Expansion Draft Players - A Call for Community Help

[rafkitty]

What this is

I am trying to create a list of players who would be available for a theoretical expansion draft. I modeled my criteria after the most recent expansion draft that took place in 2002 for the Texans. If players are drafted by the expansion draft, the expansion team takes full responsibility for the entire contract (no cap penalties). Unfortunately because I have to work within what Madden gives me, one team will cease to exist to do this. I'm using the Bengals because I'm tired of rebuilding the Jags/Bills/etc. and I think the AFC North is interesting.

I formed my base list as follows:

• Each team must make 5 players available to the expansion team
• Each player on the list must have at least 2 years remaining on their contract
• Teams may only have one player 30 or older on their list
• Listed players must have been in the league for 1 year (no rookies)

Using the above criteria, I turned off injuries and preexisting injuries, and simmed to the regular season to try and get 53 man rosters for each team without injuries affecting them (players keeping low rated injured players that are on IR). Then I went through each roster looking for players that fit my criteria. This produced this list.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

What I need from you

I am not an expert on every teams cap situation or how teams would deal with this situation. I think some of the players I put on the list make sense, but I'm sure there are players that are better candidates for reasons such as cap dumps or rookies have been drafted to replace them. I'm sure I also ended up putting 2nd year players on the list who fans haven't given up because I based most of this on ratings. I also probably made mistakes (especially for OLine) because I'm still getting used to the new ratings spread. For example, I didn't know what to do with LT Donovan Smith from the Bucs. He's a 68 overall getting paid 41.3M over 3 years, but he's their starter and they just gave him that contract so I took him off the list.

So if you're interested and you have time, look at the link and post thoughts on who you think should be on the list for your team, who they should replace, and why. I should be able to check this at least once a day and make changes. When I make a change, I'll put your tag in the special thanks column to acknowledge/document your contributions.

How I plan to use This

I plan to use this list to trade for all the players I select, and then start a franchise from there. I have 3 ideas about how to do this.

1. Trading the player that is being replaced according to the depth chart. For instance, if I want Matt Barkley as my starting QB, the Bills get Andy Dalton. This is the easiest method, but will probably lead to cap issues.

2. Simulate a redistribution draft of the current Bengals roster. Using last year's draft order, I would make a 1 round draft where each team chooses a Bengals player they want, considering position need, age, cap. Maybe the Cardinals take AJ Green to give Kyler Murray a weapon when Fitz retires, or they take a vet lineman to sure up their line. Undrafted players become free agents.

3. Distribute the Bengals first to division teams, then conference teams, then wherever. For example, the Ravens have the weakest WR group in the AFC North, when I trade for my expansion player from them, they get AJ Green. This is the "Hard Mode" for this expansion draft idea. Adding most of the Bengals talent to the Steelers, Ravens, and Browns could make my division games brutal for years.

Thanks for reading this. I would love any feedback/help, not only to the list of players but how I'm trying to add expansion, new ideas, or things I didn't think of.

[KiffinWillWin]

You Had DT P.J. Hall From The Raiders In The Expansion Draft, I Doubt They Would Make Him Available. I Would Swap Him With DT Vanderdoes.

[rafkitty]

Quote: Originally Posted by KiffinWillWin

You Had DT P.J. Hall From The Raiders In The Expansion Draft, I Doubt They Would Make Him Available. SS Karl Joseph Will Likely Be Let Go Soon Due To The Additions Of Joyner, and Abram You Could Add Joseph In Hall's Place. I Would Also Swap DT Vanderdoes Or RB Crowell For OL Brandon Parker.

I agree, that those players are on the way out, but Joseph and Crowell only have 1 year remaining on their deals, so they're ineligible. The 2 year requirement is directly from the 2002 expansion draft, and will stop an expansion team from having the whole team leave after year 1. Thanks for pointing out Vanderdoes, I put him in to replace Hill. Thanks for your input.

[KiffinWillWin]

Quote: Originally Posted by rafkitty

I agree, that those players are on the way out, but Joseph and Crowell only have 1 year remaining on their deals, so they're ineligible. The 2 year requirement is directly from the 2002 expansion draft, and will stop an expansion team from having the whole team leave after year 1. Thanks for pointing out Vanderdoes, I put him in to replace Hill. Thanks for your input.

Noticed The Same thing As You With The Contracts Edited My Post.

[i am the messenger]

I don't really know which players would be protected, but I do love doing expansion drafts and will use your list.

I am planning on using the Bills as the expansion team and what I like to do is kind of put their players as free agents but I decide where they go. I may take Drew Lock in the draft, so an easy fix is having Josh Allen sign with Denver who needs a QB, but you could also go with say the Bengals and have him replace Dalton and have Dalton look for a new team after the season. Just a fun way to create new storylines. I don't like to do the draft like you were saying as those teams already get to pick first in the rookie draft. If I wanted to take Darnell Savage as my pick, I may choose to have Micah Hyde sign with Green Bay.

I do move picks down the board. For instance, Miami may end up taking Ed Oliver instead. Christian Wilkins would then go to another team of need. It does get a little confusing, but if I were to give Green Bay Micah Hyde then I wont feel too bad if I cant replace their previous rookie pick with an equally good selection in my mind. But I do try to stay as realistic as possible and improve every team as if I was their personal GM.

But I'm just rambling at this point. Glad someone else does this sort of thing too. Dont forget that you get the 18th pick in round 1, then the 1st and 18th pick in every subsequent round. Or do I have that wrong?

[bveasey123]

It isn't true that players listed in the 2002 Expansion Draft had to have at least 2 years on their contract, it was that they couldn't be free agents going in to the 2002 season. The full rules are listed in the attached spreadsheet.

I've done Expansion Draft simulations, and in this game, I used the list of players the teams cut in the Offseason stage, as well as realistic cuts and possible cuts rumoured in the NFL to come up with the following Expansion Draft list.

The 2019 season was simmed in-game, with the results fixed to match the real season, with the exception of the Oakland Raiders going 0-16, as it was them I was "expanding" with, as the Las Vegas Raiders.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

[SethMurphy]

Quote: Originally Posted by bveasey123

It isn't true that players listed in the 2002 Expansion Draft had to have at least 2 years on their contract, it was that they couldn't be free agents going in to the 2002 season. The full rules are listed in the attached spreadsheet. I've done Expansion Draft simulations, and in this game, I used the list of players the teams cut in the Offseason stage, as well as realistic cuts and possible cuts rumoured in the NFL to come up with the following Expansion Draft list. The 2019 season was simmed in-game, with the results fixed to match the real season, with the exception of the Oakland Raiders going 0-16, as it was them I was "expanding" with, as the Las Vegas Raiders. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

Is your spreadsheet good to use for M20, simming 1 year and then these contracts are good? I see a lot of 1 year remaining on contracts, is that at the end of the first season or at the start of the game

[bveasey123]

Quote: Originally Posted by SethMurphy

Is your spreadsheet good to use for M20, simming 1 year and then these contracts are good? I see a lot of 1 year remaining on contracts, is that at the end of the first season or at the start of the game

Yes these are 1 year remaining - if you look at the AVAILABLE page, the first year for salary cap and deap cap is 2020 - So these contracts "start" from the 2020 season. The 2002 Expansion Draft was conducted in mid-February.

The best time to do it as in the Super Bowl week after having played the game, and moving players from KC and SF the following week after 1 simmed year using fixed 2019 results and the latest rosters.

Few things need to be observed when simming:

XP sliders need to be all on 0 ----> Young players shouldn't be given another free year to develop.

Before you trade players to your team, you must edit their bonus remaining to 0, otherwise clubs will face penalties for trading players with guaranteed money remaining, when this is not how the assumption of contracts in the expansion draft works.

Another thing is that in 2002 NFL Draft - Houston were given an additional pick in the middle of each round from Rounds 2 to 7. To replicate this, randomly generate a team to give Houston an additional pick in each of the last 6 rounds of the draft, but teams can lose no more than 1 pick. For example, if DENVER for example are drawn to give Houston their 7th round pick, they are removed from the drawing for the subsequent 5 rounds.

I have additional spreadsheet detailing the actual trades that have occurred for picks in the 2020 NFL Draft, and also picks moved to account for the cycling of picks for clubs which have the same records.