#132 | SimNFL | 5th Year Options and Franchise Tags

[Piercewise1]

This Dev Diary covers two player management features that will be added to SimNFL starting with the next (2025) off-season: fifth-year options and player tags.

I. Fifth-Year Options

When college players are drafted into the NFL, they automatically receive a 4-year contract based on where they were selected. These contract values will still be set by the league. However, teams will have the option of adding a 5^th year onto the rookie contracts of all 1^st round picks for a pre-determined amount (as described below). This decision rests entirely with the team and will be automatically accepted by the player if the team chooses to exercise it. 

 

When is this decision made?

5^th year options are exercised at the end of the drafted players 3^rd year. For the initial draft class (2022), this means the end of the 2024 season. This step will be a unique stage of player management, happening after the normal extension window that occurs on the interface but before free agency begins.

 

How are the 5^th year amounts calculated?

While most contracts are determined based on Value, 5^th year options are a rare case when we look at dollars. Specifically, we rank the 25 largest dollar amounts for each position in the current league year. For this first time through that means 2024 Bonus + 2024 Salary; for traded players, archived Cap Sheets were used to determine how much Bonus they are getting paid this year. 

Next, we sort players into one of four buckets based on their accolades, as follows:

1. Franchise – players with multiple Pro Bowl selections
2. Transition – players with 1 Pro Bowl selection
3. Playtime – players who have played in 75% of their team’s snaps for 2 seasons OR 50% of their team’s snaps for all 3 seasons
4. Basic – players who do not qualify for any of the above

Finally, we use a formula to determine the amounts for each position, by bucket. The formulas are identical to those used by the real pros:

1. Franchise – the average of the top 5 highest paid players (at that position)
2. Transition – the average of the top 10 highest paid players
3. Playtime – the average of the 3^rd through 20^th highest paid players
4. Basic – the average of the 3^rd through 25^th highest paid players

5^th year options are normally fully guaranteed, but per SimNFL rules every contract must have at least $0.5M in Salary. So the contracts are 1-year deals, with Bonus equal to the amounts below except for $0.5M of Salary. Here is the full chart for 2024:

 

	Franchise	Transition	Playtime	Basic
QB	18.94	16.83	12.77	10.98
RB	10.03	8.59	6.34	5.74
FB	4.27	3.10	1.80	1.60
TE	7.85	6.83	5.45	5.01
WR	12.89	11.15	8.88	8.25
OT	15.66	14.11	11.91	11.09
OG	16.72	12.45	7.98	7.44
C	9.42	8.24	6.21	5.33
DE	15.43	13.59	10.42	9.71
DT	11.47	10.15	8.16	7.57
OLB	13.66	12.34	9.63	8.64
ILB	9.84	8.87	7.02	6.35
CB	11.64	10.12	7.90	7.44
FS	8.24	7.06	4.64	4.07
SS	10.90	8.76	5.47	4.76
K	3.48	2.69	1.56	1.38
P	2.92	2.07	1.20	1.07

 

The intent is that “Playtime” amounts are comparable to what a player might receive from a long-term contract with a Value matching their Overall, but there could be extremes in either direction. Note that these amounts will change each year as old contracts expire and new ones are signed.

Keep in mind that the category used for each player is determined based on their past performance, and the amount calculated automatically. The only thing the team decides is whether to exercise the option (guaranteeing a 5^th year on the rookie contract) or not.

 

Can a player be traded after having a 5^th year option exercised?

Yes, which is why some Salary is retained in the contract. Once a team exercises the option, the year is added onto the player’s existing rookie contract and everything behaves according to trade rules. Keep in mind that we are going back to the original trade rules regarding future Bonus amounts, so the team that exercises the option will remain on the hook for that money even in a trade scenario. 

 

Can I negotiate with a player if I decline their 5^th year option?

Not in the current off-season; they will simply play out the fourth and final year of their rookie deal. But when the extension window opens near the end of the next regular season, before their contract completely expires, you can attempt to negotiate an extension as you would with any other player.

 

II. Player Tags

As you might have guessed from the name of bucket 1 above, we are adding franchise tags to the sim. Tags are a way of keeping a player on your team even when their contract expires.

How does the franchise tag work?

At the end of the season, if there’s a player on your team with an expiring contract (i.e. no extension signed), you can “tag” the player to essentially force them to sign a 1-year deal with your team. The amount is equal to what is displayed in the first column above - all Bonus except for $0.5M in Salary. The timing is the same as 5^th year options (after the season, but before free agency starts) but tags can be applied to a player at any age. So you can attempt to negotiate a long-term deal with a player, then choose to tag them at the end of the season if they don’t accept your offer.

 

How many players can I tag?

You can tag exactly one player with a franchise tag per year. You can also choose not to tag anyone.

 

Can I tag the same player multiple years in a row?

No. After tagging a player, you’ll either have to agree to a long-term extension next year or let them walk.

 

Are there different kinds of tags?

In the future we’d like to add the transition tag, which allows for players to be bid on by other teams after being tagged, but coding that onto the interface is extremely complex. So we’re starting with just the franchise tag. If we add transition tags in the future, they would use the second column from the above chart for their values.