Okay, here's what we're proposing.
We're hearing three main critiques: rookies are too expensive, contract lengths and costs for mid-tier players/positional value, and a desire to keep some players from becoming free agents.
The Rookie Issue:
We'll have a rookie contract table that is separate and used only for the draft. It will price contract lengths by round, though as a concession to ease of use it will not price by position.
It will look like this:
Code:
Rookie Contract Prices - Signing Points
Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7
7 Years 110 70 50 40 30 25 20
6 Years 84 53 38 30 23 19 15
5 Years 61 39 28 22 17 14 11
4 Years 41 26 19 15 11 9 7
3 Years 24 15 11 9 7 6 4
2 Years 11 7 5 4 3 3 2
1 Year 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
The Positional Value/Contract Length Issue:
For free agents, the bidding will proceed as normal. However, the pricing will be based on five position tiers:
Tier 1 - QB
Tier 2 – HB, LT, WR, CB, 3-4 OLB, 4-3 DE
Tier 3 - TE, DT, NT, 3-4 DE, 4-3 LB, MLB/ILB
Tier 4 –G, C, RT, *S, FB, KR/PR if no other position listed
Tier 5 – P, K = 0.5
When you bid on a free agent or re-sign a player, the contract length correlates to the amount of money you pay for them. It's the same system originally put forth, but now we delineate by positional value.
The table below shows the thresholds for each contract length. Once you pay above the thresholds shown below, you have the rights to that player for X years (unless you trade him). So for example, if you pay 40 points for a defensive tackle, who is a Tier 3 player, you get his rights for four years. (Look at Tier 3, and if you pay between 37 and 54 points it's a four-year contract.) If you pay 40 points for a quarterback, who is a Tier 1 player, you only get his rights for two years. If you paid that quarterback 44 points you could up his contract to three years.
Code:
Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Tier 4 Tier 5
200 125 100 85 50 7 year
152 95 76 65 38 6 year
110 69 55 47 28 5 year
74 46 37 31 19 4 year
44 28 22 19 11 3 year
20 13 10 9 5 2 year
0 0 0 0 0 1 year
The Retain My Players Issue:
At the end of each season, all of your players with 0 contract years remaining will go to free agency, just like usual. However, there are two exceptions to the existing rule.
You can retain up to two players before they go through free agency. However, in order to do so, you must give them a contract of five years or longer. Also, note that they are now paid on the veteran scale.
Note that you can still retain the players by beating the high bid, as discussed in the initial rules.