FanGM

I personally don't see any issue with the current system.

Even the teams who are more active in signing UDFAs don't sign as many as typical NFL teams.

Also, if a team wants to give a $300K bonus to a WR for example, they do so at their own risk.

In this league we have the luxury to not only see where the undrafted free agents go, but how they performed in rookie camp and maybe even OTAs. There are countless stories online that help show which players are more valuable. Since we have that information - to think some of the players may receive larger than life signing bonuses - seems quite realistic to me, actually. Nobody, I believe is getting an absurd amount of money. Again, if they were - I am not sure why a different GM should be upset about it ... it is free agency and the other GM is quite possibly wasting their own money.

Personally, I prefer not to give them a dime in SB bonus - because I will probably cut most and/or try to waive them to my practice squad.

The whole draft idea (Jared) is fine, but the draft is already so long and UDFAs is such a crapshoot - I don't think it would make that much of difference and may over complicate things, especially for teams with high roster totals going into the draft. It would also complicate SB money. In the NFL, a top UDFA gets $20K in SB - a draft pick gets much more. That idea will make things harder on Troy and doesn't bring much value.

I personally think there is nothing wrong with the current method - it makes more sense then the ideas being thrown around here IMO.

I'm pretty strongly in the 'don't change anything camp'. Very rarely do these UDFA amount to anything more than ST players or backups. This year is a bit of an anomaly as we drafted much later than normal so we have more information available to us during our UDFA signing period.

To me, if a GM wants to spend 3-5 million in signing bonuses for 15-20 UDFA, great! I can either carry that money over to next year or spend it on proven players in the league.

I think there are two options aside from doing nothing. The first is to create a pool of signing bonus money specifically for UDFAs. This is how the NFL does it so we would fall in line. The other option is to turn off the signing soon function after the draft when UDFAs become available. I would only support those two options if we wanted to implement any changes at all.

Ain't broken, don't fix.

If people want to spend money on players who will most likely be cut IRL or be backup players and never see the field, by all means - go ahead and give them SB or non-minimum salaries. If you're the one GM who finds the next Wes Welker and gets to pay him pennies on the dollar for a few years, so be it. Good for you.

Knighty Knight wrote:I think there are two options aside from doing nothing. The first is to create a pool of signing bonus money specifically for UDFAs. This is how the NFL does it so we would fall in line. The other option is to turn off the signing soon function after the draft when UDFAs become available. I would only support those two options if we wanted to implement any changes at all.

I think we just change it to what the NFL uses

I'm fine with the current system.

If you like a player enough to get annoyed about losing him while bidding, acquire a 7th round pick to actually draft him. Every year there is a surplus of teams looking to simply kick their 7th rounder to a future 7th rounder, which should not be a prohibitive cost for someone you think has a realistic shot of sticking on your roster.

Also a cap system would seem to cause problems of multiple max offers. With no player choice in our free agency it becomes first bid gets the player which isn't really free agency

I agree with part of an earlier post in that I would like to see all undrafted free agents in a blind bidding system.

Larry
Minnesota AFFL

I feel like if you see a player you like and want to spend a SB on him, all the power, but be wary of the potential of cap implications. Myself, as soon as I see a SB on a UDFA I passon drafting him, more than likely that player isn't going to make your roster. Considering jeremy Cash recently received a 20,000 SB from Carolina and that is considered high price, I wouldn't spend two million for a UDFA but again all the power to whoever wants to.

Yeah some of these signings crack me up, but if they have the money then power to them. I think majority will vote to leave it as it is.

But what would stop us from signing them later? When do they drop from being UDFAs to just in the regular FA pool? I understand a cap for going after some of the "top" UDFA guys but like many have said, if they want to spend it, feel free