Offseason

The offseason is a fixed list of 10 steps. The Dashboard shows them under the names used here, and marks each one done, current, or still to come. A tag at the top reads Waiting on you when the league needs a decision from you. This page lists each step in order, says whether it waits for you, and says what to do.

Three steps wait for people: the Contract window, Free agency, and the Rookie draft. Every other step runs on its own. One advance runs every automatic step in a row and stops at the next step that waits.

Who presses the button depends on the league's Sim schedule. In a manual league, the commissioner selects Next step on the Dashboard. Nobody else sees it. In a scheduled league, nobody presses it. The league moves one waiting stop at a time on its own, about once a day, so a stop gives you about a day to act.

Honors and retirements

Awards, All-Pro, and the Hall of Fame ballot post. Every player turns a year older, and some veterans retire. This step does not wait for you. Check News and Hall of Fame to see who left.

Coaching carousel

Coach ratings drift, and coaches whose deals ended come back onto the market. AI clubs do not hire yet. This step does not wait for you. The market stays yours alone until the Combine step, so use the Contract window to look. See Coaching.

Contract window

This step waits for you. It is your one chance to keep players whose deals end with the season you just played. AI clubs have already re-signed the players they want.

1. Open Outlook. The Expiring inside a year table lists your deals that run out.
2. Select Extend on each player you want to keep, and sign the new deal. It starts next season. You can extend a player only in the last year of the player's deal. A player with another year left shows Next year instead of the button. If you make low offers again and again, the player stops negotiating for this offseason and goes to free agency at Contracts expire.
3. Open Front office to use your one franchise tag. Select Tag next to a pending free agent. A tagged player stays on your roster for next season.
4. Advance. In a manual league, only the commissioner sees Next step, so ask the commissioner. In a scheduled league, the daily run advances for you.

When you advance, the Combine and Contracts expire steps both run, and the league stops at Free agency. A player you did not extend or tag is gone from your roster before the league stops. You cannot extend the player after that. The player is in the free-agent pool, and you can bid there like any other club.

In a manual league, the commissioner decides when this window closes. In a scheduled league, it closes at the next daily run.

Combine

Scout grades sharpen and hidden traits surface. AI clubs hire and fire staff and adjust to their schemes at this step. This step does not wait for you. It runs right after you advance from the Contract window. See Scouting.

Contracts expire

Every deal that ended with the season just played comes off the roster, except for a tagged player. Those players go to the open market. AI clubs also release some declining, overpaid veterans first, so they join the pool too. Then any AI club that is over the cap cuts players to get back under it. This step does not wait for you. The pool on the Free agency screen grows.

Free agency

Free agency runs as sealed-bid rounds. There are 5 rounds in every league. No league setting changes that number. The Free agency screen shows Round 1 of 5, then Round 2 of 5, and so on. The Dashboard shows one step for all five.

Each round waits for you. Advance to resolve it. A round that nobody advances stays open. In a scheduled league, the daily run resolves one round, so each round gives you about a day.

1. Open Free agency.
2. Select a player, set your offer, term, and bonus in the bid pane, and select Place bid. You cannot see the other offers.
3. Use Pull to take a bid back while the round is open.
4. Advance. The advance resolves every bid, then opens the next round. In a manual league, only the commissioner sees Next step. In a scheduled league, the daily run advances.

After round 5, the window closes and the league moves on to the draft. Clubs that are short at a position are filled in so rosters stay legal.

Rookie draft

The draft has 7 rounds. Some clubs also hold compensatory picks. The number of picks you make depends on the picks your club owns, so it can change with trades. The Trade screen accepts picks as well as players.

The draft stops once for each pick you hold. It waits for you at each one. After you make a pick, the next advance runs the AI picks up to your next turn. After your last pick, the next advance finishes the draft and runs OTAs, Training camp, and Schedule release in one go.

1. Open Draft.
2. When your club is on the clock, select Draft next to a prospect, or select the prospect and then Draft [name]. Choose Make the pick.

You can skip the wait. Add prospects to Your queue, and select Auto-draft while I'm away. The game then works down your queue and takes the best player left.

In a scheduled league, each pick has a clock of 4 hours. If the clock would run out between midnight and 8 a.m. Eastern, it runs to 8 a.m. instead. When it runs out, the game picks from your own board. A manual league has no clock. The commissioner uses Run one pick and Skip to my pick in the Draft room.

OTAs

Players develop on the practice field. This step does not wait for you. Open your Roster to see the new ratings.

Training camp

Rosters over the limit are cut down, and camp stories post. This step does not wait for you. The game moves the lowest-value players to the practice squad or cuts them, so check your Roster before you advance past the draft.

Schedule release

Next season goes on the board, and the league switches to the regular season. This step does not wait for you. The Schedule screen shows Week 1.