BYLAWS

*All times included are Pacific

Green highlights signify year 3+ changes

Yellow highlights signify year 6+ changes

Article 1: OWNERSHIP

The Gauntlet is a GM-style salary cap / auction / contract fantasy football league that will consist of 14 franchises, and will never expand nor contract.

Each franchise will be managed by 1+ owner(s), who will unite every year to compete in the most unique, challenging, and rewarding dynasty format ever imagined. 

In the event a franchise is surrendered by its ownership, replacement owner(s) will be recruited to take over the franchise.

The league will be hosted on the Sleeper app here... with a supplementary web app here... which pulls from a spreadsheet here... all managed by a Commissioner's Office:

Remaining league ownership:

Article 2: ACTIVE ROSTER

Franchises will field an active roster of up to 20 NFL players to compete in weekly head-to-head matchups.

Every player will be assigned a position — QB, RB, WR, or TE. Kickers and defenses do not exist.

Active rosters will have a 10-player starting lineup at the following positions: 

Players not in the starting lineup will be placed on the bench, which will have a maximum of 10 spots.

*The lineup will also have a 6-WR limit, causing each franchise to have to start a 3rd RB or at least one TE. If a franchise mistakenly starts 7 WR in a given week, the lowest scoring WR will be removed from the starting lineup and placed on the bench, leaving the starting spot empty for the week.

Beginning in year 6, the WR limit will be eliminated, and the starting lineup will increase from 10 to 12 players at the following positions:

The bench will also increase from 10 to 13 spots, raising the total active roster limit from 20 to 25 players.

Article 3: SCORING

Players in the starting lineup will earn points based on real-life NFL statistics earned that week:

Players on the bench will earn no points.

In each head-to-head matchup, the franchise that outscores their opponent will be credited with a win, while the other will take a loss. It is also possible (though extremely rare with fractional scoring) for a matchup to end in a tie.

Note that due to stat corrections put out by the NFL and / or Sleeper, weekly point totals and matchup results are subject to change up until the following week's matchups begin.

Article 4: PLAYING SEASON

The Playing Season will be the time period during which The Gauntlet is in live, active competition, utilizing a 17-week format that begins at Opening NFL Kickoff in week 1 and ends at the conclusion of the final NFL game in week 17.

Wins and losses (and any rare ties) will be added to each franchise's cumulative record at the end of each week, and franchises will be displayed on the Sleeper Standings by record, using season-long point totals to break ties. But the True Standings will be determined using head-to-head matchup results as the primary tiebreaker. True Standings will be tracked separately by the Commissioner's Office and updated in League Chat.

Regular Season (weeks 1-14)

Each Playing Season will begin with a 14-week Regular Season, where each franchise will face every other franchise in the league exactly once across the first 13 weeks (1-13). In week 14 (known as Rematch Week), matchups will be determined based on the True Standings after week 13, allowing every franchise one rematch against an opponent they have already faced. The #1 franchise in the True Standings will face #2… #3 will face #4… #5 vs. #6… and so on down to #13 vs. #14. 

Postseason (weeks 15-17)

At the end of the Regular Season, The Gauntlet will feature a 3-week Postseason that will determine the champion and first seven places in the Final Standings.

The top-6 franchises in the True Standings will advance to the Postseason (over weeks 15-17), initially seeded 1 through 6 in a 7-team head-to-head single elimination bracket. The highest remaining season-long point scorer will also make the Postseason, initially seeded at 7.

Initial Postseason seeding:

*The 1-seed will receive a First Round bye, automatically advancing to the Semifinals. 

**The 2- and 3-seed will each "pick their poison", where they will select their First Round opponent among the initial 4-7 seeds. The franchise picked by the 2-seed will be become the final 7-seed, the 3-seed's choice will be the final 6-seed, and the two unchosen franchises will become the final 4- and 5-seeds and face each other in the First Round by default. 

Thus, Final Postseason seeding will be:

Three franchises will advance from the First Round, joining the 1-seed in the Semifinals, where the bracket will be re-seeded so that the lowest remaining final seed faces the 1-seed, with the other two franchises paired in the other Semifinal by default. 

Two franchises will ultimately advance from the Semifinals to square off in The Gauntlet Final in week 17 to determine our Champion (1st place in Final Standings), with the loser earning the Runner up (2nd place).

The two Semifinal losers in week 16 will also face each other in week 17 to determine 3rd and 4th place in the Final Standings.

The three First Round losers in week 15 will compete in two total matchups across weeks 16 and 17 (one in each week) that will determine 5th, 6th, and 7th place. The highest final seed of the First Round Losers will have a bye during week 16, and will automatically advance to the 5th place game in week 17 to determine 5th and 6th place, and will face the winner of the week 16 matchup between the other two First Round losers. The loser of the week 16 matchup will finish in 7th place, and their Playing Season will be over.

In the rare event that a Postseason matchup ends in a tie, the highest (final) seed will prevail. 

Consolation Bracket (weeks 15-17)

An additional 3-week, 6-team Consolation Bracket will also be carried out by Sleeper simultaneously to the Postseason, comprised of the six franchises highest in the True Standings that did not make the Postseason, seeded 8-13 based on the True Standings, with the 8- and 9-seed receiving a First Round bye. The results of the Consolation Bracket (the 8th and 10th place games in week 17, and the 12th place game in week 16) will determine 8th through 13th place in the Final Standings.

In the rare event that a Consolation matchup ends in a tie, the highest seed will prevail. 

Last place (after week 14)

The (sole) franchise lowest in the True Standings that did not make the Postseason will also not make the Consolation Bracket. Their Playing Season will end immediately after week 14, taking Last (14th) place in the Final Standings.

Article 5: DUES / PRIZES

Franchises will pay annual league dues that will start at $100 in the inaugural year and increase by $10 per year in perpetuity. Dues must be paid every year in August to the Commissioner's Office.

The champion each season will receive a "winner-take-all" champion prize package including a luxury self-customized and engraved championship ring valued at $350 [see Article 33: CHAMPIONSHIP RINGS] that will be theirs to keep (and flex) forever, with the remainder distributed in cash. 

The champion will also effectively pay next year's full league dues in advance when they receive their prize package, always receiving a comp equal to full league dues in the following year (or for future year(s) in equivalent value), which is subtracted from the lump sum payment (see: FINANCES). 

As consolation, the runner up will always be awarded a full comp (equal to full league dues) for the following year, or for future year(s) in equivalent value. 

Champion prize packages are / estimated / scheduled to build over time as follows:

Article 6: ROOKIE DRAFTS / LOTTERY (REMOVE)

Beginning in year 7, The Gauntlet will conduct an annual Rookie Draft that will begin in early May, just after the NFL Draft. It will be a 3-round, 42-pick draft, with the #1 pick (1.01) of the draft awarded to the Consolation Bracket winner (8th place in the Final Standings) in the previous year.

The next 9 spots in the 1st round draft order will be determined based on an annual 9-franchise / 3-choice Draft Lottery taking place on Super Bowl Sunday.

100 total lottery balls will be awarded to franchises in two sets each year.

The first set (50 total) will be awarded at the end of each Regular Season to the five (5) franchises that did not make it to the Postseason or earn a First Round Bye in the Consolation Bracket (Seeds 10-13 + Last place), based on their Max PF* as follows:

*Max PF represents the maximum amount of points a franchise could have scored throughout the Regular Season, if they had started a perfect lineup every week — tracked in the Sleeper Standings.

The Consolation Bracket winner will surrender any lottery balls earned in the first set (if they were a 10-13 seed) and will not participate in the lottery, having already earned pick 1.01.

The second set of lottery balls (50 total) will be awarded at the end of the Playing Season to seven (7) franchises, based on their finish in the Final Standings (and their week 17 point total), as follows:

Note that the two lowest week 17 scoring franchises between Runner up, 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th will not receive any lottery balls from the second set, along with the Champion, 7th place, 13th place, and Last (14th) place. With 13th and 14th place already having received lottery balls in the first set, this means that four franchises—the Champion, 7th place, and the two lowest week 17 scoring franchises between Runner up, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th—will not receive any lottery balls from either set, and will sit out the lottery, slotting in at the end of the 1st round as follows:

The other 9 franchises receiving lottery balls will then be ranked in a 2-10 list based on how many total lottery balls they have (from most to least), known as the lottery order. If multiple franchises are tied for the same number of lottery balls, the franchise with the lowest Max PF through week 14 will break the tie and move ahead in the lottery order.

The lottery order will then be entered into an online draft lottery simulator, where picks 1.02, 1.03, and 1.04 will be simulated and video recorded live on a conference call. Franchises will have the option to tune in live on Super Bowl Sunday before the big game, or wait for the news to break and watch the live recording later.

After the first three picks (1.02-1.04) have been chosen in the lottery, the remaining six picks (1.05 to 1.10) will be filled in order of the remaining lottery order.

2nd and 3rd round draft order will be determined 1-14 (same in both rounds) based on each franchise's Max PF through week 14, from least to most. However, the Champion will automatically be slotted in at the end of both rounds (2.14 and 3.14), regardless of their Max PF total.

Article 7: CONTRACTS

All players on active rosters will be under contract. Whenever a franchise acquires a player, they are either taking on the player's existing contract (or) signing the player to a new contract, where they pay a salary in each year of the contract that counts toward an annual payroll, which counts against an annual salary cap. 

The salary cap in the inaugural year will be $200 Million, and inflate by $5M per year until year 6, where it will level off at $225M per year in perpetuity. Franchises must remain under the salary cap at all times, even in future years. 

Non-rookies may be signed to veteran contracts up to five (5) years in length. After a veteran contract expires, the player becomes an unrestricted free agent available to be signed by any franchise. 

The length of a contract (# of years) and the specific salary amount(s) (in each year) are determined by the franchise that originally signs them. When initially writing a multi-year contract, salaries must ascend (back-loaded), descend (front-loaded) or remain equal as years progress, but cannot move both up and down in both directions, nor can they be front-loaded or back-loaded more than 20% from the contract's average annual salary (AAS). 

The AAS multiplied by the length equals the total contract value (TCV) — the total amount being paid to the player (over time in multi-year contracts). Thus, all salaries in a contract will sum together to equal the TCV.

The minimum annual salary is $1M.

For any veteran* contract written in year 3 or later, a multiyear contract can only be written if the appropriate TCV minimum is met. For a multiyear contract to be eligible for the desired length, the winning TCV bid must meet the following minimum:

Note that these minimums will only apply at the time the contract is written / originated.

*veteran contracts are written for RFAs and UFAs at auction and for UFAs during in-season waivers. TCV minimums do not apply to rookie contracts.

Rookie Contracts

Rookies may be signed to rookie contracts up to three (3) years in length. When a rookie contract expires, the players becomes a restricted free agent (RFA), and the franchise will have the opportunity to re-sign the player to a new veteran contract with a value that matches the highest bidder among the remaining franchises. 

Article 8: OPTIONS

Franchises may designate the final year of a 4- or 5-year veteran contract as a team / self option, where they will get to decide in the final year whether they want to exercise the option and take on that final year salary, or decline it and allow the player to become an unrestricted free agent. Running backs (only) will also be allowed to be given an option in the third and final year of a 3-year veteran contract.

Beginning in year 6, franchises will be able to designate the final year of any multi-year (2+ year) veteran contract as an option, but the option year salary must be set equal to the contract's AAS. Option contracts will also not be allowed to be traded [see ARTICLE 16: TRADES] in the same year they are written.

With regard to contract loading, the options in year 6+ will be treated as separate from the rest of the contract. Franchises will be able to apply the contract loading rules however they'd like across all non-option years in the contract while ignoring the option, which will remain fixed at the AAS.

The option in an option contract will count against that year's salary cap (and toward the 50-year total contract limit in year 6+), until / unless it is declined in the final option year.

Franchises can only ever write a new option contract when they don’t have any others on their payrolls. Though a franchise can end up with multiple option contracts via trade, they must wait until all options have been exercised or declined (or traded away) before they can write a new option contract.

The option window (when franchises can exercise or decline an option in the final option year) will open at the end of the NFL Super Bowl each year (starting in year 3), and will close on May 30 at 6 PM.

Article 9: EXTENSIONS

For 3+ year contracts written in year 2 and later, franchises will be allowed to offer a contract extension just before the Playing Season of the final contract year only. Thus, year 4 is the first year any contracts will be eligible to be extended.

Rookie contracts and option contracts may not be extended.

Contract extensions may only be offered to a player after the conclusion of their NFL team's final preseason game and before the start of their NFL team's week 1 game. If a player is not currently signed by a NFL team, the player may only be offered an extension after the final NFL preseason game and before Thursday Night Opening Kickoff in week 1.

A contract may only be extended once, even if it is traded away.

When extending a player's contract, the franchise can opt for a one- or two-year extension, with the salary in the extension year(s) preset by first establishing a baseline salary, which is based on the player’s position. For WR, the baseline salary will be equal to the 12th-highest committed player salary at that position in the current year, at the time the extension is being offered. For QB and RB, the baseline salary will be equal to the 8th-highest committed player salary. For TE, the baseline will be the 4th-highest.

In a one-year extension, the extension year salary will be the average between the baseline salary and the player's final year salary (if lower). In a two-year extension, both extension year salaries will be equal to that amount plus a 20% premium.

If the player's final year salary is already higher than the baseline salary, the extension salary in a one-year extension will simply be equal to the player's final year salary, with a 20% premium added to both salaries if extending by two years.

Note that extension salaries will be rounded down to the nearest $100K - $0.1M where needed.

Article 10: FRANCHISE TAGS

Franchises will have the right to franchise tag up to one (1) player per offseason coming off an expiring contract, including those that have been extended. 

The franchise tag will act as a 1-year extension (called a franchise contract), with a salary that will be preset using a baseline salary equal to the average of the top salaries at the player's position from the previous year, plus a 10% premium (rounded down to the nearest $100K - $0.1M). 

For WR, the average of the top-12 salaries will be used for the baseline calculation. QB and RB will use the average of the top-8 salaries, and TE will use the top-4.

Unlike standard 1-year contract extensions, the same player can be franchise tagged multiple years in a row—they will simply sign a new franchise contract each year. The second consecutive time a player is franchise tagged, the franchise salary will be the baseline + a 20% premium. The third year in a row, it’ll be the baseline + 30%, and the premium will continue to increase by 10% per year in perpetuity, until it becomes too expensive to franchise tag the player any longer — at which point the player will become an unrestricted free agent.

However, a player can never be franchised tagged for cheaper than the AAS of the original contract, nor the AAS of the extension year(s) if the contract was extended. Thus, when first attempting to franchise tag a player, if the baseline + 10% calculation is lower than the original contract's AAS (or the extension year(s') AAS), the player must be franchise tagged for the original contract's AAS (or extension year(s') AAS). If franchise tagging the same player again in the following year, the 2nd year baseline + 20% calculation will only apply if it is equal to or greater than the prior year franchise salary. This could theoretically continue each year until the baseline + % calculation grows high enough to be used to determine the franchise salary.

Thus, the franchise tag is only meant to be used sparingly to retain franchise-level players for another year.

When an option is declined, the player will not be franchise tag-eligible — as they will immediately become an unrestricted free agent. However when an option is exercised, the player may be franchise tagged the following year after the contract expires.

Note that franchises technically can franchise tag expiring rookie contracts, but in doing so would be signing them to a very expensive 1-year contract and would surrender the player's restricted free agent eligibility. As such, it will likely never be beneficial to franchise tag an expiring rookie contract. 

The franchise tag window (when franchises can franchise tag a player coming an expiring contract) will open at the end of the NFL Super Bowl every year (starting in year 2), and will close on May 30 at 6 PM.

Article 11: BUYOUTS

Franchises may buyout contracts on their payrolls in exchange for a 50% cap hit [see section below] in each remaining contract year. When a player is bought out, they become an unrestricted free agent.

Beginning in year 6, when buying out a player before their week 8 game begins (or before the week 8 Sunday games begin if the player is on bye), the cap hit in the current year will be 50% of the player's salary. The current year cap hit will then increase by 7% per week (57% before week 9, 64% before week 10, etc.), until it becomes 100% (no relief) for the remainder of the year at the conclusion of week 14. When buying out a contract with multiple years left, any future year(s) will still incur the standard 50% cap hit.

When buying out an option contract early, franchises will still take the cap hit in the option year.

Franchises may buy out players at any time year around, except during the 1+ month freeze period — from the end of the Playing Season until the end of the NFL Super Bowl, when zero moves are allowed.

Players can be bought out simply by dropping them on Sleeper. The contract will be eliminated and the cap hit(s) recorded, freeing up cap space in each remaining contract year. Although the franchise will take the cap hit(s), the original contract is removed, net increasing cap room.

Whenever a franchise buys out a player, they will be ineligible from bidding on the player the first time the player comes back up for silent auction [see Article 18: SILENT BIBS].

During the Playing Season, players even can be bought out and dropped after their games have already started (before Sleeper has transitioned to the next week). Dropping a bench player will immediately remove them from the active roster, freeing up an open roster spot that can be used in that week. 

When buying out a player in the starting lineup after his game has started (perhaps in fury), the player’s points for the week will still count toward the franchise's weekly point total, as Sleeper will temporarily keep them on the active roster with an “OFF ROSTER” tag until the next week rolls in, which is when the open roster spot will become available. However, the cap room resulting from any buyout will always be available right away.

Cap hits

Cap hits are logged separately from committed salaries for each franchise on the bottom of their payrolls. They are positive numbers that decrease cap room and count toward the payroll, and they always remain with the franchise that takes them on -- they cannot be traded / transferred or bought out / reduced, as they are not considered part of a contract. Cap hits can be in $50K ($0.05M) increments.

Article 12: RETIREMENT

In the event a player retires while still under contract, franchises may buyout the player for a % discount against the regular buyout cap hit in each remaining year of the contract based on the player’s age at the time of the buyout:

Year 6+ salaries will be bought out with the following retirement discounts:

The discount will always be rounded up to the nearest $50K ($0.05M).

In the event a player comes out of retirement after a franchise has already bought them out, that franchise will not have any rights to the player, nor the original contract, and the player will be treated as an unrestricted free agent. As such, it's always up to each franchise to determine whether it's worth holding onto the original contract in case their retired player decides to return to the game, bearing the full cost of the contract in the meantime.

Franchises may also opt to hold onto option contracts of retired players until the option year arrives, giving themselves the ability to decline the option and get full relief of the option year salary (instead of buying it out at the time of retirement and taking a cap hit in the option year), while bearing the full cost of the contract in the meantime.

Article 13: INJURED RESERVE (IR)

During the Preseason and the Playing Season, franchises will also have access to an injured reserve (IR) with two spots for players placed on the real-life NFL IR or PUP List. Sleeper will indicate IR-eligible players with an "IR" or "PUP" tag. 

Placing a player in an IR spot will free up a spot on the active roster, while the player remains under full contract. However, if the player loses their IR / PUP tag, the franchise will be locked out of making roster changes until they move the player out of the IR.

Long Term IR / Cap Credits

Franchises may designate any player on their IR to Long Term IR, in cases where the player is on a multi-year contract and reportedly out for the season, or placed on season-ending IR by an NFL team. 

Placing a player on Long Term IR will keep the player on contract (for future years) and free up cap space in the current year only, in the form of a salary cap credit (a negative number on the spreadsheet, increasing cap room). 

When placing a player on Long Term IR before their week 8 game begins (or before the week 8 Sunday games begin if player is on bye that week), the cap credit will be 50% of the player's current year salary. The credit will then reduce by 7% per week after (43% before week 9, 36% before week 10, etc.), until it is phased out for the remainder of the year at the conclusion of week 14.

The credit will always be rounded up to the nearest $50K ($0.05M). 

Franchises can place a player on Long Term IR by simply posting on League Chat. The player should already be in an IR spot before the post.

Once a player is placed on Long Term IR, they must remain in the IR on Sleeper for the remainder of the year. However, in the rare event a player placed on Long Term IR makes a surprise comeback at any point during the Playing Season (including the Postseason), franchises will be able to move the player back onto the active roster. In these cases, the cap credit will be removed, so the franchise must have or make the cap space available in the current year to take back on the player's full year salary. 

If a franchise does not wish to move a surprise comeback player on Long Term IR back onto their active roster, their Sleeper roster will be locked, as Sleeper does not allow players without an injury designation to remain on IR. In these cases, the franchise will be allowed to drop the player to unlock their roster, while maintaining ownership over the player's contract. The franchise should post in League Chat, informing the rest of the league of the purpose for the drop. In doing so, the franchise will forfeit their right to have the player back on their Sleeper roster for the remainder of the year, but will keep the contract on their payrolls for the future.

If a player already had an IR, PUP, OUT, or DOUB tag at the time they were signed to a contract in the current year, the franchise will be ineligible to place them on Long Term IR in the current year.

Borderline Long Term IR

In cases where a player is reportedly "likely" out for the season (but not certain,) the player may be granted a Long Term IR credit by the Commissioner's Office, per a franchise's request in League Chat. 

However, if the credit is granted, the player will not be eligible for a surprise comeback, and the franchise will be making the decision to shut the player down for the rest of the year, despite any likelihood they may return.

Article 14: DISASTERS

( Death, tragic injury, severe illness, ban, suspension, criminal, hiatus, etc. )

In the event of a player’s death, franchises will be immediately freed of the contract with a 0% cap hit in all contract years.

In the event a player has been banned or suspended from the NFL for at least a one full Playing Season or has been tragically injured or is critically ill,  or anything else beyond retirement that can prove / establish that the player will miss 1+ full Playing Seasons, franchises may submit a request to the Commissioner's Office for a reduced buyout in some or all remaining contract years. They can propose a new buyout package that they deem is fair, up to full 100% relief (in extreme cases), based on how unfortunate / unexpected the circumstances are.

The Commissioner's Office will seriously consider all reduced buyout requests and may ask for guidance from the rest of league ownership before acting on them. Franchises are asked to be cordial and unbiased in jointly deciding what’s fair in these cases. 

Whenever a franchise is granted a reduced buyout request, they will be unable to sign the player to a contract until the following year, while any other franchise will be allowed to sign the player in the meantime. 

Article 15: WAIVERS

Before buying out a player, franchises may attempt to offload them to another willing franchise in the league by first placing them on waivers. As with buyouts, players on Long Term IR may not be waived.

If a player is waiver claimed, the original franchise (that waived the player) will be 100% freed of the contract, getting full cap relief in each contract year. If a player clears waivers without being claimed by another franchise, the original franchise will be forced to buyout the player’s contract. 

To waive a player, franchises must post on League Chat something like: “I am waiving Chad Ochocinco” and then immediately drop the player on Sleeper. The rest of the franchises will have until the following day at 5 PM to place a waiver claim on the player, committing to take on the player’s full remaining contract. 

There is no waiver order. Waiver claims will be awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis. The first franchise to place a waiver claim on a player will be awarded the contract.

Waiver claims must also be placed in League Chat as well — with something like: “I claim Chad Ochocinco” and the moment that happens, the original franchise will be freed of the contract, and the contract will transfer to the franchise that claimed them. 

If a waiver claim puts a franchise over the active roster limit or over the salary cap in any given year(s), they must make space (via any transaction(s) they'd like) within 48 hours — only after can the player be added to their Sleeper roster. If they also make a waive to free up space, additional time may be given to allow the franchise to see if the player is claimed. Failure to make the necessary transaction(s) within 48 hours may result in forced transaction(s) by the Commissioner's Office, who will make the required decision(s) in the franchise's best interest (including a possible buyout of the claimed player) and may ask for guidance from the rest of league ownership if needed. 

Waivers will be closed at the conclusion of the final week 9 game, through the end of the NFL Super Bowl, but will always be open the rest of the year.

Article 16: TRADES

Players (and draft picks beginning in year 6) [see ARTICLE 24: DRAFT PICKS] can be traded directly on Sleeper, and the private "messages" feature is useful for negotiating. When a player is traded, their contract transfers from the original franchise to the new franchise.

Trades can be between two or more franchises, and each franchise involved must send and receive at least one asset (player or draft pick) in the trade — in effect, franchises are not allowed to simply trade away an asset for nothing, or receive an asset without giving one away. However, trading for an undesirable contract with intention to buy it out immediately after the trade is fully allowed.

All trades will be reviewed by the Commissioner's Office and immediately approved and processed if the trade does not put either franchise over the active roster limit, or over a salary cap in any given year. In cases where a franchise is over, the Commissioner's Office will not process the trade until the franchise has made the necessary space (via any transaction(s) they'd like). If they are unwilling or unable to do so within 24 hours, the trade will be vetoed. 

In cases where a trade includes a player in a starting lineup whose game that week has already started, the trade can be considered approved, but the Commissioner's Office will wait to process the trade until Sleeper transitions into the following week. In the meantime, franchises will not be able to back out of the approved trade, and it will go through the following week, regardless of what occurs in the games.

In the rare / specific case where a franchise drops a starter after their game started, and then makes a trade before the transition to the next week, the dropped starter (with the "OFF ROSTER" tag on Sleeper) will not count toward the franchise's roster limit when the Commissioner's Office reviews the trade.

All trades will be closed from the conclusion of the final week 10 game, through the end of the NFL Super Bowl, but will always be open the rest of the year. 

Article 17: RETENTIONS

Cap room / money may not be directly traded or transferred, but franchises do have the option to retain up to 35% of any non-option year salary whenever trading or waiving a contract, as an incentive to get another franchise to take the player. The franchise waiving or trading the player will receive cap hit(s) equal to the retention amount(s) in the year(s) specified, and the franchise receiving the player will take on a newly decreased contract, which might be "uneven" as a result.

All salaries must be $1M or higher after the retention(s) are taken away, to adhere to the annual minimum salary.

Any salary retention(s) to be offered with a waive must be posted on League Chat along with the waiver announcement, and cannot be added / modified after the fact. Any salary retention(s) included in a trade must be promptly posted on League Chat after the trade is accepted. Franchises must indicate the retention amount (in dollars) for each contract year a retention is being offered / applied (can be up to 35% of the player's salary in each year, rounded down to the nearest $100K - $0.1M).

Article 18: SILENT BIDS

Most players in The Gauntlet will be offered contracts at "silent auctions", where each player will be signed to the highest value contract offered to them. The league will conveniently utilize Sleeper’s built-in waiver cash system to facilitate this process.

The league will conveniently utilize Sleeper’s built-in waiver cash system to facilitate all silent contract bidding. To bid on a player when they are up for auction, simply find the player in the Sleeper player pool (they’ll be showing as on waivers), add them and enter a “waiver cash” amount on that player. 

Any bids entered will show as pending transactions in the roster area that can be edited or removed any time before the auction deadline, which is always at 6 PM on the day the silent auction is scheduled. 

At 6:05 PM, Sleeper will showcase silent bidding results in League Chat. This will allow for a true silent bidding system as Sleeper does not show any pending transactions in the backend commissioner tools.

Whenever a silent bid is placed on a player, it will be a TCV offer — for total contract value. $1 in Sleeper waiver cash will represent $1 Million in TCV being offered to the player. 

The Commissioner's Office will assign infinite auction waiver cash to every franchise on Sleeper because these limits are always erroneous. The true salary caps we be tracked separately using the web app / spreadsheet.

[ IMPORTANT: The franchise that bids the highest on a player will win the rights to sign the player to a contract with terms of their own choice, based on their bid. Franchises will set the number of years, and the salaries in each year, so that they sum together to equal the preset TCV without being front loaded or back loaded beyond the 20% loading buffer. 

Silent bids (for TCV and AAS) can only be made in $1M increments, but when assigning salaries in multi year contracts, $100,00 increments can be used ($1.3M, $5.9M, etc).

If a franchise submits a bid on a player who was not up for auction by mistake, the transaction will be reversed by the Commissioner’s Office.

Article 19: TIEBREAKER BIDS

When franchises tie for the highest bid in a silent auction, Sleeper will immediately award the player to the franchise highest on their internal “waiver priority list” (a rolling list that will never reset, carrying over each year after it has been established in the inaugural year) — however that franchise will not yet have full rights to the player until any other franchise involved in the tie has been given the opportunity until Noon the following day to post a tiebreaker bid directly in League Chat that is higher than the winning bid.

If this occurs, the tied franchises are then free to ‘duke it out’ amongst each other right there in League Chat, where they can continually outbid each other (until all but one franchise openly concedes (this is encouraged) or the bidding ‘times-out’ — one hour after the last bid was posted, or right at Noon the following day, whichever comes later. 

Tiebreaker bids are based on TCV, and each bid must be at least $1M higher than the last. 

If bidding is still active after 5 PM the following day, the time-out period will shorten to just 10 minutes after the last bid was posted, to encourage a quick resolution within 24 hours of the tie occurring. However, the bidding could theoretically go on longer if franchises continue to outbid each other every 10 minutes, even past 6 PM. However, ties really should be resolved relatively quickly in the immediate aftermath of the auction.

Unlike a standard silent bid, franchises will not be allowed to back out of signing a player they win in a tiebreaker if they don't have the necessary cap space to sign the player. They will be required to make the necessary transaction(s) to free up the cap space within 24 hours.

Article 20: CONDITIONAL DROPS

Franchises can place bids on players in silent auctions when they are at the roster limit, as long as they include a conditional drop, where they're specifying a player for Sleeper to drop from their active roster if they are the highest bidder. Whenever including a player as a conditional drop on a bid, the franchise will automatically buyout that player's contract if the bid wins. 

Franchises can actually always include conditional drops on all their silent bids, even when they’re not at the roster limit, because Sleeper will always allow franchises to select any player to drop when submitting any silent bid, even when empty roster spots are available.

Article 21: MULTIPLE BIDS

When more than one player is up for auction at the same time (which is typical), franchises can submit multiple bids on multiple different players at once, and a single franchise can win multiple players if they have the cap room / contract years available and are the highest bidder for each.

But if a franchise doesn't have the cap room / contract years to honor all the bids they're making, they may consider making a change to their bids, or else they're taking a risk… because if they end up not having enough cap room or contract years to take on all the players they win at a given auction, and they are unwilling to make transaction(s) needed to free up the space to do so (within 18 hours, by Noon the following day), they will forfeit their right to sign them all, and the next highest bidders in line will be awarded those players (or they'll come up again in the next auction, if there were no other bids). 

Article 22: INVALID BIDS

The ability to submit multiple bids at once can lead to "invalid bids"—an actual Sleeper functionality (as described and shown HERE) that franchises can use to set up bids in such a way to purposely invalidate and (in effect) rescind a bid (even if they are the highest bidder) if they already won another bid in the same auction that was more important to them.

A bid will come back invalid, even if it’s the highest bid, in two scenarios:

Therefore, when franchises only have one (or few) open roster spot(s), or if they have at least one player they're willing to drop from their active roster, they can leverage this for greater bidding flexibility across multiple players without risking winning them all.

Article 23: CONTRACT TERMS

When a player is won at auction by a franchise with the necessary cap space, they can post the contract terms in League Chat at their earliest convenience. However, any bids they make in future auctions will be invalid until they have posted valid contract terms for all bids won in previous auctions. 

It's perfectly okay if a contract has not yet been reviewed and accepted by the Commissioner's Office before the next auction, as long as the contract the franchise posted was valid. However, if the contract terms turned out to be invalid upon later review, so will any bid(s) the franchise made in that next auction. 

Franchises can use the CONTRACT CHECKER to ensure a contract is valid before posting and accepted by the Commissioner's Office. Keep in mind when setting salaries close to the loading buffer, you must round to the nearest $0.1M increment that doesn't fall below the "Low salary" or above the "High salary".

When a player is won at auction in year 6+, the Commissioner's Office will add the player to the franchise's Sleeper roster and initially place them in the franchise's payrolls as unsigned, with a 1-year placeholder salary equal to their AAS bid, which will count against the current year salary cap and the 50-year total contract limit in the meantime. The franchise will then have until the player's first / next NFL game starts to sign them to a multi-year contract if they desire, simply by posting the player's name and contract terms in Sleeper League Chat. The franchise must have salary cap room in all applicable years and must have enough contract years available to accommodate the multi-year contract, or it will not be accepted by the Commissioner's Office. Any unsigned players will immediately be signed to 1-year contracts as soon as their first / next NFL game starts.

Players can be traded, waived, or bought out as soon as they appear on a Sleeper roster. This will include unsigned players in year 6+. However, a player must be signed in order to offer retention(s) in a trade or waive. If an unsigned player is bought out, they will first be automatically signed to a 1-year contract, with the franchise taking a cap hit in the current year only, equal to 50% of the AAS. Any franchise that receives an unsigned player via trade or waiver claim will take over the existing 1-year placeholder contract, and will still have until the player's next / first NFL game starts that year to sign them to a multi-year contract. If a franchise does not offer a multi-year contract to an unsigned player by that time, they will be officially signed to a 1-year contract mirroring the placeholder contract already on their payrolls.

If it turns out that a franchise does not have enough salary cap space to construct a valid contract for a player they won at an auction, or if a franchise does not have the cap space in the current year to accommodate initial 1-year placeholder contract assigned by the Commissioner's Office in year 6+ (or if they are already at the 50-year total contract limit), they must make the necessary transaction(s) to free up the space within 18 hours (by Noon the next day) or whenever their next NFL game starts (whichever comes first), or they will lose the rights to the player, and the next highest bidding franchise in the silent auction will then be given the rights to the player based on the value of their own bid. If there were no other bids, the player will become available again for all franchises at the next auction.

If a waive is made to make space, additional time may be given to allow the franchise to see if the player is claimed, if time allows. Franchises may also not make any additional bids on players in auctions when they are over the roster limit, total contract year limit, or current year salary cap. If they do, the bid will be considered invalid. 

Any invalid contracts posted will not be accepted by the Commissioner's Office and new terms will be requested, if time allows. 

Article 24: DRAFT PICKS (REMOVE)

Beginning in year 6, 2nd and 3rd round draft picks will be allowed to be traded up to three years in advance directly on Sleeper.

Sleeper will track the original franchise associated with 2nd or 3rd round picks traded in advance, until official pick numbers are determined (after the lottery in the year of each draft pick) based on the franchises' Max PF totals.

1st round draft picks can only be traded once the pick number has been determined or awarded. Once a pick is determined, it will appear as an "exact" pick (i.e. 1.01, 1.08, 2.13, etc.) on Sleeper, as opposed to generic (i.e. "2024 1st Round", "2025 1st Round", "2026 2nd Round", etc).

Franchises are allowed to vacate any draft pick at any time, up until and including when they are OTC for the pick, simply by posting in League Chat. The franchise will abstain from making a draft pick (and will not take on any new contract with the preset AAS). Franchises may choose to vacate draft picks when they do not have cap space available to sign a rookie, and are unwilling to buyout / waive / trade existing players on their payrolls to make room.

However, once a franchise has drafted a player, that player will immediately be placed on their payrolls as unsigned, with the preset AAS counting against the current year. If the unsigned rookie puts the franchise over the current year salary cap, roster limit, or contract year limit, the franchise must get back under the limit(s) (via any transaction(s) they'd like) within 48 hours (or before they make their next draft pick, whichever comes first). This may include signing the player (or other players) to a backloaded multi-year contract.

If a waive is made to make space, additional time may be given to allow the franchise to see if the player is claimed, if time allows. Failure to make the necessary transaction(s) in the allotted time may result in forced transaction(s) by the Commissioner's Office, who will make the required decision(s) in the franchise's best interest and may ask for guidance from the rest of league ownership if needed.

As with any player won via silent auction, a franchise will have until the player's first game starts in the upcoming NFL season to sign any drafted rookie to a multi-year rookie contract. Any unsigned rookies who are not signed when their season begins will be officially signed to a 1-year rookie contract, with the same pre-set salary that was already on their payrolls. 

Article 25: ANNUAL AUCTIONS

The Gauntlet will hold a highly anticipated mega auction every summer, starting on June 1 (after the May Rookie Draft in the in year 7+). Annual Auctions are typically 2+ months long, lasting all of June and July, and into early August. A pool of top available players will be identified each year, grouped together and ranked top-to-bottom in one list based on current market value, and put into an "auction schedule" provided to league ownership, showing the day when each player will come up for silent bidding.

In the Inaugural Auction, franchises will arrive with empty rosters, and the auction schedule will consist of the top 252 available players. 

In each subsequent Annual Auction, franchises will arrive with players already on their payrolls, so the available player pool will be smaller, consisting of the following:

All will be ranked together into one list by the Commissioner's Office based on their projected value in The Gauntlet.

A typical Annual Auction schedule will have four rounds taking 12 days each, a fifth round of variable length depending on the size of the player pool, and 12 single-day opening rounds at the end. 

On the first 12 days (the first round), one player will come up for bidding each day. On Day 1, the #1 player on the list will be up for bid. On Day #2, the #2 player will be up, and so on.

On the second 12 days (round 2), two players will begin coming up for bidding each day. For example, Day 13 will feature the #13 and #14 players in the rankings. Day 14 will be #15 and #16, and so on. The schedule will continue as follows:

The Inaugural Auction will require a full 12-day fifth round and an additional 12-day sixth round of 6 players/day due to the larger player pool (prior to the opening rounds).

The 6th Annual Auction will likely also require a larger player pool that extends to 6 rounds before the opening rounds commence. This is because many contracts will be set to expire after year 5, including all initial 5-year contracts written in the inaugural year.

Any players bought out during an Annual Auction may be added into the live auction schedule by the Commissioner's Office based on current market value.

Opening rounds

After every player on the auction schedule has come up for auction, the full pool of remaining available unrestricted free agents will begin to 'open' over a 12-day period where waivers will still be executed daily at 6 PM. 

On the first day, the top 5 players on Sleeper’s available free agent list (based on ADP) will be up for silent bidding. After players are signed out of the pool on the first day, the remaining top 10 players on Sleeper’s available free agent list will be up for bid on day 2. And the schedule will continue on as follows:

Article 26: RESTRICTED FREE AGENCY

Franchises will silent bid on restricted free agents as they come up for bid at the Annual Auction without the original franchise involved. Sleeper will initially add the player to the highest bidder’s roster, but the original franchise will have 18 hours (till Noon the next day) to express their intent to “match” the bid and re-sign the player. At that point, the player will be transferred to the original franchise's roster, and they will be able to sign the player to a contract with terms that match the highest bid.

After expressing their intent to match, a franchise will not have the ability to back out if it turns out they do not have enough cap room and / or contract years — they will be required to make the necessary transaction(s) to free up space to take on the player.

If the original franchise fails to state their intent to match within 18 hours, the highest bidder will get to keep the player for the amount of their bid. The original franchise may also opt out in League Chat well before the 18-hour deadline if they are content to simply let the player go (this is much preferred over saying nothing and letting the deadline pass).

Note that the two franchises involved (the highest bidder and the original franchise) may have incentive to trade during this 18-hour window, as the original franchise ultimately has leverage in deciding the player's fate, and may be more willing to let them go to the highest bidder if they can receive value in return.

As the bylaws state, franchises must have posted valid terms on all players they've won at previous auctions for their bids to be valid at future auctions. Thus, in some cases, the highest bidder on a restricted free agent may only have a 6-hour window to post valid terms before the next auction begins (if the original franchise takes the entire 18-hour window to make their decision). 

Franchises will know well ahead of time the exact days their restricted free agents will be up for auction and the 18-hour time period they'll need to be available to match and / or negotiate with the highest bidder. Any franchise that will be unavailable to match a bid for their restricted free agent should contact the Commissioner’s Office ahead of time to have the player's auction rescheduled.

Article 27: COMPENSATORY PICKS

Beginning in year 6, when a franchise openly concedes their RFA (without letting the deadline pass) to an AAS bid of $25M or higher during an Annual Auction, they will receive a compensatory draft pick (or comp pick) in the following year's Rookie Draft.

Franchises will not be eligible to receive comp picks for any lost RFA that signed rookie contracts over $18M AAS, prior to the rookie pay scale taking effect in year 7.

Comp picks will always be added to the beginning of round 2 (eligible for $3M AAS on the rookie pay scale), pushing all existing 2nd and 3rd round picks back. If there are multiple comp picks in the same Rookie Draft, they will be ordered based on the AAS the lost RFA went for at the prior Annual Auction (from most to least), with any ties broken based on lowest Max PF through week 17 in the previous year.

Comp picks will not be officially assigned to franchises (and may not be traded) until after the lottery.

Article 28: RENEGOTIATIONS

( Renegotiations will cease to exist in year 6, and this article will be removed from the bylaws )

In years 2 through 5, franchises will be allowed to nominate up to one (1) player from their payrolls for renegotiation at the beginning of the year, which will allow them to either (a) reduce the salaries in all non-option years of their existing contract or (b) let the player be signed to a new contract by the highest bidder, freeing themselves of the entire existing contract.

Franchises will silent bid on nominated players as they come up for bid at the Annual Auction without the original franchise involved, with the same procedure as restricted free agents. The player will initially be awarded to the highest bidder by Sleeper, but will be transferred back to the original franchise if they choose to retain the player and the existing contract for the TCV set by the highest bidder, within the 18-hour time window.

If the original franchise chooses not to retain the player, the highest bidder will be able to keep and sign the player to a brand new contract at their TCV bid, which cannot be longer than the number of years remaining in the original contract.

When retaining a player, the original franchise must take the TCV amount and apply it across all remaining non-option years in the existing contract, adhering to standard contract rules. Any option in the contract will remain fixed as part of the original contract. 

When a franchise does not retain an option contract in renegotiation, the highest bidder will have a choice of whether to keep the existing option contract and apply their TCV bid to the remaining non-option years (leaving the option fixed and the contract length the same), or they can create a brand new contact, which cannot be longer than the number of non-option years remaining in the original contract.

No new option contracts can be created via renegotiation.

Franchises cannot retain a player that causes them to go over the roster limit or salary cap (in any given year). They must make the necessary transaction(s) to create space before retaining the player.

Rookie contracts written in year 2 or later may not be nominated for renegotiation.

Whenever a veteran contract written in year 2 or later is nominated, it will lose franchise tag and contract extension eligibility in the future, and will carry a minimum bid in the renegotiation process equal to 65% of the remaining TCV (rounded up to the nearest $1M) . This means if the player does not receive any bids that meet the minimum, the owner will be required to retain the player to their existing contract at that minimum TCV amount.

For veteran option contracts written in year 2 or later — if the contract gets put up for renegotiation and the original franchise does not retain it, and the new franchise writes a brand new contract (instead of keeping the existing option contract), the original franchise will be locked out of writing a new veteran option contract (option-locked) until the option year (from the original contract) arrives, even if they don’t have any other veteran option contracts on their books. 

Franchises may announce on League Chat the player they're nominating for renegotiation, and should be certain before doing so, as they only get one choice per year, and it cannot be changed after the fact. The nomination window will open each year at the end of the NFL Super Bowl and close on May 30 at 6 PM (in years 2-5).

Upon making a nomination, the player will be moved to a temporary taxi squad on the franchise's Sleeper roster. If the contract was written in year 1, it will then be completely removed from the payrolls. If the contract was written in year 2-4, the nominated contract will remain on the franchise's payrolls, with all salaries reduced by 35% (rounded up to the nearest $0.1M - $100K). This will ensure the franchise keeps enough space on their books to retain the player at the 65% minimum, if the player receives no valid bids in renegotiation.

As with RFAs in the auction, the two franchises involved in a renegotiation (the nominating franchise and the highest bidder) will often have incentive to strike a deal, if the nominating franchise can receive value from the highest bidder in exchange for conceding the player.

Article 29: UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENCY

The Preseason (typically taking up the entire month of August) will begin at the conclusion of every Annual Auction, where the league shifts from having auctions every day, to once per week, where all free agents in Sleeper's player pool will be up for grabs each time. 

The Commissioner’s Office will set the Sleeper waiver settings to be executed every Wednesday at 6 PM for the entirety of the Preseason — typically having four (4) free agent auctions during this time period. Any player who is bought on Wednesday will not be allowed to be bid on until the following auction. 

Once Week 1 of the Playing Season arrives, the Commissioner's Office will set waivers to execute three times per week on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 6 PM. Any player who is bought out on a Wednesday will not be available to be bid on until the following Friday auction. Any player bought out on a Friday will not be available to be bid on until the following Saturday auction. Any player bought out on a Saturday will not be available until the Wednesday auction of the following week (and will not be eligible for open-adds — see below). Any player who has already started an NFL game that week will also not be available until the Wednesday auction in the following week.

After the Saturday deadline passes each week, waivers will be immediately unlocked and all free agents who haven’t started a game yet will be available for open-adds on a first-come, first-serve basis for the remainder of that Saturday evening, all the way through Sunday or Monday when their respective games start. 

Whenever a player is open-added, they will automatically sign a 1 year, $1M minimum contract. 

Franchises may sign an open-added player for longer if they post contract terms before the player's game begins (or before the Sunday morning games begin, if the player is on bye).

After open-adds are over in the final week of the Regular Season (Week 14), free agency will be closed for the rest of the Playing Season, through the end of the following year's Annual Auction. 

As always in unrestricted free agency, any player that is a rookie when they are signed will be given a rookie contract up to 3 years max in length, even if they were already signed to a rookie contract and bought out previously in their rookie year. Non-rookies can be signed to veteran contracts up to 5 years.

Article 30: RESTRUCTURES

Franchises may restructure (re-arrange salaries up / down) any contract across its restructuring window, which is all remaining non-option years where the Playing Season has not started yet. Once the Playing Season begins (6PM on the eve of Week 1) current year salaries are locked and cannot be restructured. Additionally, the salaries of players received in trades can be restructured in future seasons only. Essentially, once the playing season starts, you can only get relief from a current year salary via waive/buyout or a Long Term IR credit. Any contract you trade for, you take on the current year salary as is. You can only restructure for future years.

The current year salary can also never be restructured in the same year a contract is extended (even if the Playing Season has not started), and thus will not be considered part of the restructuring window.

To restructure a contract, franchises must pay a percentage fee of the total summed salaries in the restructuring window. The fee will be a flat 5% for all contracts written in the inaugural year.

For contracts written in year 2 or later, the restructure fee will be based on how many non-option years are remaining in the contract at the time of the restructure:

The fee will be rounded down to the nearest $100K ($0.1M) and will always be realized against the current year salary cap, even if only future years are being restructured. Franchises must have the available cap room in the current year in order for the restructure to be processed.

Franchises will be given 24 hours to restructure for free any contract they receive via trade or waiver claim. The typical restructure fee that would have to be incurred in the current year will not apply. 

When a franchise restructures an inaugural contract, it will lose franchise tag eligibility, and if it’s a rookie contract, the player will lose restricted free agent eligibility. However, inaugural contracts received via trade or waiver claim will not lose franchise tag / restricted free agent eligibility when restructured for free. Inaugural contracts that have lost franchise tag eligibility will see an asterisk* next to the 1 (denoting a Year 1 contract) on the payroll sheet.

When a franchise restructures a year 2+ contract, its franchise tag / restricted free agent eligibility will be maintained, but it will lose extension eligibility (if previously eligible) only if the final year salary is restructured lower. This will also include any year 2+ contract received via trade or waiver claim where the final year salary is restructured (lower) for free.

Year 2+ contracts that have lost extension ability will see an asterisk* next to the year number denoting which year the contact was written in. They grey extension cells will also disappear.

Franchises must announce restructured contracts on League Chat and include full details on how they want the new contract structured, adhering to applicable contract writing rules within the restructuring window only. Thus, restructuring a contract can in some cases cause the entire contract to become uneven (moving both up and down, and / or having salaries more than 20% from the total contract's AAS), which is legal as long as the standard contract writing rules were adhered to within the restructuring window. 

All salaries in the restructuring window must sum together to the same exact amount before and after a restructure. Thus, the TCV and AAS of the entire contract will always remain the same. The franchise pays a separately-logged fee that counts toward their payroll and against their salary cap in the current year, in order to re-arrange the contract's salaries however they desire (back-loaded, front-loaded, or balanced) within the restructuring window. 

The same contract can be restructured multiple times (even in the same year), but the applicable fee will be applied each time it is restructured. 

The ability to restructure contracts will be closed from the conclusion of the final week 10 NFL game, through the end of the NFL Super Bowl, but will be open for the remainder of the year.

Article 31: SIGNING BONUSES

For contracts written in year 2 and later with at least two non-option years remaining (including the current year), franchises can effectively convert up to 20% of the current year salary (rounded down to the nearest $100K - $0.1M) into a signing bonus that will free up cap space in the current year, but must be paid back in immediate future year(s). 

A player cannot be given a signing bonus in the contract's first year. Thus, year 3 is the first year any signing bonuses can be given. 

Giving a player a signing bonus will give the franchise a separate cap credit on their payrolls, freeing up current year cap space by the amount of the signing bonus, without actually changing the player's current year salary. However, the franchise will have to pay back the current year cap credit via cap hit(s) in the remaining (future) non-option year(s) of the contract. If there are multiple years available, the amount of the signing bonus will be divided and spread evenly as a smaller (equal) cap hit in each future year.

After the cap credit is applied, the franchise must still be net-committing at least $1M (the minimum annual salary) to the player in the current year, after subtracting the credit from their current year salary. Thus, contracts with current year salaries at $1M will not be signing bonus-eligible, and $1.1M current year salaries will only be eligible for a maximum $100K signing bonus. 

A player can be given a signing bonus once per year. The same player can be given multiple signing bonuses over multiple years in the same contract. Signing bonus eligible players will have an asterisk* next to their names on the payroll sheet.

Extended contracts, franchise tagged players, and any contracts that have been restructured or nominated for renegotiation in the current year will not be signing bonus-eligible — this includes contracts restructured for free via trade or waiver claim.

If a franchise buys out, trades, waives, restructures, or nominates a player for renegotiation in the same year they give a player a signing bonus, the current year cap credit will immediately be revoked, but the future year cap hit(s) will remain with the franchise (as always, once any cap hit is applied).

Franchises can announce signing bonuses in League Chat, and must indicate the exact amount of the signing bonus (up to 20%, rounded down to the nearest $100K - $0.1M). The franchise just needs to have the available cap space in the year(s) the cap hit(s) will be applied, in order for the transaction to be processed.

The signing bonus window (when franchises can give signing bonuses) will open at the end of the NFL Super Bowl each year (starting in year 3), and will close on May 30 at 6 PM.

Article 32: OFFSEASON 

Each Offseason will begin with a freeze period, immediately after the Champion is crowed. All moves will be paused through the end of the NFL Super Bowl, after which buyouts, waivers, trades, and restructures will open up, while free agency will remain closed for the entirety of the Offseason.

The league will also move into the following year salary cap, and all players who were in the final year of an expiring standard contract will be removed from payrolls and dropped from Sleeper rosters, remaining in the player pool as free agents. 

However, many of these free agents may be franchise tag-eligible, and will be documented for each franchise. At any point in the Offseason until the Offseason Deadline (May 30 at 6 PM), franchises may franchise tag up to one of these players by physically adding the player back onto their Sleeper roster. The Commissioner's Office will then add the player back onto their payroll with that year's position-specific 1-year franchise contract.

Any player coming off an expiring rookie contract will be moved to a temporary taxi squad on the franchise's Sleeper roster for the entirety of the Offseason. Although the player will not be on their books during this time, they will be considered a restricted free agent and the franchise will have the right to sign the player to a new veteran contract with a value equal to the highest bid by remaining league ownership at the upcoming Annual Auction. Or they can trade the player's contract rights to another franchise by simply including them in a trade on Sleeper, up until it's time for their auction. 

Players who are nominated for renegotiation will also be moved to the taxi squad, and contract rights to nominated players can be traded just like restricted free agents.

IR spots will also be eliminated during the Offseason, so any player still on contract who ended the year in IR will be moved to the active roster. If this puts a franchise over the active roster limit, they will immediately be required to cut their roster down via buyout(s) or waive(s). However this will not be necessary in most cases, since players with expiring contracts will not be returning to rosters at the beginning of the Offseason, typically freeing up plenty of spots on the Active Roster to absorb players ending the year in IR. 

Franchises with a contract in its final option year will have from the end of the NFL Super Bowl until the Offseason Deadline to decide if they want to exercise the final year option. To decline an option, simply drop the player on Sleeper at any point in the Offseason before the deadline. Franchises can exercise their option either by announcement in League Chat, or by simply holding the player on their Sleeper roster past the deadline.

Signing bonuses will also open up at the end of the NFL Super Bowl and will be available until the Offseason Deadline. 

Article 33: CHAMPIONSHIP RINGS 

The Gauntlet will design its own championship ring for all first-time champions in the inaugural year. The ring will require a $300 upfront cost for the custom design and mold. Then for $200 each, all winners of the ring will be able to customize their own stone colors and metal finish (gold, silver or black), and will have full design control over the plaques on the two sides of the ring, typically featuring the franchise team name, owner's name, record, year and / or slogan. Custom engravings can also be placed on the inside of the ring, allowing for further details such as playoff results and key players.

An additional ring will also be designed for all 2-time, 3-time, etc. champions in the year they are first earned, highlighting the champion's multiple victories, and allowing for full customization for all future multi-year champions. Each new multi-year ring will require a $350 design & mold cost, and each iteration of the ring will cost $250.

Each champion requiring a new ring design & mold (which will always be the franchise with the most championships in The Gauntlet) will front the entire fee (plus tax), receiving the equivalent in comps against future year league dues (up to 3 years in advance) and / or in cash via league dues paid in advance by the Commissioner's Office.

Thus, the Commissioner's Office has set a $350 standard ring value for all championship rings, to more accurately reflect the average price of each ring over the long run, including design & mold costs and potential price increases. The ring value is the actual cost the champion will bear for the ring (out of their prize package), regardless of which years require a design & mold fee. 

However, ring discounts will be given to the first five champions, in order to maximize cash payouts for the early champion prize packages (when the ring represents a greater portion of the package). The inaugural champion will only bear a true ring cost of $260, and year 2 through 5 champions will only bear a $200 true ring cost (plus tax & delivery).

In year 6, all ring discounts will expire, and champions will begin to bear a true $350 cost out of the available prize pool for each ring (even in years when the rings only cost the league $200-250), which may begin to accumulate an annual league savings to offset future ring designs & molds without champions having to front to fee.

If a champion franchise has multiple owners, additional rings can be optionally ordered and fully customized for each owner for $200 (first-time ring) or $250 (2+ time ring) each (plus tax and delivery), which will be deducted from the franchise's lump sum cash payment. In year 6+, any champion franchise with multiple owners that decides to order additional ring(s) will receive a full ($100-$150) discount on the first ring, only having to bear a true $200-$250 ring cost (plus tax & delivery) for each ring ordered.