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Free Agency Bidding:
During the season, player bids can be made at any time and are processed at the end of every week of the season by the commissioners (same time the week is advanced).
Bids must be a minimum of a player's overall rating. There is no max bid; owners may bid whatever their cap allows.
Off-season Free Agency Bidding:
Bidding will consist of 2 rounds, both of which are blind. Owners will send bids via PM to a special account on the boards (TBA). This way, the bids are hidden from everyone's view until the commissioners look at them at the end of round 1. Only the top 3 offers and ties will advance to day 2. These top 3 bids and ties will then be shown on the boards. Then the 2nd round begins (another 24 hours) and those top 3 bidders bid once again. These are sent to the same account as for round 1. The highest bidder from there wins the player.
Every owner has 1 position-based exemption per season. Owners can use this exemption to BACK OUT of bids in the event they get 2 of the top players at any position. Only 1 per season and they DO NOT carry over to the following next season. For example, if an owner wins 2 cbs but only wants to keep 1, the owner may choose which cb they want to keep from the 2 and void their bid for the other. The next highest bidder then wins the other CB. If no other bids were placed, then the player remains a free agent.
If there is a tie bid at processing time, the team with the worst record the previous season wins the bid.
Signing Bonus Contract(SBC)
If a free agent's final bid is 110 points or higher, this player goes into a Signing Bonus Contract. This player can be cut after his 3rd year of service with no penalty. If an SBC player is cut before 3 years with the team, the team will incur a penalty the following season above and beyond any cap penalty. The penalty will be a loss of one B level contract for 1 season.
This rule secures the free agency bidding process by penalizing owners who blindly throw $$$ at a player. It will also prevent people from borrowing players or buying a team.
RFA Bidding
RFAs are players who have completed exactly 3 seasons and are not protected by a team as chosen by an owner. These players go through the same 2 rds of bidding as regular FAs but there is a twist. An RFAs owner can match the winning bidder's bid and keep the player. If the owner matches, the bidder may outbid 1 last time in an attempt to get the player. However, the owner can choose to match yet again to keep the player 1 more season. In such a scenario, the winning bidder gets nothing.
Note that rosters must be at exactly 53 players to be eligible to play a game.
Also, the bid value for free agents is their cap hit. If you bid 150 on a player then they will count 150 against your cap, not their overall.
Cap Penalties
A team will lose 50% of a player's cap value in the following situations:
1) when you trade/release ANY player who has not yet completed 3 seasons;
2) when you trade/release ANY player who you just acquired (same season) via trade or free agency;
A team will lose 25% of a player's cap value if a player who has completed between 3 and 9 seasons is released/traded at any time other than the free cut period during the off-season.
Players with 10+ years experience can be cut with no penalty at any time.
You can cut guys 55 and under with no penalty as long you did not acquire them the same season.
The penalty for transactions during a season will count against the following season's cap. If you trade your 80 OVR rookie this season then your team loses 40 pts against the cap for the duration of next season.
The new season officially starts June 1st in the NFL, which will be signified by advancing the season. If you cut/trade players BEFORE the season is officially advanced then the cap pens go against the upcoming season's cap. If you cut/trade them after advancement they automatically count against the following, not upcoming, season's cap. It's easier than it sounds. 
Determining Free Agents and Roster Management:
Each off-season every team will need to go through free agency. Each player will fall into 1 of 3 categories:
1) Rookie Protected (RP) - Any player who has NOT finished 3 seasons. These players are naturally protected and will NOT use up protection slots.
2) Restricted Free Agent (RFA) - A player who has finished exactly 3 seasons. For RFAs, a team can match any offer given by another team.
3) Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA) - A player who has finished 4 or more seasons. UFAs go into the FA pool during the off-season. There is no bid matching for UFAs.
How Owners Choose FAs and RFAs
Excluding Rookie Protected players, a team must choose which RFAs and UFAs it will protect. Every team has the following allotment of contracts available each off-season to use to sign players:
Level A = 95-99 ovr - 2 players/contracts
B = 90-94 - 2
C = 85-89 - 4
D = 80-84 - 4
E = 75-79 - 6
F = 70-74 - 6
G = 65-69 - 8
H = <65 - 8
Each contract has a certain value. You can think of it in terms of $ and add zeros or simply a pt value.
Level A = 12
B = 8
C = 6
D = 4
E = 3
F = 2
G = 1.5
H = 1
So you might say that level A contracts are worth $12,000,000 each and are reserved for players with overalls between 95-99. Likewise, level H contracts are worth $1,000,000 and are for players with overalls of less than 65.
To provide more leeway, teams also have the ability to trade-in their contracts across levels. Ex. an owner can trade-in 1 C level contract (6 pts) and 1 F level contract (2 pts) to obtain 1 more B level contract in the event he has one B level (90-94 ovr) player unprotected by default. An owner could also cash-in 1 B level contract (8 pts) for 2 D level contracts. As you can see, contracts can be traded in either upward or downward fashion.
Note, contracts may be moved freely only to an extent. You must leave the following # of contracts at each level. You CANNOT move both level A contracts down, etc.etc.:
Level A = 1 contract may not be traded-in/must remain even if unused
B = 1
C = 2
D = 2
E = 3
F = 3
G = 4
H = 4
Extreme success/failure will lessen a team's # of contracts. This will replicate what occurs in the NFL when guys leave SB teams for paydays and leave horrible teams in hopes of winning gms:
- SB winner loses 1 contract each from levels C, D, and E.
- SB loser loses 1 contract from levels D and E.
- Conference Champ. losers lose 1 contract from level D.
- Teams with 4/5 season wins lose 1 contract from level D.
- Teams with less than 4 wins lose 1 contract from levels D and E.
Draft
All draft picks are assigned a cap number based on their overall, like all roster players at the beginning of the season. Draft picks may be traded at any time.
Cut Down Day
Immediately after the draft we begin cuts. Every team MUST cut down their team so they are under the salary cap after this period. There are no cap hits for releasing players during this period.
Salary Cap
This will be determined after the fantasy draft is complete. It will be the highest team payroll +3%.
Determining a Player's Cap Hit
Every player's cap hit is their overall with these exceptions:
QB +15
HB +10
FB -10
K/P -15
ANY player rated 69 or below other than FB,K,P +/-0
In other words, an 85 overall QB counts 100 against your cap and will require a level A contract, which there are only 2 of. A 90 rated FB, though, will only count 80 against the cap and only require a level D contract.
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