servo75 wrote:Question though. Does the league salary cap have any affect on player demands, whether in-season, off-season free agency, and extensions? And are the three connected, where raising/lowering min/max will affect all three?
In one of my leagues, I had the experience of a player who was pretty good but getting up in years and was "insulted" by anything less than $15M (average for his position and skill at that time was about $10M). So I let him walk and during the free agency period I signed him for $4M. I think that should be the opposite, I always wondered why players seem to accept less money during the free agency period than for contract extensions.
A lot of times this comes down to personality, or whether you're winning, etc. They factor in lots of things and decide whether to re-sign and stay, and whether to give a discount. During free agency they're more just taking the best offer they can because the market dictates the prices at that point. Their personalities still come in to play on deciding between offers if they're competitive.