8.1Where you strengthen the roster
The free agent market lists the players you can sign and the information you have on them. Filter by position, age, ability, Peak, condition and market interest to find targets, and check your own live offers and the deals you have already closed this season.
8.2An offer is not a signing
Once your offer is in, the player can still pick another club, or your offer can lapse as the market and the terms move. How competitive you are depends on what he wants, the terms, your payroll situation, when in the season you are bidding, and what every other manager is doing.
So treat an offer as a commitment with a price on it, rather than something you can throw out indefinitely. Before you send one, check:
- Does he fit your system and the hole in your lineup?
- Will the commitment squeeze next season's re-signings or additions?
- Do you already have cover at that position?
- Is your information on him good enough to bet on?
Market interest tells you how much competition there is, but no one's private offers are ever made public. That asymmetry is deliberate — and it is why market interest alone should not set your price.
8.3Re-signing and planning for next season
Before a contract runs out there is a window to re-sign. Re-signing keeps a player and removes uncertainty, but it also locks up future cap space early. The next-season roster page lets you compare who is under contract, who is re-signed, who might arrive and who is about to graduate, all in one view.
The question to ask is not whether he is worth it today, but whether he still fits your direction across the whole length of the deal. A contender may value keeping its core over chasing a surprise on the market; a rebuilding club may get more out of flexibility and minutes for young players.
8.4Contract types
The contract type decides how you can sign a player, whether you can go past the ordinary cap room, and when the deal begins. Every contract is a payroll commitment, so being allowed to sign someone is not the same as it being a good idea.
| Type | When it applies and what it does |
|---|---|
| Standard market contract | The ordinary way to add from the free agent market. You need enough cap room to make the offer, and the money and years have to sit inside what league rules allow for that player. He still decides for himself, against everyone else bidding. Sign him in the first half of the season and he joins immediately; sign him in the second half and he starts next season. |
| Bird re-sign | Only for expiring players who meet the tenure requirement and are staying with their current club. It is the retention mechanism under a soft cap: even if the new deal takes you past ordinary cap room, his own club can still offer it. Bird deals carry more security and a longer maximum term, but the player still has to want to stay — nothing here forces him. |
| MLE | Your tool for adding from the market when you do not have the cap room. Every club has an allowance in the season the contract takes effect, and both live offers and completed signings draw it down. The MLE lets a capped-out club keep improving, but it cannot go past what is left, and it still has to clear the player's willingness and your roster limits. |
| Rookie contract | For prospects who graduate from your own Watchlist and whom you choose to sign; future draft intake will use the same logic. It is a direct signing written into the rules — no bidding against other clubs, no willingness check — and it starts after the season changeover. |
| Core extension | Only for your club's founding core player. It is another direct retention route: when the timing is right you extend his career at the club without going through the market. It still counts against your future payroll, so plan it alongside the rest of the roster. |
| Initial contract | Generated with your founding squad when the club is created, so that a new club starts with a clear payroll and roster. From there these deals expire like any other and go into the normal re-sign, departure or retirement paths. |
Contracts also split into players who join immediately and players who report next season. Immediate arrivals usually come from in-season market work; re-signings and late-season signings go onto next season's roster and only take effect after the changeover. When you read a contract, look past the annual salary to its type, where it is in its term, when you can extend it, and whether it has already claimed next season's cap space.
8.5Releasing players and the roster floor
Releasing a player can fix your roster or your rotation, but it can leave financial obligations behind. It is not a free reset button. Before you release someone, look at who replaces him, what the market offers and what it does to your payroll.
The system keeps every club above the minimum it needs to field a team, so short-term moves or contract changes cannot leave you unable to play. That is a floor, not a squad-building service.