*No Discussions in This Thread*
USEFUL LINKS:
State of the Franchise
Computation Hub
Big Board
Move Tracker
We recommend checking 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.
2025 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
- Simba
- DaCiderEarl
The rules for the game are as follows:
The 2025 Salary Cap shall be set at the actual NFL Salary Cap (280,000,000). Our salary cap will be 280 Stars. (1 Star = $1 Million)
You cannot borrow from future cap space or trade future draft selections.
Every contract is rounded to the nearest Half Star, or $.5 Million, after the initial calculation.
For example, $1.70 million - $1.35 million = $350,000. 350,000 rounds up to 500,000, which is .5 Stars.
Picking Teams
Once the 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 9.5 Stars to be set aside. The total value is based on the following:
§ 1st round = 3 Stars
§ 2nd round = 1.5 Stars
§ 3rd round - 7th round = 1.0 Star each
This calculation lets you know how many Stars are required to account for the rookie class.
For example, Baltimore has one pick in the following rounds: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th. They have none in 6th, and two picks in the 7th. They will be required to set aside 9.5 Stars for their draft class. If they acquire other picks or trade away picks, the number of stars will change accordingly.
Rule of 51
The NFL follows the Rule of 51 for the salary cap. Only the top 51 contracts are taken into account. This rule applies for the game and will automatically be factored into your available cap space.
Franchise Tags
Non-Exclusive Franchise Tag Costs:
QB - 40.0 Stars
RB - 13.5 Stars
WR - 24.0 Stars
TE - 14.0 Stars
OL - 23.5 Stars
DT - 25.0 Stars
DE - 22.0 Stars
LB - 25.5 Stars
CB - 20.0 Stars
S - 18.5 Stars
K/P - 6.5 Stars
Transition Tag Costs:
QB - 35.5 Stars
RB - 11.0 Stars
WR - 21.5 Stars
TE - 11.5 Stars
OL - 21.5 Stars
DT - 21.0 Stars
DE - 20.0 Stars
LB - 21.0 Stars
CB - 17.5 Stars
S - 15.0 Stars
K/P - 6.0 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 the beginning of the first free agency period. If you trade/cut your tagged player before free agency begins, you can recoup full savings of the tag. If the player is moved after free agency 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 = 7.5 Stars
§ 2nd round = 5.5 Stars
Original Round = 3.5 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
ERFA re-signings are finalized the moment they are announced within the thread. Each player is contracted at 1 Stars each, and the signings are incontestable by other teams.
Player Releases
All of the possible calculations are available on The Hub. Simply locate the player(s) in question on your team page, and post the release along with its savings in the corresponding thread.
For reference, the formula for savings is as follows:
Cap Saved = Cap Hit - Dead Money
When you release a player, your team incurs all applicable bonuses. Only the final number is rounded to the nearest half million and converted into Stars.
Once the released player becomes a UFA, he is added to the FA pool. A cut can be rescinded only if it's publicly reversed: within 12 hours of announcing and before the first FA period begins.
Please attempt 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 when releasing players:
Team
[Position] [Player] - Cap Saved
Example:
The Baltimore Ravens release:
TE Mark Andrews - 11 Stars
June 1st Exemption and Restructuring
Each team is allowed to make TWO (New in 2025) CUTS or TRADES in which only the base salary factored into the equation, ignoring the dead money. For example, cutting Justin Tucker normally would add cap due to dead money. However, using the June 1st exemption will recoup his entire base salary of $4,200,000, ignoring the dead cap of $7,517,500, meaning that the savings would be 4 Stars instead of -7.5 Stars. This can be applied retroactively to a previous move.
Teams will be allowed to implement TWO exemptions and THREE restructures 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. For quarterbacks, the maximum amount of savings is 10 Stars.
In order to qualify, the player must be in at least the second year of their current contract but not in their last. The player also cannot be on their rookie contract. After the calculation, please add the total saved into the Restructure field in the SoF.
* Players that have already been restructured, can't be traded.
Example:
Marlon Humphrey' 2025 Base Salary - $14,000,000
Marlon Humphrey' 2025 Cap Hit - $25,377,800
14,000,000 ÷ 2 = 7,000,000
25,377,800 x 0.3 = 7,613,340
The lowest figure prevails, and since the base salary reduction does not exceed the ceiling cap, the Ravens would save $7,000,000 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:
S Chuck Clark (BAL saves 3.5 Stars, NYJ gains 2.5 Stars)
New York Jets:
7th (8) 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
With the exception of the above restricted free agency process, all other free agents will be available in the below rounds. The updated free agent sdds can be found within the Move Tracker.
Phase 1: Bids 12 stars and above, must hold the high bid for 24 hours to win the player
Phase 2: Bids 7 stars and above, must hold the high bid for 12 hours to win the player
Phase 3: Bids 3 stars and above, must hold the high bid for 12 hours to win the player
Phase 4: Bids 1 star and above, must hold the high bid for 8 hours to win the player
All free agent periods will open at 7 PM EST. Dates for the above rounds will be confirmed at a later date.
All players on the move tracker/free agent list document are eligible for bidding. You simply have to hold the high bid for the allotted time mentioned above and you will win the player.
Once the next round begins, no new players can be bid on in the previous round's thread. The previous round's thread will remain open only to conclude bidding on players that have not yet been held for the allotted time with no winner yet declared. The bids are not required to maintain in a specific range, only that they meet the minimum amount of each phase.
The final phase will be divided into two threads (Offense and Defense), and the bidding period will continue throughout the end of the process.
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.
Should a team wish to bid on a player whom already has an active bid, they are required to search for the highest bid, quote it, and place a bid with a higher amount.
Additionally, the the FULL team names and player names must be used, with both required to be spelled correctly. Failure to follow either of the guidelines will immediately nullify your bid.
General FA Rules:
Place ALL bids in the following format:
§ Team Name
§ Position / Free Agent Name
§ Bid (# of stars)
Example:
Baltimore Ravens
WR Odell Beckham Jr.
15 Stars
NOTE: Only 1 bid per post. Multiple bids in the same post will be invalidated.
Absolutely no discussions in the FA thread. Teams can bid any amount on any player but only in increments of 0.5 Stars, with the minimum bid being 1 Star.
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.
Bid based only on what you wish to pay for the 2025 base salary (No signing bonuses, etc.).
Players signed during any of the UFA phases can be released or traded afterwards; however, the team will incur a financial penalty by consuming (New in 2025) ALL of their salary. For example, if a team signs a player for 2.5 Stars, they will save 0 Stars when releasing or trading them. The team receiving the contract will STILL assume half of the contracted value. In the example above, that amount would equal 1.5 Stars (2.5 ÷ 2 = 1.25, which is rounded up). The only exception comes for players signed for 1 Star, who can be released or traded for full savings.
(New in 2025) Each team is permitted to match up to TWO upcoming home-team UFA signings. The caveats are: the player CANNOT be matched if their contract exceeds 6 Stars, and the intentions of potentially matching have to be publicly announced BEFORE the Phase 1 of the UFA process begins. The intention is required to be stated in the Tenders, Cuts and Restructures Thread. As with UFA bids, BOTH the team names and the player names have to be spelled correctly in the intention to match. Otherwise, the intention is nullified.
You are NOT married to the match. If the home-team target is paid more than you'd prefer, or if you're out of available cap space, you can simply choose to let them walk. Lastly, to minimize their effect on ongoing bids, each match needs to quote the highest bid and publicly declare the matching within the respective FA thread, no longer than 6 hours from the winning bid.
NFL Draft
Once it begins, a thread will be posted for the draft. The first post will be updated with all selections. The official order can be found on the (Current) Big Board.
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 (Unless your second team's selections immediately follows). The first skip will halve your allotted time from its original amount. With each consecutive on-time selection, your allotted time will be replenished to half of your losses. For example, if you previously reduced from 12 hours to 6 hours, your next on-time selection will increase the timespan to 9 hours. A consecutive on-time selection will restore the limit to 12 hours.
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 2025 Forum Draft, the [Team City and Name] 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
The SoF handles all of the roster calculations for each team, including the current roster totals. This eliminates most of the possible user errors. 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 page after every transaction.
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 Discussion thread. ALL general discussion goes there.
We will have a Rules thread. 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.