2014 Off-Season Update

[Chad55]

With training camps starting up, I was wondering if we have a time frame on when draft picks will get signed? I'm just a little anxious for football to start back up!

[Goodell]

With training camps starting up, I was wondering if we have a time frame on when draft picks will get signed? I'm just a little anxious for football to start back up!

I am enjoying a bit of a break, but it is time to start getting things going again. We'll work on slight adjustments from last year's contracts and should have the 7th-3rd rounders automatically signed after this weekend, as well as getting things lined up for teams to sign their top round picks before the end of the month.

[Goodell]

We'll be automatically signing 3rd - 7th rounders this week, as well as turning on the ability for teams to ink their 1st and 2nd rounders as well soon.

Here's some information on NFL draft contracts that our signings will be based:
http://www.spotrac.com/draft-tracker/nfl/

[Goodell]

Teams should be able to click to sign their own 1st and 2nd rounders from their team roster page. Let me know if any problems there. As the regular season approaches, if a team hasn't signed their 1st or 2nd rounder(s) and has cap space to do so, the league will sign those players for those teams prior to the regular season. If a team doesn't have cap space to sign their 1st or 2nd rounder(s) they may risk losing them back into next year's draft if they are not signed this year.

[Goodell]

Start thinking about your 53 man roster cut downs and make sure your DEPTH CHART is updated for the new season. It's almost time for football!

After Tuesday, August 26th NFL teams have to have made their first cuts down to 75. A couple days later on August 30th all NFL teams must be down to 53 players. NFL's off-season rule of 51 expires on September 3rd. On Thursday, September 4th the NFL season gets underway with a Thursday night game.

I will begin contacting sim teams here that are over 75 players after August 26th to attempt to ensure everyone's aware the final cut-down dates and regular season is approaching.

Our 53 man sim roster cut down date: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4TH 8:30 PM ET. That's the start of the NFL regular season.

That gives teams 5 days after the NFL is done with their cuts for the dust to settle (see if players claimed by other NFL teams, etc.) and our sim teams to make their final decisions and be cut down to 53 also the next week.

Our results are delayed (since we have to gather/use NFL game stats) so we don't sim our games until all NFL games have been played for the week -- usually on Tuesday or Wednesday nights following an NFL weekend. Our NFL week 1 may be delayed if teams are not in compliance with the 53 man rosters fairly and equally by the time we're ready to sim games, so make sure to pay attention to your team and make appropriate cuts prior to the NFL season starting.

[Goodell]

We'll start integrating the "waive to practice squad" option on team rosters after that first NFL cut down date (August 26th). Teams here will have 10 practice squad spots (up from 8 previously) just like the NFL. Those players have to clear waivers first, though, before being able to be added to practice squad. Practice squad players are without contracts, and able to be signed still in free agency by any team (offers matchable by practice squad team to add to their 53 man roster instead of them going elsewhere).

[Goodell]

Also a reminder when you are thinking about those veterans on the bubble this coming week while we're making roster cuts... veterans (4+ years) have their full salary guaranteed if they are on the roster for our sim week 1.

[Goodell]

NFL final roster cuts are Saturday, and our 53 man roster deadline again is Thursday 9/4.

Teams can waive players to their practice squads now from their team roster. Remember, though, that those young players must also clear waivers before being added to your practice squad. Teams will have 2 extra spots on psquad this year for 10 total. Those practice squad guys are still free agents without contracts, though, for anyone to sign (teams can match offers though). I'll continue to transform our tools to regular season mode as the NFL season is fast approaching.

[Goodell]

A couple reminders...

Our 53 man roster deadline again is Thursday 9/4 8:30 PM ET.

All teams must be at 53 active players or less by that time. That's about 24 hours from now. Teams who are not will be warned, face possible GM replacement if we need to bring in someone to get the team in compliance with rules, possible reversal of recent transactions, and the league may also step in and make roster moves on the team's behalf to get all teams within the rules fairly at the start of the season.

Update your depth chart! I went in and updated team depth charts if they included players that were no longer on a team's roster and saw a lot of teams that hadn't updated their depth charts in a while. Click depth chart from your team roster and ensure your depth chart is set for players you want to prioritize with action in our game simulator.

Remember sim players from GB and SEA in the NFL will be locked in place once the NFL games begin this week tomorrow night, as you can't move players in/out of depth chart after their real games that week.

I'm trying to catch up on all the roster transactions. Some of the transaction logs used may miss players updates for IR/NFI/PUP/Sups/Retire, so if you're expecting an update from earlier this off-season that hasn't been updated here let me know.

Cut, cut, cut... let's get everyone under the 53 man roster limit and salary caps this time tomorrow. We have switched from off-season Rule of 51 mode to regular season 53 man roster with empty spot charges to get teams into regular season mode for the start of the season.

[Ulrich82]

How are we handling IR with ability to return this year?