This will be a thread about how I manage my team and deal with personnel and salary issues. I don't ONLY want it to be about my way of doing things on my team though. I know there are a lot of smart people here who certainly need no advice from me on team management, so I'm hoping you other guys will add your own views and strategies to this thread. Hopefully it will become a nice resource on roster management and maybe the mods will sticky it.
Just to let you know where I am coming from: In my current franchise I am in the 5th year, my team is currently 95 OVR with a 95 offense and 95 defense. I have 26 players on my roster who are over 90 OVR and 10 who are 99 OVR. I would say about half of my players are from the default roster and the other half are MGD. I am currently $26.3m under the cap with $840k in penalties.
Player Loyalty: The most important concept to me in managing a team is maintaining loyalty to your players. I like this just to add enjoyment to the game, but I also think it keeps me from making a lot of bad decisions that could get me into trouble financially. When I sign a player to a long term contract I will continue to re-sign them throughout his career. In other words, once you are on my team you are a "lifer". It doesn't matter if a player is a starter or backup, I try to keep my personnel stable.
There are three ways for a player to leave my team:
1) Retire
2) Exhibit a morale problem, start whining and complaining, and you will be traded
3) Sometimes if a backup player is over 30 and clearly has no chance of ever starting for my team but could definately start for another team, I will trade them so they get a chance to be a starter. I will only trade them to a team where I know they will start and make the money they should.
In the beginning of a franchise, the first 5 years or so, there is an adjustment process where some default roster players are let go to make room for new players. I am at the end of that process right now, with maybe 1 or 2 remaining original players who will be let go. All else will stay until retirement, or until one of the other conditions occur.
The Draft: My main method of aquiring players is through the draft. Of the 50 or so players on my roster only 2 were aquired through a trade of some kind. All other were drafted, signed as free agents, or were on the original roster. When I draft a player I offer him a one year contract which is subject to renegotiation on or after week 8 of his rookie season. Usually, the last 3-4 players I draft will get "no bonus" contracts, which means if they turn out to be bums I can cut or trade them with no penalty. Generally I keep all draftees for one full season anyway, but it's a nice safety net if I happen to need to get rid of them.
Free Agents: I look through the free agents during the signing period, and again at the end of camp, but I only look for young players with no experience (stats) with any other team. Sometimes there are decent undrafted players I can grab. Sometimes there are 2nd or 3rd year guys let go by their former team. My current starting FB was an abondoned second year player. You can find some real bargains in this manner.
I never pick up veteran free agents with a lot of experience. I see no reason to in this game. You can develop young players into good players relatively quickly and for less money. I see no reason to sign accomplished players who are going to expect a big deal. Anyway, being loyal to my players, I always have a ton of high AWR accomplished players on my team already.
Free agents, like rookies, are also offered one year deals, renegotiable at or after week 8.
Trading: Again, I rarely trade. When I do it's usually because I have a player with bad morale who I need to get rid of, or an over 30 vet who deserves to start somewhere else. Just like the free agents, I will look for young players I can develop who have no NFL experience. I look for guys with low OVR due to attributes I can increase through progression. If I trade for rookies I make sure it's a realistic sitution which does not take advantage of the CPUs stupidity. In other words, taking other teams top draft picks is not acceptable.
The main reason I don't like to trade a lot, especially for decent players, is because you are inhereting a deal that you did not create, not to mention any cap hits you might take. In most cases the CPU has offered a contract that I would not have, and now I would have to deal with it. That means any contract I give the guy after that will still reflect the original contract. He's not going to accept less money, right? So by trading you often inheret bad decisions made by the CPU. By limiting my trading to lower level players I avoid this for the most part.
Holdouts: It's very simple. If the guy is a starter and a "lifer" and he holds out I will pay him whatever he wants. Actually, I usually make out better on the deal because it gives me a change to renegotiate his contract for another 7 years. If a player is a backup and has the audacity to hold out he just bought himself a ticket out of town. This is akin to having bad morale and is one of the ways to get kicked off the team. That rarely happens though. So, really, I either pay holdouts if they are worth it or get rid of them if they aren't. I wish there were other ways to deal with holdouts in this game, but that's about it.
Contract Negotiations: My door is open three times a year to talk to players about their contracts:
1) In the preseason I will review the roster and any veteran players who have their contracts expire after that season will get a new deal. This is what the real Steelers did with Ward this season, and I do it with all of my key players. It's my way to telling them I want them around until they retire, plus it's one less thing I have to worry about later in the year when I have the rookies to deal with. And it also, usually, helps my cap number.
2) Week 8. This is when all contracts due to expire after the season will be reviewed. Usually that means making a decision on rookies. Those who proved their worth so far will be granted big, fat, 7 year, max bonus contracts and will be accepted onto the team as "lifers". Note, by doing this you are usually locking a lower OVR guys into a long contract. When he is 95 OVR in a few seasons he will be a huge bargain. Those rookies who obviously have no place on my team will keep their current deal and will be allowed to become free agents in the off season. Those on the cusp, the fringe players, will keep their current deal but will be reviewed again at the end of the year.
3) In the offseason I generally look at whoever is left with an expired contract and make my final decision on them. Most players who are not signed at this point will be let go, and usually it's rookies. The only veterans who get to this point are ones who have or will have moral problems in the forseeable future.
Then it starts all over again with another draft, another crop of rookies, another round of one year deals, and on and on.
Some exceptions: All contracts I offer to "lifers" are 7 year max bonus deals. However, there are exceptions sometimes. Offensive lineman progress so quickly this year, I really try to give them contracts that reflect their level of progress. In other words, I don't want to get stuck with a backup tackle who has major morale issues and 5 years left on a big bonus contract. That's bad. So I give backup lineman smaller contracts, for fewer years, unless I believe they will work their way in as a starter before they get mad about playing time.
I had this problem with backup QBs and RBs last year, but this year it hasn't been so bad. I am prepared for that though, so when I draft a QB I give him a 3 year deal so he hits as a restricted free agent. Then, if he ends up like 92 OVR after 3 years and I do have to get rid of him (my starter is 99 OVR), maybe I can get some draft picks for him at least.
Well, I really can't think of anything else. I'm sure I will right after I post this.
Everybody please add your own outline of how you manage your team.
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Originally Posted by MLB58
Haha!
