Free agency
The signature Keeper GM period: UFAs, RFAs, offer days, contest gaps, and bid wars - before the draft.
Free agency is the signature Keeper GM period. It runs before the draft: owners use remaining salary cap to offer contracts to free agents, then those signings lock in before draft picks fill the rest of the roster.
The standard approach uses a Day System - cycles of offers and resolutions, with time between days for trades. Budgets, day count, and matching rules are league settings. Below are the standards we recommend.
UFA vs RFA
Unrestricted free agents (UFAs) are players not under contract and not retained from an expired deal. Incoming NFL rookies are usually not treated as UFAs; they are acquired in the draft instead.
Restricted free agents (RFAs) are players whose contracts just expired. Under the standard format, the previous franchise retains rights and may match the highest offer.
Each day
Phase 1 - Offers: Owners submit contracts to UFAs and RFAs. A franchise's offers for that day should not exceed its remaining salary cap or remaining contract years.
Phase 2 - Resolutions: Offers resolve from highest contract value to lowest. The top UFA offer signs the player. For an RFA, the rights-holding franchise may match. Winning offers are expected to be honored.
If multiple franchises submit equal top offers, the league may run a bid war or dissolve the offers if no one continues. Leagues often also allow near-miss offers inside a contest gap to join a bid war.
Contest gap and bid wars
A contest gap defines how close a trailing offer must be to the leader to force competition. A useful standard is a tighter gap for higher offers and a wider gap for lower ones - for example roughly 10-20% depending on offer size. Set and publish your league's exact table.
Bid wars are typically run by a commissioner or admin, starting at the leading offer and increasing in small steps until a winner remains.
Contract value vs cap hit
To encourage longer deals, many leagues rank free agency offers with a contract value that adds a per-year bonus on top of the dollar amount (for example dollars + years x a fixed bonus). That ranking bonus usually does not reduce salary cap; only the dollar amount on the contract hits the cap.
Whatever formula your league uses, keep it consistent and visible so every owner can bid with the same information.
When free agency ends, the draft begins and fills remaining roster spots.