[PINNED] Extension Rules

If you feel ready to commit to a player for the foreseeable future and get a jump on the other teams who can offer in free agency, you can offer them a contract extension. The rules for when a player is extension eligible and the type of extension you can offer depend on the player's current contract.

Rookie Scale Contract
- Max Years: 5
- Max Salary: Maximum Contract (25% of next year's salary cap number)^a
- Max Increase: 8%
- When It Can Be Offered: Starting in the off-season, one year before restricted free agency, after team option has been extended

All Other Contracts
- Max Years: 5 minus # of years remaining on contract (including option years)^bc
- Max Salary: 140% of the final year of current contract^d, up to a maximum contract^e
- Max Increase: 8%
- When It Can Be Offered: Starting after the two-year anniversary of when the previous contract was signed, with two years or less remaining on contract, up until the contract officially runs out^f

Extensions can include a player or team option at the end of the deal.

Notes:
a, e - Certain players can qualify for an even higher amount, if offered. This is explained further in the Designated Player Rule thread.
b - If the player has an option year left on his current contract, you can choose to either have him opt into that and extend off that number, or decline it and extend off the current salary as part of the offer.
c - The Over-38 Rule applies to extensions as well.
d - If the player is making below the league average salary, the league average salary can be used in place of the current salary. The FBB Agent will alert you in negotiations if this is the case.
f - Players can be extended during the postseason but will not negotiate while his team is currently alive in the playoffs.

How to Offer an Extension

If you wish to offer your player an extension, please post a topic with the player's name in the topic title. Inside the topic, please outline exactly what the offer is. That means you need to clearly state a contract length, a starting dollar amount, and a percentage increase (if you wish to give one) -- do not just say "maximum extension" or "maximum" for the dollar amount. If you want to add a reason as to why you think the player should accept your offer, you can. From there, the negotiation will begin.

Trading Extended Players

Most extended players have to wait a period of time before they can be traded. If you've had a change of heart about the player's future with your franchise following an extension, here is how long you will usually have to wait to trade him:

- If the player signed a Designated Player extension, he cannot be traded for a full league year following the agreement
- If the player signed an extension in the off-season before training camp, he cannot be traded until Day 60 of the following season^a
- If the player signed an extension after training camp but before Day 60, he cannot be traded until the following off-season
- If the player signed an extension after Day 60, he cannot be traded until the following training camp

With all that said, there are exceptions available for players extended off non-rookie scale contracts. If the player's contract following the extension has four years or less (including option years), and the extension increased his previous contract by 120% or less, he's eligible for what's called an extend-and-trade, which allows him to be traded immediately.

This rule is true in the converse as well, meaning if you've recently traded for a player, you must wait a period before you can offer a full extension, but you can offer what would be legal in an extend-and-trade immediately. To outline in full:

- If the player is traded for in the off-season before training camp, he cannot sign a full extension until Day 60
- If the player is traded for after training camp but before Day 60, he cannot sign a full extension until the following off-season
- If the player is traded for after Day 60, he cannot sign a full extension until the following training camp

Once again, these rules do not apply to players extended off a Rookie Scale contract.

Notes:
a - Rookie scale contracts extended in this way are also subject to the Poison Pill provision (link thread)

Renegotiate and Extend

If the 140% limit on veteran extensions is prohibiting you from offering the level of extension you want, there is an opportunity to renegotiate the player's current contract, thus also upping the maximum amount you can offer in an extension.

To do this, you need to have the cap room to legally add to the player's contract; you can't just pull the extra money out of thin air. Only contracts that were originally four years or more in length can be renegotiated, and they can only be renegotiated after three years have passed from when the original signing/extension took place (so with one year left on a four-year deal/extension, or two years left on a five-year deal^a).

Please note that using cap room to renegotiate a contract, like other uses of cap room, marks you as an under the cap team.

Notes:
a - If you renegotiate a contract with two years remaining, any increase in salary to the first season must also be applied to the second season.

Commissioner Advice: Extensions are mainly meant for those who are willing to offer everything possible on the table. If you have a guy who's clearly going to net a max on the open market, haggling over dollars is a bad idea and will poison your reputation quickly in the eyes of both the player and the FBB Agent. This isn't to say the FBB Agent's counteroffer is a "take it or leave it" deal, though. But if you have a superstar/future superstar and try to get cute, it's going to bite you in the ass.

If you want to retain a player but your maximum extension offer is below what you feel the player is worth on the open market, still offering and expressing that interest, even if it gets declined, does open a line of communication for the future when the player hits free agency.