Waivers

[Goodell]

With the Larry Johnson situation in the news last week there was more talk about the waiver system in the NFL than usual. No team claimed LJ off waivers to pick up his existing contract so he became a free agent.

We strive to keep things real here, so my thoughts would be we should eventually have that added to our process here also after some off-season polling and time to add it to the system for next season.

I just wanted to bring it up now, though, while that's fresh in our minds with a recent big name example to see if any strong feelings on that otherwise while it's a topic of conversation now.

Here we tend to get more losing teams looking forward to next year cut some players toward the end of the season to have the cap hit go against this year's cap instead of in the off-season toward next year's. If we incorporate that next year, those players would have to go through waivers like LJ before they became free agents on the market. It would go on the books almost like a trade if a team claimed him I believe, where the cutting team would still be responsible for the signing bonus hit but the rest of the salary and contract otherwise would transfer to the claiming team. And we'd give priority based upon how the NFL did it I believe favoring teams with lower records.

That's not the case this year, but probably something we'll look at for next year during off-season discussions to try to mirror what the NFL does on the rare moments when big name players get cut mid-season and other teams have a chance to claim before they hit free agency.

For new GMs, we have some time at the end of the season where teams can make cuts if they wish and have cap space to still fit them on 2009 books before we turn the clock to 2010 rosters, so you don't need to cut veterans like that until the season is over. The waiver system next year will help limit mid-season cuts even more which is probably a good thing.

[Andrew P]

I think this a good idea and something that should be inputed next year.

[sportznut]

I like it. It would also mean teams couldn't randomly cut a guy, with the hope of re-signing them to a long term deal, without actually losing that player for nothing.

Its also a way for some of the bottom feeders to get a little bit of talent on their team.

My only suggestion would be in order for a waiver claim to process, the team MUST have the roster spot available.

Not sure how difficult it would be to provide the logic, but in Yahoo if it would prompt you to drop someone one, if your waiver claim was successful, and you didn't already have a roster spot open.

[Andrew P]

Ahh Nice add ons Sportz

[Dan M]

I like it. It would also mean teams couldn't randomly cut a guy, with the hope of re-signing them to a long term deal, without actually losing that player for nothing.

Its also a way for some of the bottom feeders to get a little bit of talent on their team.

My only suggestion would be in order for a waiver claim to process, the team MUST have the roster spot available.

Not sure how difficult it would be to provide the logic, but in Yahoo if it would prompt you to drop someone one, if your waiver claim was successful, and you didn't already have a roster spot open.

Great points Nut.

I would also like to see this added. It could also potentially add a little intrigue during a slow part of the year.

[soonertf]

Yeah I agree with Nutz as well. It would be a great way to keep GMs from cheating the system to get their players signed long-term. Plus I think it would add an intriguing feature tot eh game.

[RebelFan]

This sounds like a great idea to me as well. Good points made by Sportznut & Sooner too.
However, I have to disagree with the description of "cheating the system". I guess it's just the word cheating that stands out to me, but I was under the impression that this was the only choice (and perfectly legal) for an owner to resign a player midseason, since we haven't incorporated any other method for doing that. Now that being said, and after a great deal of experimentation with this method of re-signing players, it is in my opinion not all that smart of a move. At least not with a well known player. And also not if you are working 60/70 hours per week outdoors like me. I was so cold yesterday I was using my nose to work my iphone so I wouldn't have to take my gloves off!
Sorry if that seems like a rant, just seems like there's a lot of resentment and hard feelings about the whole situation in regards to cutting/resigning players. I apologize to anyone who thinks less of me for trying to do it, but I never for one moment would have thought of it as cheating. Empirical evidence from my point of view is that it is a definitely a risk or reward situation.
I admit that even though Troy gave me the link to the old forum, I haven't gone back and looked at the rules discussions from the past about this matter. I guess I was waiting for the discussion to begin this offseason about rule changes, etc.

[RebelFan]

bump

[whteshark]

I would love to see a waiver wire instituted for all the points above and more.

[Goodell]

I'm trying to figure out the exact rules. Not that we have to use them exactly if they are overly complicated but trying to get the NFL waiver rules down.

I've read that "Only players with four or fewer accrued NFL seasons enter the waiver wire... Players who have completed more than four accrued seasons automatically become free agents if they are let go at this point in the season," but that doesn't really explain why Larry Johnson (who had more experience than that) had to go through waivers and wasn't a free agent upon release unless it was just because of the time of the year it happened.

"Once players are cut by a team, they are eligible to be signed first by the team with the worst record in the previous season, then the second worst and so on until you get to the best NFL team... This waiver wire order is reset on September 28th to reflect the current worst win/loss records in the league."

If someone can find a good resource that maps out the real waiver process, we can make sure we know what the exact rules are and then talk about whether we implement them exactly or something in the same spirit of that (or not at all if most don't). But sounds like many were wanting to put in a waiver system and goes along with the league intentions of being realistic. Just have to figure out the details if someone knows the NFL waivers or can find the exact details related to younger and veterans and how it may change at different points of the season.