I would want to know what 'season' would mean. Do pre-season and post-season also count? I see no reason that if I was eliminated from playoff contention that I couldn't start finding free agents and signing players. In that case, there would be no need to limit contracts because it wouldn't 'fix' the issue originally brought up here. I wouldn't want my ability to find and sign players to be limited. Contracts and salary are a big part of the management of this game.

IMO the issue that needs to be looked at here is the dumping and re-signing of high profile players. No offense meant to Chicago, but even though he swallowed the cap hit, there is no way someone should be able to dump a $3.5 mil/yr contract and then re-sign a 92/98 player for under $600k/yr (I am in no way implying Chicago should be penalized or anything reversed, what's done is done). On the open market there is no way that would happen. If Jimmy Graham was dropped by the Saints, he wouldn't re-sign for $600k, there would be an enormous bidding war.

Perhaps a longer waiting period to clear waivers than 1 sim cycle? Because the sims go just about daily, it can be exploited if someone can't log in for a day. Maybe dropped players must wait 2-3 sims on waivers before they can be signed? In addition, perhaps a 'Waiver Report" can be made which updates in real time so someone can just click and see who was been cut and pending waivers.

Another thought may be to not allow you to sign a player that you cut after training camp until the following early free agency. I know that happens all the time in the NFL, but might be a way to prevent the exploit here.

P.S. - Chicago was out of the playoffs when this happened, so if it was allowed once your season is done he would have still been able to do it.

Ideally we could have a waiver wire report and a waiver wire: once a player is released, he can be claimed on the next stage (by the team with the worst record in case there's more than one claim) inheriting his previous contract. On the stage after that, he's free game.

Barring that, the simplest thing is not to allow multi-year deals to FAs (extensions are fine) between TC and the FA period

I do like that idea as well Firefly. I think we can all agree some waiver process should be in place, as it would only make the process fairer and more realistic. Also, the worst-to-first priority helps even the league out a little, not just by who has the most free cap or willing to sign for rediculous amounts to outbid just to renegotiate or drop the following season.

I'm inclined to support the latter - no multi-year contracts to available free agents between TC and early FA - mainly because a lot of players only check in a couple of times a week. But I do like the waiver wire as well... keep talking :-)

I have to say I am still not a fan of that idea. If I have an injury (or whatever other scenario), I may want to sign a back-up to a 2 or 3 year contract if there is a 50-60 rated backup out there. A 1 year contract, the way it is now, means he is automatically a FA again at the end of the year since you can't re-sign a 1 year contract before the season is over and FA Wk 1 begins.

I've actually thought about having a wavier wire from the beginning, my biggest concern is the limited time each team would have to make an offer on a cut player means that players could be missed easily if you don't log in after, say, a midweek stage. One thought I had was to include the wavier wire in the e-mail notification, that way you don't have to actually log in but instead are pushed the information. Another thought I had was for wavier pickups to only be processed during midweek stages, especially since it gets hairy trying to sign on a game stage when you don't know whether you'll get the player you offered the contract to and could end up having too many players, causing the AI to adjust your roster and/or depth chart.

The more I think about it, the more I like that idea - any other thoughts/comments?

I would say for sanity's sake, and to maybe 'drive' more people to log in to check things out, I would include a link to the League's waiver wire in the e-mail, as opposed to publishing the whole of the waiver wire itself.

That way, someone clicks the link, gets the info they're looking for, and then perhaps says, "Oh hey, since I'm here...", and off they go. Might get some of the 'wallflowers' to be more interactive with their teams, fellow owners, etc.

I like the whole waiver wire idea. I also like doing it just during midweek sims, so everyone would have a chance. I also like the email notification and link. What about the waiver process? Worst-to-first priority after 1st eligible sim then open to all after that as Firefly suggested seems like a good method.