In terms of using cap I see the future being a real problem for users / ai. I have mentioned the nfls 89% rule helping here. Well, maybe not directly as they use it as a minimum , but it artificially creates a maximum cap as well.

I know an implementation of perhaps a max cap would make teams think twice about bidding huge in FA or trading players a lot of bonus away for high picks . The nfl uses 4 years in the future of total cap to work with.

Here is some general made up numbers to work with out of an allocation

Yr 1 100 cap ...actual cap used 90 and zero dead and 10 mil
Yr 2 105.....40 and 10 dead and 15 mil for 7 rooks
Yr 3 110 zero and zero dead and 20 mil for 7 rookies
Yr 4 115 mil cap zero actual cap and zero dead and 25 mil for 7 rookies
Total 430 mil Total cap , 100 actual cap and 10 dead and 60 million for 21 rookies


For a total cap used of 170 million out of he 430 million . Well below 50 % and well below the nfls 89% but that cause out of allocations guys only have 2 yr contracts . Once that third year hits and renegotiations have to be finalized those future years and totals would be alot higher.

Each year / move it should be updated and tracking this manually would be ridiculous for 32 teams without it being automated , but I will continue any way.


Total cap, actual , dead, rookies
Yr 3 110, 80, 10, 20
Yr 4 115, 70, 0, 25
Yr 5 120, 60, 0, 30
Yr 6 125, 50, 0, 35
Total 460, 260, 10, 110

Now we're at 380 used out of 460 alot closer to 75% used, and that just by guarantees of bonuses from renegotiations and FA . Throw in a bunch of trades and you could easily use that last 25%

Like I said the nfl uses the minimum so in reality there every team would be over 400mil. With only 60 million to play with over 4 years and nfl gms can only make so many big moves before they are over and out of a job.

Here with all his wiggle room out of an allocation a trade happy gm can get in to deep trouble quick if the next 3 years totals are not taken in to account .

Something like a 111% percent rule might work here. And in that second senerio a team could use like 500 million over those 4 years . Only cause if they get in to cap trouble it should be easier to fix.

As teams roster moves get close to that number a warning could be administered to them , and if nothing is done the 111% rule would possibly block or cancel the move