Salary Cap Poll

[Jerry-Redskins]

Agree Steve.

[Justin-Chicago]

I will advocate for leaving the current system in place and letting it actually run it's course. I think every season it gets a bit better and better. Rich put alot of thought into it and I would say it is absolutely having the desired effect, but again, it needs a few more seasons to be self-sustaining.

But, you have to accept that market value is what another team is willing to pay, nothing more. You have to be willing to play ball and find common ground, work a trade that helps both teams, or look for a role-playing depth guy in FA rather than just try to get the best 53. Take your medicine and make the cut if you need to, if it keeps you away from longer term trouble.

Take this trade that Dean and I made last offseason:

Chicago sends
Draft picks #14, #26
S Harris

Kansas City sends
pick #69
25 points

Chicago goes all in for 2038, giving up significant future talent, and ends up able to keep a couple extra veterans that help to get over the top for a title. KC stockpiles young talent and the next season makes the playoffs for the first time in many seasons.

KC S Harris ends up AFC DPOY in 2039.

Chicago S Joseph ends up NFC DPOY in 2039.

Wouldn't have been able to keep S Joseph unless this deal was made. I tried to deal him but took what the market gave me, which ended up being to keep him. Dean played ball, I played ball, and it worked out for both of us.

Over the past several seasons I have already faced alot of tough player loss, guys I would have gladly kept without the cap. I'll face alot more this year. But, rather than complain, look at it as a way to improve the plan for the coming seasons. You don't need to be radical, that only gets you in trouble. Be like the CPU teams, keep the GM calls simple and try to make the right ones, and focus on good PPPs. Take what the market gives you.

Leave the system as is. The cap isn't the problem, but you have to adapt.

[Dean-Atlanta]

The salary cap system takes some time adjusting to it, but I think on the whole it is having more benefit than not. It is putting a limit on how much veteran talent a team can amass n a way the points system alone did not. The system isn't perfect, and I think some team assess their overall roster talent and the salaries being paid and question if the roster talent is worth the salary price. The GM role is still a challenge and the salary cap adds more challenge to it. I have a general plan I follow in the off-season and have had to adjust that for the salary cap.

[James-Eagles]

I am really get rid of both but I am good with the cap just going way.

[Mitch-Oilers]

Here's an alternative that I don't believe has been mentioned:

What if instead of having a salary cap, we use only the point system but have a "point cap"?

By point cap, teams will not be able to have over certain amount of points. If they exceed the point cap, all points above the cap would be paid back to the league as a "luxury" tax.

The league could either keep the points or maybe we redistribute the points to the teams with the lowest point totals under the cap.

Example:
Teams receive 65 points at the beginning of each season as usual
Point cap is set at 80 (or whatever the agreed number is)
If a team carried over more than 15 points from the previous season, that's the amount paid in the luxury tax

My thought is this would simply the system and still create some guardrails for teams to have to make tough choices on who to protect, AA and Un-retire since points would be capped.

Again, just another alternative to consider...

[Jerry-Redskins]

It was rare to have a high number of points before the salary cap. The cap opened up point trading. It was not allowed before. The weekly line with point rewards also added points to the pool.

[tmurph-Jets]

I agree with James.
No cap and No points.
The system needs to be easier for all of us and especially new potential coaches.

We created the NFL style and it failed.
Free agency is weak, 95% of the players sign for 1 point and there are never studs there.
Trading is essentially dead in season.

The cap & points system has worked, we now all have the same teams.
We are all capped out. It's boring.

We need a system that promotes trading which also creates more dialogue between coaches all season long.
There was a time this league was heavy trading and terrible free agency. People complained and we changed it.
Now we have very low trading and terrible free agency.

I believe we should blow up the entire system!

[Steve-LA Chargers]

Points work well for FA bidding. All we need is a points system with auto anti-aging levels currently set. No paying for anti-aging. Reduce new season point allocations to 40. During Free Agency, you win the player indefinitely. No more contracts. No need for tags. For 2040, carryover all bet winnings from 2039 and 10% of previous points balance (because some teams have large balances). For 2041, carryover all. Players move by trading, FA signings or cuts. End of season cuts to 53 is the primary way we fill the FA pool. No cutting players 5 years or less to get to 53 though - must be vets 6 years and up.

[Mitch-Oilers]

Here's another alternative approach...

When I was part of the FBPRO Federation years ago, we didn't have a salary cap or point-type system. The system was based on a player-protection limit based on the player age. I've reached out to our old commissioner to get a copy of the whole system. However, it worked something like this:

Players 5 years or less experience - auto-protected
Players 6 to 8 years of experience - 4 max protected
Players 9 to 10 years of experience - 3 max protected
Players 11 and 12 years of experience - 2 max protected
Players over 13+ years of experience - 1 max protected

If I remember correctly, we had a free agency draft. Since we currently take about a week for our initial free agency bids in the PNFL, we could do a 1 week FA draft instead. However, the draft order would be random and then snaked. Meaning, Rich would randomly select the draft order and then snake the order each round.

Auto-anti aging would apply as it does under current rules. However, players that are protected by their team outside of the auto-AA would also be AA protected.

We could use a small point system for in-season FA bidding in case of injuries, etc (EX: 5 points per team)

Once I hear back from my old commish, I'll share the full system if people are interested.

[Jerry-Redskins]

Definitely not for recreating a different system in my opinion. Either stay as is or simplify by rolling back the $ cap. We operated for a ton of seasons with the point system we have and no $ cap. Its easy, only a minor FA system, a super soft cap, and easy to learn. It keeps everything we have other than the $ cap. I championed the $ cap and it has lowered trades and not added to FA.