** PLEASE DO NOT POST IN THIS THREAD **
Please clear out and check your PM Inboxes often as you will be using them to discuss trades as well as other aspects of the game.
Please note that upcoming dates have yet to be decided on, and rules are subject to live-tweaking.
2019 Forum Mock Commissioner Council (CoCo):
These four members govern the process. If you have any questions, please direct said questions at these members.
- RavensMania
- Truth
- rossihunter2
The rules for the game are as follows:
The 2019 Salary Cap shall be set at 190 Stars. (1 Star = $1 Million)
You cannot borrow from future cap space or trade future draft selections.
Every amount is rounded to the nearest Half Star, or $.5 Million, after the initial calculation.
For example, $1.7 million - $1.35 million = $350,000. 350,000 rounds up to 500,000, which is .5 Stars.
* - Unconfirmed
Picking Teams
Once all 32 spots are filled in the signup thread, we will begin to select teams. Teams are chosen via a draft-like method. One of the CoCo members will use a random number generator to create a sequence, and the numbers we’ve signed up will determine our placement in the mini-draft. You will have 12 hours to select your team. If you expect to be indisposed, please forward your list to other members and let them post for you in order to speed up the process. Once everyone has a team, the game will begin.
No trades or moves will be allowed until every member has selected a team and no moves are official until after the notice is given, when all of the required threads are posted.
Draft Values
A standard draft class consisting of 7 draft selections with one in every round required 5.5 Stars to be set aside. The total value is based on the following:
§ 1st round = 2 Stars
§ 2nd round = 1 Star
§ 3rd round - 7th round = 0.5 Stars each
This calculation lets you know many Stars are required to account for the rookie class.
For example, New Orleans has a 2nd, a 5th, two 6ths, and a 7th. They will be required to set aside 3 Stars for their draft class. If they acquire other picks or trade away picks, the number of stars will change accordingly.
Tendering
Franchise Tag Costs:
QB - 25.5 Stars
RB - 12 Stars
WR - 17 Stars
TE - 11 Stars
OL - 15.5 Stars
DT - 15.5 Stars
DE - 18.5 Stars
LB - 15.5 Stars
CB - 16 Stars
S - 12 Stars
K/P - 5 Stars
Transition Tag Costs:
QB - 23.5 Stars
RB - 10 Stars
WR - 14.5 Stars
TE - 9 Stars
OL - 13.5 Stars
DT - 12.5 Stars
DE - 15.5 Stars
LB - 13.5 Stars
CB - 14 Stars
S - 10.5 Stars
K/P - 4.5 Stars
Players franchised for the second straight season cost 120% of the normal rate.
Other special franchise tag rules (i.e. Suh in 2015) will be implemented as well.
You can only use either the franchise tag or the transition tag. You cannot use both.
The tag does not become "guaranteed" until that position group's FA period has begun. If you trade/cut your tagged player before his position group in FA has begun, you can recoup full savings of the tag. If the player is moved after his position group in FA has begun, you only recoup half of your savings.
The transition tag functions akin to the NFL rules. Once tagged, the player will be placed into the RFA pool for other teams to potentially bid on. The RFA rules are explained below.
Restricted Free Agency
Place a tender on all your RFA you wish to keep. There are three levels of tenders available to every member. The tenders are:
§ 1st round = 4 Stars
§ 2nd round = 3 Stars
Original Round = 2 Stars
A specific time 24 hour time period will be scheduled for the entire RFA pool. Any team can bid on RFAs in this time period. All bids must be greater than that of the tender value. Within 24 hours following the end of the RFA bidding, the player's current team then can decide to match the contract, retaining the player at the bid amount. The team bidding for the player cannot counter the match.
However, if the RFA bid is unmatched, the bidding team obtains the player at the bid amount. The bidding team also surrenders a draft selection of the same value as the tender placed on the player. The original draft selection will be
If a former UDFA receives an original round tender, no additional compensation will be rewarded or lost should the contract be either matched or unmatched, respectively.
Exclusive Rights Free Agents
ERFAs cost 0.5 Stars each and are incontestable by other teams.
Cutting Players
Go to Spotrac and find a player’s salary for the 2019 season.
How to Navigate Spotrac Website:
§ Click on “NFL” and select your team under “Team Payrolls” (I.e. Baltimore Ravens)
§ Find your player (I.e. Brandon Carr)
Cap Saved = Cap Hit - Dead Money
When you release a player, your team incurs all applicable bonuses. Therefore, cutting Carr would require deducting the $2 million in dead cap from the $7 million cap hit in order to calculate the final savings. The full calculation is as follows:
($7 million - $2 million = $5 million saved, which is exactly 5 Stars)
*NOTE: Only round the final number. Use the entire figures when calculating. Once the amount saved is calculated, round said amount to the nearest 0.5 Stars.
Once the released player becomes a UFA, he is added to the FA pool. Please try to make your cuts before the FA periods have begun so we know which players are available and can add them to the list of available FAs.
If a player is released after their respective FA period has begun, they can be signed during the Final Free Agency period, which occurs after the draft.
We will have a thread for cuts and re-signings to make the FA lists easier to update. Please post every cut and re-signing in this thread as well as within your SoF page.
Please use the following format:
Team
Position, Player - Stars saved
Example:
Baltimore Ravens
CB Brandon Carr – 5 Stars
June 1st Exemption and
Restructuring
Restructuring
Each team is allowed to make ONE CUT or TRADE in which only the base salary factored into the equation, ignoring the dead money. For example, cutting Brandon Williams normally would add cap due to dead money. However, using the June 1st exemption will recoup his entire base salary of $9.25 million, ignoring the dead cap, meaning that the savings would be 9.5 Stars instead of -.5 Stars. This can be applied retroactively to a a previous move.
An additional option will be added to serve as an alternative to the June 1st exemption. Teams will be allowed to EITHER implement ONE exemption or restructure ONE contract from their roster. The base salary of said contract will be reduced to 50% of its current value. However, there is a ceiling cap on savings. No restructure can incur savings over 30% of the cap hit of the player.
In order to qualify, the player must be in at least the second year of their current contract but not in their last. They player also cannot be in their rookie contract. This rule will be given a trial run for this season and decided upon thereafter based on its implementation and reception. After the calculation, please add the total saved into the "Restructure" field in the SoF.
Example:
Cam Newton' 2019 Base Salary - $16,200,000
Cam Newton' 2019 Cap Hit - $23,200,000
16,200,000 ÷ 2 = 8,100,000
23,200,000 x 0.3 = 6,960,000
The lowest figure prevails, and since the base salary savings exceeds the ceiling cap, the Panthers would $6,960,000, or 7 Stars.
Trades
The team acquiring the player takes on only the value of his base salary.
To complete a trade, both parties are required to post in the trade thread. One side will provide the full details of the trade, and the other side will quote the post with a confirmation of agreement to the terms.
Example:
Baltimore Trades:
CB Brandon Carr (Baltimore saves 5 Stars, Philadelphia gains 4.5 Stars)
Philadelphia Trades:
4th (25) round selection
Note: When you trade draft picks, the draft pick cap hit is not included in the trade. It is already factored in when you keep track of all you draft picks.
All selections must include the round and the pick number within said round. We will have a continuously-updated draft board, so this is an absolute must.
Make sure that every made move is immediately reflected in your State of the Franchise entry.
To complete a trade, both parties are required to post in the trade thread. One side will provide the full details of the trade, and the other side will quote the post with a confirmation of agreement to the terms.
Example:
Baltimore Trades:
CB Brandon Carr (Baltimore saves 5 Stars, Philadelphia gains 4.5 Stars)
Philadelphia Trades:
4th (25) round selection
Note: When you trade draft picks, the draft pick cap hit is not included in the trade. It is already factored in when you keep track of all you draft picks.
All selections must include the round and the pick number within said round. We will have a continuously-updated draft board, so this is an absolute must.
Make sure that every made move is immediately reflected in your State of the Franchise entry.
Free Agency
Free Agency will begin on (TBD) at 7 PM EST. There will be one FA thread for each position or positional group. Below is the deadline schedule for positional free agency, along with the deadline for tenders:
The deadline to place all RFA and ERFA tenders, as well as franchise tags and transition tags will be on (TBD) at 7 PM EST.
Free Agency List
1. RFA/ST
2. DB
3. WR/TE
4. LB
5. DL
6. OL
7. QB/RB
8. Edge
All FA period start and end at exactly 7 PM EST.
You will have exactly 24 hours to place your bid. Once those 24 hours are up, any bids placed thereafter will be null and void. Once each group is finished, we will move on to the following group.
We will then have an FFA (Final Free Agency) once the draft is completed for all of the unclaimed FAs.
Bidding on Free Agents:
Given that the FM resets every season, all contracts are presented as one-year deals.
*You CANNOT bid on players without available cap space*
You must create cap space before placing the bid.
Additionally, player names must be spelled correctly, and the full teams names must be used. Failure to follow either of the guidelines will immediately nullify your bid.
Final Five:
With five minutes left, one of the CoCo members will create a post that will serve as a deadline for the Final Five ownership. Note: Human error is an acknowledged factor, meaning that should the deadline posts miss their mark by being either early or tardy, the final determination will be based on the time stamps. The deadlines are strictly built around specific times, i.e. 6:55 PM, 7: 00 EST and 7:30 EST, meaning that any deviation will be solved by adhering to the time stamps instead of the posts.
If a player is bid on and won during the final five minutes of the period, the team with the highest bid prior to the final five minutes will have an opportunity to request a blind bidding contest against the winner, called a "bid-off."
In order to initiate a bid-off, the aforementioned team with the highest bid prior to the final five minutes must state in the respective FA thread that they would like to bid-off for the player(s) they lost during the Final Five. The team must state the name of the player and the name of the team they're bidding against. This is required to be posted within 12 hours after the end of the respective FA period. Additionally, the remaining cap numbers will be locked for all participants after 7:30 PM EST. Missing the deadline will void the Final Five rights.
Both parties, the team that owned the highest bid prior to the final five and the team with the highest bid at the end of FA, will PM their highest bid to a predetermined CoCo member. This is a blind bidding process where the highest bid wins, so plan accordingly. In the event of a tie, both teams can continue until a winner is announced. Each team is allowed to drop out of the running.
The home team will also be able to participate in the bid-off process. Teams can now enter this bid-off process for their own FAs if they did not win either the final 5 bid or the overall final bid. To do so, a team has to place a bid on their player at any point in the FA period. If a bid is placed, you are eligible to enter the bid-off for your former player. We will limit teams to using this option THREE times only. This is done in effort to give teams a better shot at retaining their own players.
Note: If you don't have the Final Five rights, bid on a player within the final five minutes and don't finish with the highest bid, you cannot take part in this process.
Teams cannot freeze out competitors should they have the Final Five rights. In short, if you have the Final Five rights, you are not allowed to up your own ante.
General FA Rules:
Place ALL bids in the following format:
§ Team Name
§ Free Agent
§ Bid (# of stars)
Example:
Baltimore Ravens
DE Za'Darius Smith
8 Stars
Absolutely no discussions in the FA thread. Teams can bid any amount on any player but only in increments of 0.5 Stars.
Always quote the previous highest bid until the final five minutes. You are not required to quote bids during the final five minutes.
Editing posts is NOT permitted, and it carries a penalty. Any team caught with editing or deleting bids will be frozen from submitting new bids for 15 minutes. Deleting posts carries a similar penalty, a 15 minute sentence, but the penalty will be waved should the deleted post be resubmitted with the same monetary value.
You can start the bidding at any price, the lowest value being 0.5 Stars
Bid based only on what you wish to pay for the 2019 base salary (No signing bonuses, etc.).
Note: Teams are only allowed to sign 3 players at the same position for the minimum amount in initial FA periods (Does not apply to FFA). For example, a team can sign 3 WRs and 3 TEs at .5 Stars in the WR/TE period. Bids made for more than 3 player will be nullified and the team could be subject to punishment. However, teams can sign as many FAs as they wish for more than the minimum .5 Stars.
FAs signed during FA can be released or traded afterwards; however, the team will incur a financial penalty by consuming half of their salary. For example, if a team signs a player for 2.5 Stars, they will only save 1.5 Stars upon releasing or trading them, with the second team taking on the remainder during the latter. Remember to round up. In the example above, the calculation is as follows: 2.5 ÷ 2 = 1.25, which rounds up to 1.5. The only exception comes for players signed for .5 Stars, who can be released or traded for full savings.
NFL Draft
Once it begins, a thread will be posted for the draft. The first post will be updated with all selections, as well as the big board.
Most importantly, there is a 12 hour time limit for each selection.
If you miss your deadline, the next team will be able to submit their selection immediately afterwards. If you fail to submit your selection by the time your next selection is on the clock, you are automatically skipped. The second skip will halve your allotted time from the original 12 hours to 6 hours. Each additional skip will halve the updated allotted amount. Should this become a perpetual issue, further actions may be taken against the team or its owner.
If we believe you to be intentionally stalling, we reserve the right to skip your pick at our discretion.
Please post your selections in the following format:
With the ____ pick in the ___ round of the 2019 Forum Draft, the ____ select…
(Picture)
Player | Position | College
In order to speed up the process, please forward your draft board to other members to have the selection made on your behalf.
State of the Franchise Post
We've streamlined the State of the Franchise updating process by moving them to Google Sheets, found here. The new format will handle essentially all of the roster calculations for each team, eliminating most of the prior issues with user errors. Please use the total active contracts as your starting point. We will need email addresses for each user in order to grant editing privileges to their pages, which can be PM'd to us.
In order to avoid pitfalls and accuracy checks, please update your SoF after every transaction.
Please include and update the number of players on your roster, including draft picks, at all times. This will ensure an accurate cap since you will receive a .5 Star credit for every player over 51.
Rule of 51:
In the offseason, the NFL follows the Rule of 51 for the salary cap. This means that only the top 51 contracts are taken into account. This rule applies for the game and will automatically updated via the spreadsheet.
Depth Chart:
Simple. Post your standard depth chart in the thread when it is created.
All teams must have their correct and updated SoF and Depth Chart entries posted to participate in any part of the game.
No team should exceed having 90 players on their roster at any given time.
*Note: All teams must have their correct and updated SoF and Depth Chart entries posted to participate in any part of the game. No trades or moves will be allowed until each entry has been posted.
Threads:
We will have a general discussion thread. ALL discussion goes there.
We will have a Rules thread––as you may have figured out by now. No discussion in said thread.
We will have a thread for all official trades. No discussion in said thread.
We will have a thread for all official cuts/re-signings. No discussion in said thread.
We will have a Depth Chart thread, to be updated after every transaction. No discussion in said thread.
We will have a Big Board thread for the draft order. No discussion in said thread.
We will have FA threads once their respective time slots are reached. No discussion in said thread.
We will have a draft thread once the time slot is reached. No discussion in said thread.
Breaking the Rules
If the CoCo determines that you have broken any rules, especially with intent, you will be punished appropriately.
Punishments could vary from a warning, loss of cap space, loss of draft pick, and even banishment from the game.
We are fair, and we would greatly prefer to avoid drama, but we will take action if necessary.
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