Restructuring Contracts

[Funkycorm]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mattphillies

Awesome! I also saw in the patch notes that bonus money won’t be distributed past the 5th year per NFL rules so I’m sure that has a bearing on this

That makes sense from what I saw previously.

Though I do have yet to personally try this on 20. I am going to try it and see now. I know it didn't work last year.

I also know previously it would not work the year they signed the extension but once the off-season hit it would work.

No bonus after year 5 may explain why it won't work on those 7 year contracts.

[ktd1976]

Quote: Originally Posted by Funkycorm

That makes sense from what I saw previously. Though I do have yet to personally try this on 20. I am going to try it and see now. I know it didn't work last year. I also know previously it would not work the year they signed the extension but once the off-season hit it would work. No bonus after year 5 may explain why it won't work on those 7 year contracts.

I did some testing on this last night, and found out a couple things.

This trick ONLY works when the player has 2 years remaining on his contract.

I tested with Matt Stafford, and doing this trick actually INCREASED his cap value for the current season, AND the next season. He has 4 years left on a 6 year contract.

I then tested it with Snacks Harrison, and Marvin Jones, (who both have 2 years remaining) and it increased the cap value for the current season, but lowered it for the following season.

So, you have to be careful when you do this trick with players with more than 2 ears remaining on their deal. It might actually increase the cap value for the following season.....

[reyes the roof]

Quote: Originally Posted by ktd1976

I did some testing on this last night, and found out a couple things. This trick ONLY works when the player has 2 years remaining on his contract. I tested with Matt Stafford, and doing this trick actually INCREASED his cap value for the current season, AND the next season. He has 4 years left on a 6 year contract. I then tested it with Snacks Harrison, and Marvin Jones, (who both have 2 years remaining) and it increased the cap value for the current season, but lowered it for the following season. So, you have to be careful when you do this trick with players with more than 2 ears remaining on their deal. It might actually increase the cap value for the following season.....

Yeah I used this method to use up the $33 million I have in space in my Bears franchise. They have a some guys getting huge increases in 2020 so I wanted to absorb some of those cap hits this year since you can’t carry over cap space as far as I know. I highly recommend this to anyone that has a lot of cap space and guys that are on the roster that will be seeing big increases in their cap hits the following year

[ajra21]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mattphillies

Hey everyone! Really enjoying the game this year but I’ve found the work they did with contracts, specifically how they laid out cap hits in long term contracts to be quite worrisome. If you use a team like the Eagles, you’re going to enter the offseason with practically no cap space whatsoever unless you start releasing very good players. In some ways this is a good simulation of real life - teams have to make tough financial decisions every year to free up cap space - but I think they went a little overboard with their intent. Too much money was put into the 2nd year cap hits and not enough into the first. The Eagles just aren’t going to be releasing Malcolm Jenkins, Brandon Brooks, Alshon Jeffery etc. They do however masterfully construct and restructure contracts every year so there’s always room in the budget to keep their own priority free agents, extend drafted players, and dip a toe or two into the free agent market. In Madden, there’s just no way to do this, until I found a little trick. If you want to create a little wiggle room for the first two offseasons or so without straight up changing a player’s contract to something else entirely (which feels like cheating to me), simply go into the Edit Contract tab of a player with a big money long term deal and move the current year of the deal to the left or right and then back again. This will redistribute the cap hits throughout the contract to a more evenly balanced backloaded deal, freeing up money on next year’s cap in just about every case. You can do this to as many players with multi-year deals as you want. Money will be pushed into your current year’s cap, but I’ve found you can actually operate the first year OVER the cap if needed and you won’t be prompted to cut anyone. You can free up just a few million if you’d like or for some teams over 20 million. Be advised, just like in real life, you’re pushing some money further down the line so be mindful of who you’re “restructuring” because you could end up taking a bigger bath on a guy you were intending to cut in a year or two. I find this method to be the closest thing to “restructuring” contracts in Madden that we’ll get so I hope this helps someone out there as much as it’s helped me and my Eagles franchise. Thanks and enjoy the game everyone! P.S. Read Geodude’s Franchise Tips every year - that dude is a hall of famer!

That bolded line, actually, they might well cut guys like Jenkins and Brooks given their age.

As for the contract manipulation, I've been doing this for years simply cos teams can't manage their caps well.

I'll have to do it in this version cos in all sims I've done, KC have let Mahomes walk. He ends up signining a one year deal with teams like WAS and MIA. Goff always leaves LA.

[metallidevils]

Quote: Originally Posted by ajra21

That bolded line, actually, they might well cut guys like Jenkins and Brooks given their age. As for the contract manipulation, I've been doing this for years simply cos teams can't manage their caps well. I'll have to do it in this version cos in all sims I've done, KC have let Mahomes walk. He ends up signining a one year deal with teams like WAS and MIA. Goff always leaves LA.

I just started a franchise as KC. Mahomes is asking for something like 36 mil/year for 7 years.

[lunchbox2042]

I wish we had the option to set whether we wanted to front load, back load or spread the contract out evenly. I feel like one of the ps2/xbox football games had this option.

[PhillyPhanatic14]

Because we can't choose how the guaranteed money is spread out in deals, something that I've had to do manually this year go into existing contracts and shift the bonus money into salary after year 2 or 3. You hardly ever see guaranteed money in real life deals beyond year 2 or 3 so this is a way to move on from a player that you've given a long term deal to in a realistic way.


This is the first year that I've taken this approach, but it's been fun. Allows more roster flexibility like they have in real life, while also keeping the cap numbers high.

[roadagain65]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mattphillies

Hey everyone! Really enjoying the game this year but I’ve found the work they did with contracts, specifically how they laid out cap hits in long term contracts to be quite worrisome. If you use a team like the Eagles, you’re going to enter the offseason with practically no cap space whatsoever unless you start releasing very good players. In some ways this is a good simulation of real life - teams have to make tough financial decisions every year to free up cap space - but I think they went a little overboard with their intent. Too much money was put into the 2nd year cap hits and not enough into the first. The Eagles just aren’t going to be releasing Malcolm Jenkins, Brandon Brooks, Alshon Jeffery etc. They do however masterfully construct and restructure contracts every year so there’s always room in the budget to keep their own priority free agents, extend drafted players, and dip a toe or two into the free agent market. In Madden, there’s just no way to do this, until I found a little trick. If you want to create a little wiggle room for the first two offseasons or so without straight up changing a player’s contract to something else entirely (which feels like cheating to me), simply go into the Edit Contract tab of a player with a big money long term deal and move the current year of the deal to the left or right and then back again. This will redistribute the cap hits throughout the contract to a more evenly balanced backloaded deal, freeing up money on next year’s cap in just about every case. You can do this to as many players with multi-year deals as you want. Money will be pushed into your current year’s cap, but I’ve found you can actually operate the first year OVER the cap if needed and you won’t be prompted to cut anyone. You can free up just a few million if you’d like or for some teams over 20 million. Be advised, just like in real life, you’re pushing some money further down the line so be mindful of who you’re “restructuring” because you could end up taking a bigger bath on a guy you were intending to cut in a year or two. I find this method to be the closest thing to “restructuring” contracts in Madden that we’ll get so I hope this helps someone out there as much as it’s helped me and my Eagles franchise. Thanks and enjoy the game everyone! P.S. Read Geodude’s Franchise Tips every year - that dude is a hall of famer!

Thanks for the tip as I have been wondering how I was going to keep my Eagles team together heading into season 2020. I've already traded out Ertz & Agholor & still had no cap space for 2020!

If those Madden contracts are anything like reality, Howie Roseman has got his work cut out for him!