Does anyone have a handy cap FAQ that they can point me in the direction of? I am trying to do some forward planning for next season, to see what sort of save if released numbers my players will have for next season but I can't get the numbers to work. Long day maybe lol

I'm relatively well versed on NFL cap rules, I'm not a complete noob, but yeah, something somewhere I'm not adding up correctly at the moment as the numbers I'm getting just aren't right.

Any help very much appreciated!

On your team page you can edit your view to show contracts.

That will show you how much you will save this year if you cut them.
If you cut someone (or trade or they retire), you will incur a cap penalty NEXT season equal to the total amount of bonus money left on their contract past the current season.

Hope this helps.

Is salary pro-rated? I'm literally right at the end of a season (the championship game has just finished). I don't know if that is throwing me off.

The guys I'm looking at have the remainder of this season (literally one more sim I'd guess, unless the off-season counts), then 1 more full year next year. I'm looking to see what sort of cap penalty they would carry if I wait to cut them once the season rolls over and they are in the final year of their deals.

Using this guy as an example - http://cust33.myfootballnow.com/player/667

His cap hit this year is $1,584,770, which I get, 2017 cap hit + bonus.

The Team screen tells me I can save $734,774 if I cut him now. I'm unsure how that number is calculated.

If I wait until the game rolls over to 2018, I am guessing that his cap hit will be 1,193,735 (salary + bonus), and I'll save the salary part of his contract if I cut him, still paying the bonus for an overall saving of $349,289 (total salary - total bonus remaining)?

I don't think the salaries are prorated.

FYI: The cap hit is salary + bonus.

If you cut this player right now (before end of season), this is what will happen:
Save $734,774 cap room this season, you still pay the $849,996 bonus
Next season you pay the remaining bonus of $442,223, and that's it.

If you wait and cut him next season, you save $771,512 of cap room next year (which you would have already had if you cut him now), and pay the bonus of $442,223.

So, in the case of this player, it doesn't really matter. If he had more years left, it would.

The difference would be what season you got hit with the cap penalty. If you release him now the cap penalty would be for the next season. If you wait until next season the cap penalty would be for the following season after assuming he has a contract beyond that season still.

Hope that helps

That's what I meant but didn't type haha!

i think I was confusing myself by trying to "combine years" so to speak, when really year on year they're more separate than that. As I say, confused myself. Much simpler now.

So, say a player has 4 years on his deal and we are in year 1. Each season has 250k of bonus. If I cut him in year 1, I presume I pay 250k in dead cap this year, then 750k in dead cap in year 2? Or does bonus money go as a penalty for the life of the contract (4 years in this example) rather than the year you cut him and the year after that?

Correct.

Righteo. I was just over complicating things :)

Thank you!!

Base salary IS prorated. So cutting a player at the end of the season doesn't do you much good to free up cap space.

Also good to know! Thanks :)