 32yr old, and I make it for 7yrs to reduce my immediate cap salary, and he retires when he is 34, do i need to pay him any more of his bonuses or salaries? If not, then the only threat to me would be if he decided not to retire till he's 39 and cost me a lot of money by then?

[Precarious42]

You would not have to pay any more once they retire...they're gone from your team. As for the 2nd part, I don't think I've had a receiver stay til 38. You shouldn't have to worry about him much past 35 max.

[Oshow]

I'm not sure about the game, but in real life the bonus money that the team owes the player should be guarenteed. The signing bonus is paid up-front, but affects your cap during the duration of the deal. If he retires, all that bonus money comes off the cap the next year. I traded for DeMarcus Ware (cost me Ahman Green, though) and the Cowboys had to eat an $8M cap hit the next year, so maybe the game does simulate real life. If I'm totally off-base here, I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that's how it works.

[DraftMaster]

say i sign a 32yr old for 7 years 7mil bonus and 28mil sal

i pay the 7m up front but is spread evenly over the entier contract
say he retires next year i still pay 6 years of his bonus it counts againts my cap but not cash flow, as i already paid it

i would not be required to pay any of the 6 remaining years of his salary

[CMP sin0180]

i find that if u think the player is going to stay with you for awhile to give him a full 7 year contract. I give one to all of my player sunder the age of 25 and all my draft picks immediately. Raising the bonus up all the way allows for a smalelr total amount and also allows for more even payments over the 7 years(EX: contract with 35 mill and 5 mill bonus=3 mill year one, 9 mill year 7, BUUUT contract with 29 mill and 14 mill bonus=4.2 mill year one, 6.5 mill year 7) So if u can afford the hit currently then it will open up your contracts down the line. But it must be balanced in order to keep everything in order. Make sure that when multiple players contracts expire that u are ready and willing to let afew of them go, because unless u eliminate all depth on your roster(AKA, 70's across the board as backups) u will not be able to sign them all. So u pretty much end up with a super team for 2 or 3 years due to so many players playing together for sooo long and extra cash to sign big name free agents but afterward you better be ready for a some tuff decision making, is your QB really good enough to release your 97 DT and your 95 WR? do u really wanna rework that many old contracts to make room for signing that 1st round draft pic?


oh, and personally, i almost always clear cap pentalties. And for those of you who "haven't been offered it"....d'uh! it's not offered. But at almost any time in the season you can go into "team info" and then press circle to clear cap penalties.