2020 Off-Season Update

[RyanM]

I've got an AFFL & EFFL team, but I could handle another one in one of the other leagues temporarily. Like Shark, I'd prefer to at least have someone in charge of each team's decisions before the league season starts.

[Goodell]

It was over-due, but with all the new GMs I wanted to avoid confusion before we opened trading (hopefully tomorrow sometime if I can get everything done with draft order and compensatory picks today).

The team rosters no longer have those 99,999,999 or 88,888,888 placeholders for 5th year options on top 10 or first round picks. It should now just say option in those columns.

[Goodell]

The draft order has been updated in all leagues.

You can see the full order by clicking the league here:
http://www.fangm.com/football/draft-picks.php

You can also see your specific picks on your team roster page.

Quick note about compensatory picks, as it relates to this upcoming free agency (next week).

- On your league homepage (clicking on the league name on homepage or any league page), you'll see the chart of compensatory picks from last year's free agency. Signings last free agency impact this year's draft. Signings this off-season impact 2021 draft. Here's last year's compensatory pick factors: http://www.fangm.com/football/comppicks.php

- You only get a possible compensatory pick if you sign less UFAs (unrestricted free agents) than you lost. Street free agents (cut with no team affiliation or unlimited bidding) aren't factored into UFA count, only UFA players with unlimited bidding rights.

- Teams are maxed out at 4 compensatory picks maximum. The league overall is maxed out at 32 compensatory picks maximum.

- That means even if it says you could get 4 comp picks, you're likely get less if there are more than 32 total eligible picks as is the case with all leagues every year.

- When assigning comp picks, we look at all eligible teams and match up their UFA signings and losses. So if you lost a 6.0 grade UFA but signed around a 6.0 grade UFA, they cancel each other out in terms of compensation.

- We sort the unbalanced losses (UFA loses that didn't have a replacement value signing) by highest value and give comp picks to the highest 32 unbalanced losses (also factoring in team comp pick maxes).

So take a look at your team and league draft picks/order and let me know if any problems via PM.

Trading isn't turned on quite yet, but that'll be the next step. It'll be on later tonight or tomorrow morning when you wake up.

[Goodell]

Trading isn't turned on quite yet, but that'll be the next step. It'll be on later tonight or tomorrow morning when you wake up.

I believe trading is ready to go now. Let me know if you run into any problems.

[Goodell]

Now that most roster management tools are available, just a quick note about salary cap as we head into free agency next week (Friday April 24 at noon ET).

The free agency bid pages have always been setup to not allow bids if a team is over their salary cap that would put them further over the cap. So keep that in mind as you make trades leading into free agency.

[bpboguta1483]

So right now I have 19 Million plus in cap space, and when I make bids in FA we have to stay within the cap? I thought being off season we could go over but when the regular season begins we still of course have to be under the cap. Just making sure

[Goodell]

So right now I have 19 Million plus in cap space, and when I make bids in FA we have to stay within the cap? I thought being off season we could go over but when the regular season begins we still of course have to be under the cap. Just making sure

Bids don't count against the salary cap. Only signings. Bids are just contract negotiations and no guarantee that your bid wins until it wins.

If I had 1M in cap space, I could put in 5 bids for $10M each or whatever. The system only blocks you from bidding if you're already over the cap with signed contracts. However, if I end up winning those bids and signing those players that puts me over the salary cap at that point. Then I wouldn't be able to make another bid while I was actually over the cap. And I would also technically have 48 hours to fix the salary cap violation.

But we don't force people to make cuts prior to bidding or even knowing if you'll sign someone. I may have a RB, for example, who I think if overpaid and I want to replace him with a free agent. I don't have to cut him first, though. I can make my bid on another player, see if I sign them, and if I do and even if that puts me over the cap temporarily, then I can cut my overpriced RB then once I know I've signed their replacement.

- Under the cap, bid as much as you want.
- Over the cap, system won't let you bid and you have 48 hours to fix violation.
- Bids do not count against salary cap. Only signings.

You can be over the roster limit during the off-season before cutting down to 53 players by the regular season, but the salary cap is always on. But that's why we have the NFL's Rule of 51 also during the off-season. Only your top 51 salaries count against the cap even while you can have up to 90 players signed. So technically you can have more signed contracts than the salary cap limit, but your top 51 must be under the salary cap during the off-season. There's a Rule of 51 link at the bottom of the team roster during the off-season.

[tjbarnaba]

Will we have the draft pick budget projections up prior to FA?

[Goodell]

Will we have the draft pick budget projections up prior to FA?

Yes, that's still on my list. Hopefully early this week, if not later tonight. It will be an estimate of how much your draft pick contracts should cost. Things are a little different this year with the new CBA and we haven't see new draft contracts yet under new agreement, but we'll try to estimate those as best we can. Most years we take last year's figures and boost them up a little.

[Ben C.]

What’s the deadline for tag / rfa decisions? Is that just the start of free agency?