2017 Off-Season Update

[jmdaz44]

Quick note for those new. When you sign a first round pick you'll see a very large placeholder value in their last year of the contract (99,999,999 or 88,888,888). Those trigger 5th year options, highest for top 10 picks at future tag-based prices. Will someday get those replaced with word "option" but for now just FYI if you see that and are new to the league. You won't be paying 99 million for the player in their 5th year, but will have an option for keeping them for extra year at to-be-determined then franchise tag-based values.

I remember this sent me into a panic my first year. I thought I'd be paying over half my cap to Melvin Ingram.

[Goodell]

I'll shift things into 53-man roster mode about 2 weeks prior to the regular season. At that point we'll have a big push for all teams starting to get down to their final 53 man rosters. The deadline for that is the start of the NFL season on September 7th.

Also make sure that you update your depth chart for the new season. Lots of teams will have players who are no longer on their squad in there from last year. I'll manually do a check of all teams before the season and the league will update replacing invalid players with highest rated option, but you want to make those decisions yourself so make sure to update your depth chart! Thanks.

[Ben C.]

When do you anticipate entering the new ratings for the new season?

[Goodell]

When do you anticipate entering the new ratings for the new season?

Hopefully in the next couple of days.

[Goodell]

With only 2 weeks until the 9/7 cut-down deadline, we're going to begin to shift into regular season mode soon. That'll mean I'll soon turn the off-season Rule of 51 off, so everyone on your roster will count toward the salary cap. It's understandable that'll push people over their caps while their rosters are still in 90-man limit off-season shape and that's fine for now, but want to give people enough time to get in 53-man roster and salary cap compliance by 9/7.

We'll probably flip that switch on Monday after the upcoming preseason week 3 games.

We also have a handful of GMs who've been away for a bit this summer, so I'll be reaching out to them again, as well as teams who haven't signed their draft picks, as we try to get everyone back and in compliance by the start of the regular season on September 7th.

[tjbarnaba]

When will the cut to practice squad feature be activated?

[Goodell]

When will the cut to practice squad feature be activated?

We'll turn that on at the same time as switching to regular season 53-man roster setup on Monday.

[Goodell]

When do you anticipate entering the new ratings for the new season?

I've taken a first crack at updating grades for the new season. Still have some double-checking, and sometimes players with the same name or apostrophes, etc. cause mixups, so take a look at your roster and let me know if you notice any problem. I'll be taking a further look myself this weekend. Grades have to come from public list of madden grades for this upcoming season.

[Goodell]

With only 2 weeks until the 9/7 cut-down deadline, we're going to begin to shift into regular season mode soon. That'll mean I'll soon turn the off-season Rule of 51 off, so everyone on your roster will count toward the salary cap. It's understandable that'll push people over their caps while their rosters are still in 90-man limit off-season shape and that's fine for now, but want to give people enough time to get in 53-man roster and salary cap compliance by 9/7.

We'll probably flip that switch on Monday after the upcoming preseason week 3 games.

We also have a handful of GMs who've been away for a bit this summer, so I'll be reaching out to them again, as well as teams who haven't signed their draft picks, as we try to get everyone back and in compliance by the start of the regular season on September 7th.

We've switched rosters to regular season mode, meaning all players count against the cap. That'll put many teams over their caps who are still around the 90 man roster limit, which is okay, but we just need all teams to be at the 53 man roster limit and under cap by 9/7 which is only 10 days away so we're just making the switch to give everyone time to get down to their limits by that time.

You can also cut to practice squad now, as you work to your 53 man roster limit by 9/7. Any player cut to practice squad is subject to being claimed by another team's active roster first, and practice squad players on your team are not your property. They are not under contract, and can be signed by any team at any time, but as practice squaders at your facility, you'll have the right to match any offer they get.

[Goodell]

Temporarily until 9/7 teams will still be able to place free agency bid even if over salary cap, while we're in the transition to 53 man roster cut down since it's not required right now but we've turned that on early to move people in that cut-down direction.