2023 Off-Season Update
Re: 2023 Off-Season Update
Lots of RFA decisions were not entered. The only RFAs that have no compensation required are those who went undrafted in NFL reality. The lowest level for a RFA matching compensation is original NFL draft round, so before you place any bids on RFAs check their original NFL draft history (like on Yahoo Sports). I will try to update original round compensation notifications with more specific NFL round information, but might be short on time to do all those before free agency starts. So just be aware if planning on bidding on any restricted free agents (RFAs) that there is always compensation required for those unless they were undrafted players in the NFL reality (so their original NFL round would be not drafted so no compensation). Otherwise, any RFA's lowest level of compensation is their NFL draft round. I'll likely update all RFAs to "orig" if that choice wasn't made otherwise to avoid confusion on bidding. Teams can choose to turn RFAs into UFAs with unlimited bidding instead through the team roster RFA decisions at the bottom before FA starts or by clicking on their RFA bid page after FA starts. Let me know if questions.
Official Statement from the Commissioner's Office
Re: 2023 Off-Season Update
With free agency starting soon a couple reminders:
- Use commas in your bid amounts to avoid typo or extra zero. We will not un-do any bids, but if you make an extra zero mistake if you contact us immediately via PM, we can correct that.
- Be very careful, especially if you are new, on bidding on franchise tagged or restricted free agents (RFAs). Draft compensation from the upcoming college draft may be required if you sign the player and their previous team does not match (up to 2 first round picks). If an RFA is set at an original draft pick compensation level, the compensation required is based upon their real-life NFL draft round. If they were undrafted free agent in NFL, then it's no compensation but the team gets to match. If they were drafted in the 5th round in the NFL, though, and set at original compensation (orig) then it would require a 5th rounder to sign them if offer not matched. You can lookup where a player was drafted in the NFL at Yahoo Sports searching their name or lots of internet places.
- Speaking of RFAs, if you have one but didn't choose anything for them (1st, 2nd, original round tender or just making them a UFA) then they defaulted to original tender at that original tender amount. If you don't want them listed as original tender RFA at that NFL tender amount, you can click on their name in free agency and you'll see options at the bottom of the bid page for you to change that and remove them from RFA to just UFA (or lower compensation). Same if you want to reduce the compensation required for someone to sign your franchise tagged player from 2 first rounders, you can lower the compensation on their bid page.
- Especially if you're new be careful with big signing bonuses. There is no way to ever get out of a signing bonus. Not if the player dies or goes to jail or gets severely injured or cut or traded or anything. You will 100% be responsible for 100% of a signing bonus against the cap. It cannot be transferred or avoided. The NFL has had some unexpected retirements and unfortunate career changes in recent years, so things can change fast and don't put yourself on the hook for a massive signing bonus unless you know what you're doing there. As I always tell new GMs (and anyone actually), feel free to PM me anytime with questions or even if just want advise or confused about something.
- If you weren't around at the start of free agency and reading this later, it may be to your advantage. Often early bids as things start become immediately counter-offered in the rush to start and there goes one of the limited 5 bids per day on other team players and you have to wait 24 hours until you get that bid back again. So sometimes it can pay off to be a little patient and see how the markets are looking before throwing in your limited bids. At least for other team players. On your own guys you have unlimited bids for, probably the sooner the better on those.
- No 1-year bids on the first day of free agency to help keep some veterans from slipping through the cracks on 1-year minimum deals while the rush of bids are focused elsewhere. Starting tomorrow you can put in bids with 1-year.
- Depending on your team situation, keep a close eye on the compensatory picks chart on the homepage and your team update on lost/gained UFAs there and on your team and free agency page. There's a details link from the homepage chart, but just know if you lose more of your own UFAs than you sign from other teams, you could be eligible for up to 4 compensatory picks (starting at the end of the 3rd round). Beyond having more UFA losses than gains (and only UFAs from other teams with unlimited bidding count on that, not RFAs or tagged players or street free agents cut loose similar to NFL), if you want a compensatory pick for a UFA you lost you have to also make sure you don't sign another team's UFA with a similar or better grade which balances that loss out. Only the top 32 unbalanced losses from eligible teams get compensatory picks in next year's draft.
- I mentioned in previous note about adding the estimated costs for your draft picks on the team roster page. Keep the amount you'll roughly need for draft picks in mind as your available cap space shrinks.
Let me know if any questions and happy spending.
- Use commas in your bid amounts to avoid typo or extra zero. We will not un-do any bids, but if you make an extra zero mistake if you contact us immediately via PM, we can correct that.
- Be very careful, especially if you are new, on bidding on franchise tagged or restricted free agents (RFAs). Draft compensation from the upcoming college draft may be required if you sign the player and their previous team does not match (up to 2 first round picks). If an RFA is set at an original draft pick compensation level, the compensation required is based upon their real-life NFL draft round. If they were undrafted free agent in NFL, then it's no compensation but the team gets to match. If they were drafted in the 5th round in the NFL, though, and set at original compensation (orig) then it would require a 5th rounder to sign them if offer not matched. You can lookup where a player was drafted in the NFL at Yahoo Sports searching their name or lots of internet places.
- Speaking of RFAs, if you have one but didn't choose anything for them (1st, 2nd, original round tender or just making them a UFA) then they defaulted to original tender at that original tender amount. If you don't want them listed as original tender RFA at that NFL tender amount, you can click on their name in free agency and you'll see options at the bottom of the bid page for you to change that and remove them from RFA to just UFA (or lower compensation). Same if you want to reduce the compensation required for someone to sign your franchise tagged player from 2 first rounders, you can lower the compensation on their bid page.
- Especially if you're new be careful with big signing bonuses. There is no way to ever get out of a signing bonus. Not if the player dies or goes to jail or gets severely injured or cut or traded or anything. You will 100% be responsible for 100% of a signing bonus against the cap. It cannot be transferred or avoided. The NFL has had some unexpected retirements and unfortunate career changes in recent years, so things can change fast and don't put yourself on the hook for a massive signing bonus unless you know what you're doing there. As I always tell new GMs (and anyone actually), feel free to PM me anytime with questions or even if just want advise or confused about something.
- If you weren't around at the start of free agency and reading this later, it may be to your advantage. Often early bids as things start become immediately counter-offered in the rush to start and there goes one of the limited 5 bids per day on other team players and you have to wait 24 hours until you get that bid back again. So sometimes it can pay off to be a little patient and see how the markets are looking before throwing in your limited bids. At least for other team players. On your own guys you have unlimited bids for, probably the sooner the better on those.
- No 1-year bids on the first day of free agency to help keep some veterans from slipping through the cracks on 1-year minimum deals while the rush of bids are focused elsewhere. Starting tomorrow you can put in bids with 1-year.
- Depending on your team situation, keep a close eye on the compensatory picks chart on the homepage and your team update on lost/gained UFAs there and on your team and free agency page. There's a details link from the homepage chart, but just know if you lose more of your own UFAs than you sign from other teams, you could be eligible for up to 4 compensatory picks (starting at the end of the 3rd round). Beyond having more UFA losses than gains (and only UFAs from other teams with unlimited bidding count on that, not RFAs or tagged players or street free agents cut loose similar to NFL), if you want a compensatory pick for a UFA you lost you have to also make sure you don't sign another team's UFA with a similar or better grade which balances that loss out. Only the top 32 unbalanced losses from eligible teams get compensatory picks in next year's draft.
- I mentioned in previous note about adding the estimated costs for your draft picks on the team roster page. Keep the amount you'll roughly need for draft picks in mind as your available cap space shrinks.
Let me know if any questions and happy spending.
Official Statement from the Commissioner's Office
Re: 2023 Off-Season Update
My work situation changed recently, and I'm not as available during the work days M-F as I used to be. You should still send me a PM if you make a mistake with an extra zero or notice other problems, but I may not be able to fix as quickly during the week days.
When I can't get to a fix like that right away when the 24-hour clock recently started, if I need to fix a typo bid hours later we always reset the 24-hour clock on that bid so it's fairly on the market the time it should.
I may be able to do some quick/easy things at lunch on phone or breaks, etc. but for the most part will mostly be evenings when I can make manual updates or resolve bigger stuff.
So keep that in mind and maybe be extra careful during the week days, as you'll be longer on the clock with a bid than usual for fixes. Using commas and doing a double-check before submitting can save you some issues.
When I can't get to a fix like that right away when the 24-hour clock recently started, if I need to fix a typo bid hours later we always reset the 24-hour clock on that bid so it's fairly on the market the time it should.
I may be able to do some quick/easy things at lunch on phone or breaks, etc. but for the most part will mostly be evenings when I can make manual updates or resolve bigger stuff.
So keep that in mind and maybe be extra careful during the week days, as you'll be longer on the clock with a bid than usual for fixes. Using commas and doing a double-check before submitting can save you some issues.
Official Statement from the Commissioner's Office
Re: 2023 Off-Season Update
The draft tools are online now. Just click the "draft" link in the main menu on desktop or draft link from the league homepage.
You can start adding players to your draft ranking queues as you want. The preliminary order is from a website resource ranking. I need to still enter in the actual NFL draft selection order tomorrow.
You'll see your draft pick deadlines also noted. As like last year we'll do one round per day. You would need to be either online in the 20 minutes you'll be on the clock before that pick deadline or have your draft queue setup so it picks the highest rated player you want for you. If you don't have any players in your rank queue, you'll get the highest available from NFL draft order.
You can start adding players to your draft ranking queues as you want. The preliminary order is from a website resource ranking. I need to still enter in the actual NFL draft selection order tomorrow.
You'll see your draft pick deadlines also noted. As like last year we'll do one round per day. You would need to be either online in the 20 minutes you'll be on the clock before that pick deadline or have your draft queue setup so it picks the highest rated player you want for you. If you don't have any players in your rank queue, you'll get the highest available from NFL draft order.
Official Statement from the Commissioner's Office
Re: 2023 Off-Season Update
With our college draft on Saturday, Wednesday will be the last day you can place a free agency bid on a tagged or RFA player that may involve compensation from the upcoming draft. That'll allow 48 hours for matching and switching of draft picks as needed before the pick comes up.
If you have a RFA player who didn't get a bid, they'll return to your team on a 1-year deal at the tender you selected or original tender at minimum if you didn't select a higher tender. The original tender is $2.627M. If you don't want your RFA who didn't get a bid back on your team at $2.627M, then you have a couple options: (1) right now you can click on their bid page in free agency and give up the matching rights on them and turn them into a UFA with unlimited bidding but no matching where you could then place a minimum bid or whatever on the market, or (2) cut them either now or once they sign the tender and make $2.627M on your roster - as they have no SB the cut will just remove that salary making them a free agent.
Before you bid on any RFAs before time runs out know that all RFAs will have some kind of compensation involved unless they went undrafted entirely in their real NFL draft. Most RFAs are at original draft pick tender so compensation if not tendered higher will be their actual NFL draft round but the only time a RFA wouldn't have compensation if not matched would be if they went undrafted in the actual NFL.
BRFL pay league will actually do their first round earlier (5/2) so any bids involving a first round pick this year have to be resolved before that pick is used and the team doesn't have any first round picks this year to offer for franchise tag offers.
If you have a RFA player who didn't get a bid, they'll return to your team on a 1-year deal at the tender you selected or original tender at minimum if you didn't select a higher tender. The original tender is $2.627M. If you don't want your RFA who didn't get a bid back on your team at $2.627M, then you have a couple options: (1) right now you can click on their bid page in free agency and give up the matching rights on them and turn them into a UFA with unlimited bidding but no matching where you could then place a minimum bid or whatever on the market, or (2) cut them either now or once they sign the tender and make $2.627M on your roster - as they have no SB the cut will just remove that salary making them a free agent.
Before you bid on any RFAs before time runs out know that all RFAs will have some kind of compensation involved unless they went undrafted entirely in their real NFL draft. Most RFAs are at original draft pick tender so compensation if not tendered higher will be their actual NFL draft round but the only time a RFA wouldn't have compensation if not matched would be if they went undrafted in the actual NFL.
BRFL pay league will actually do their first round earlier (5/2) so any bids involving a first round pick this year have to be resolved before that pick is used and the team doesn't have any first round picks this year to offer for franchise tag offers.
Official Statement from the Commissioner's Office
Re: 2023 Off-Season Update
I mentioned deadline for tagged/RFA bids before the draft and that we'd be moving unsigned RFAs/tagged players back to their teams on 1-year deals. The minimum for RFAs is 2.6M so if you don't want to pay that player that amount for a 1-year deal at this point you'd have to cut them but no cap hit involved and could try to re-sign for less.
Teams who had tagged players who didn't get any offers to match had their player returned to their roster on a 1-year deal, but have to sign tender at the bottom of the team roster and have options to expand deal since no offersheets to match before June 1st. If not extended by June 1st they'd be on a 1-year deal at that tag price the rest of the season.
Teams who had tagged players who didn't get any offers to match had their player returned to their roster on a 1-year deal, but have to sign tender at the bottom of the team roster and have options to expand deal since no offersheets to match before June 1st. If not extended by June 1st they'd be on a 1-year deal at that tag price the rest of the season.
Official Statement from the Commissioner's Office
Re: 2023 Off-Season Update
As the college drafts come to a close soon, we’ll put all undrafted players from the draft pool into free agency Saturday morning (noon ET). For undrafted free agents (udfa) the most you can offer is a veteran minimum salary and 100k signing bonus max. All teams have a 100k budget for any udfa signing bonuses, so you have to be strategic with bids if you want to spread that 100k around to many players or all in on one. Once you use up that 100K, you won't be able to counter-bid for any other udfas with signing bonus offers.
UDFA starts at noon ET Saturday morning. If you know you want to sign someone not in the draft pool, send me a pm.
UDFA starts at noon ET Saturday morning. If you know you want to sign someone not in the draft pool, send me a pm.
Official Statement from the Commissioner's Office
Re: 2023 Off-Season Update
I was looking at past year announcements. This year our free agency and draft were fairly close in times. Usually there is a little more space and we might have already made some changes to free agency off peak free agency settings, so we'll do those as we head into UDFA opening on Saturday.
Free agency runs all year 24/7 until the end of the regular season. However, after peak free agency we change it a bit where we remove the signing soon and bid note links. That makes it a little more private bidding the rest of the way (helping teams doing their research to not always be cherry-picked by others) now that the big players have received their contracts in the more open transparent market of peak free agency.
We'll leave UFAs with team affiliations and unlimited bidding up with their associated team through the weekend. After that, we'll remove the team affiliations and all UFAs will just be on the open market with no unlimited bidding or compensatory pick considerations for anyone once they are no longer associated with a home team.
Free agency runs all year 24/7 until the end of the regular season. However, after peak free agency we change it a bit where we remove the signing soon and bid note links. That makes it a little more private bidding the rest of the way (helping teams doing their research to not always be cherry-picked by others) now that the big players have received their contracts in the more open transparent market of peak free agency.
We'll leave UFAs with team affiliations and unlimited bidding up with their associated team through the weekend. After that, we'll remove the team affiliations and all UFAs will just be on the open market with no unlimited bidding or compensatory pick considerations for anyone once they are no longer associated with a home team.
Official Statement from the Commissioner's Office
Re: 2023 Off-Season Update
NFL training camps and even the first pre-season game has been played. Time to gear up for football again!
All 3rd-7th round draft picks have automatically been signed as usual. Teams can now click to sign their 1st and 2nd rounders as cap space allows.
All 3rd-7th round draft picks have automatically been signed as usual. Teams can now click to sign their 1st and 2nd rounders as cap space allows.
Official Statement from the Commissioner's Office
Re: 2023 Off-Season Update
The deadline to cut down to 55 players (53 + NFL allowing 2 practice squaders to be active) is when the first NFL regular season game kicks off: Thursday, September 7th at 8:20 PM ET.
That's more than 2 weeks away. NFL teams are going to start cutting and putting players on injury lists after the upcoming last pre-season games, so keep an eye on those and know you'll have to cut down also before that 9/7 deadline.
Much of the regular season activity has been turned on now, and more will come online in the following days this week in preparation for the regular season.
Teams have been given an extra contract restructure now, as it's more difficult to clear cap space during the season so teams get an additional option ahead.
You can cut young players with less than 4 years experience to practice squad as usual if they clear waivers. We will also allow teams to put veterans on their practice squads ahead, but not quite yet as scripts being adjusted for that rule change this year.
Some requested players have been made IR-eligible, and many more will be made so in the coming days and as the NFL beings to pile up players on injury lists before cut-downs.
We'll be switching the team roster pages from off-season to regular season mode probably this weekend also where it's just not warning teams about being over limits and empty roster charges, but will be enforcing those and applying limitations as it does in the regular season to get teams into compliance.
All teams must be under roster and salary cap limits by NFL kickoff on 9/7. Those who aren't will be contacted and possible league takeover to make necessary moves to ensure all teams are in compliance. We don't sim our regular season games until all teams in all leagues are ready to go fairly within their limits.
Let me know if any questions. Good luck with those tough decisions.
That's more than 2 weeks away. NFL teams are going to start cutting and putting players on injury lists after the upcoming last pre-season games, so keep an eye on those and know you'll have to cut down also before that 9/7 deadline.
Much of the regular season activity has been turned on now, and more will come online in the following days this week in preparation for the regular season.
Teams have been given an extra contract restructure now, as it's more difficult to clear cap space during the season so teams get an additional option ahead.
You can cut young players with less than 4 years experience to practice squad as usual if they clear waivers. We will also allow teams to put veterans on their practice squads ahead, but not quite yet as scripts being adjusted for that rule change this year.
Some requested players have been made IR-eligible, and many more will be made so in the coming days and as the NFL beings to pile up players on injury lists before cut-downs.
We'll be switching the team roster pages from off-season to regular season mode probably this weekend also where it's just not warning teams about being over limits and empty roster charges, but will be enforcing those and applying limitations as it does in the regular season to get teams into compliance.
All teams must be under roster and salary cap limits by NFL kickoff on 9/7. Those who aren't will be contacted and possible league takeover to make necessary moves to ensure all teams are in compliance. We don't sim our regular season games until all teams in all leagues are ready to go fairly within their limits.
Let me know if any questions. Good luck with those tough decisions.
Official Statement from the Commissioner's Office