Quick Dynasty League questions: when you have Contracts/Salary Cap, 1. what rules do you use for increasing salaries after x number of years, etc.?2. Is it performance based (top 10 RB increases salary by 50% after 3 years, etc)?
I don't like a mindless function to increase salary automatically. While you do have to decide when a player isn't worth his new salary, there are other systems that accomplish the same goals while introducing more strategy and critical thinking than that.We have 3 year contracts at the winning bid price. After they finish year 2 of their contract, you can give them a contract extension to buy a 4th and/or 5th year. But doing so includes an immediate raise to their salary for year 3 and the extra years. Buying a 4th year costs (greater of 20%/$10 raise) and buying a 5th year (greater of 40% or $10). Anytime their contract is finished (whether 3, 4, or 5 years), you also have 1 Franchise Tag (minimum 20% raise/avg top 5 salaries at position) and 2 Transition tags (minimum 10% raise/avg top 10 salaries), though the tag stays on the player for 3 years, you don't get a new set every year. Other teams can bid the player up higher but you can let them go and get rookie picks as compensation (two 1sts for franchise, a single 2nd for transition).That's just one example of how you could do things and introduce more strategy. But in general I like the concept of making people have to put more into their decisions than just looking at the immediate coming year. I also think introducing Tags as a way of keeping players past a certain point adds another element to the mix. Sometimes I've had trades driven by the fact I wasn't going to have a Tag free for a player worth tagging, so I needed to move him for someone with years left on his contract.If using this exact system, you should consider adjusting amounts for roster size, salary cap size, etc. We have 45-55 player rosters and $500 cap space. Which I average out to about $10 of cap per roster spot, and the top fantasy players are generally worth in the $90-$100 range, just for comparison's sake. Walk through a minimum price player to see if you are ok with the salaries that result. For example in my system, you can still have great bargains for minimum price players who break out (Foster $1 for his first two years, then $11 for years 3-5, then jumps to a $76 franchise tag in year 6). Of course if it was AP who started out at maybe $65 as a first round RB rookie, then the same options would go different. Extending him to 5 years would jump his price to $86. You'd be better off letting him play out a 3 year contract then franchise tagging him and raising his price to a $78 franchise tag for a second 3 year contract, and then finally he hits $93 if you tagged him again for a third 3 year contract so you could keep him 9 years at cheaper prices throughout.
3. What do you use for tracking Salaries and Salary increases?
MFL tracks everything. It holds the salaries and sets winning BB or vet auction bids as salaries, shows the minimum for FCFS pickups. We have one column which shows years completed on present contract, and another which shows if they've been extended or tagged.At end of year I do have to go through all rostered players who were given the default min price and fill in the years manually, as it displays the minimum but doesn't actually put the number in the system. Then once that is done, there is a button to increment the remaining years.
4. When a player is cut, do they go into a Free Agent Pool/Free Agent Draft, or a combined Rookie/Free Agent Draft?
Player who is cut has his old contract wiped and is available in Blind Bidding waivers in season, or at the Vet Auction in August if during off-season.Tagged players can be cut, and it frees up the Tag for use on another player, but said team cannot reacquire the tagged player without the Tag being free to go back on him.Originally I had wanted waivers and free agency, where someone could first pick up the player at his previous contract from waivers, and if he clears waivers with no claims, then he goes into BB waivers. But IIRC, the option to wipe the contract details was going to apply as soon as he hit waivers or not at all, so we dropped the waiver part and now just have him go straight to Blind Bidding.