League Manifesto

Mission:

To provide league members with a simulation-style Madden experience with sliders/settings reflective of typical NFL statistics and gameplay.  The league also aims to provide opportunities to simulate general manager duties relating to the draft, scouting, free agency, and/or trading players.

Franchises: 

The following franchises will be user-controlled...

3GML

GM SD - Green Bay Packers (PS5: ElCapitan0325)
GM TH - Houston Texans (PS5: tyhague24)

GM BD - Los Angeles Chargers (PS5: strikeouts_7)

GM CD - San Francisco 49ers (PS5: SamsquatchMonste)

     *Note1: All owners must have PS-Plus accounts to play online league

League Year: 

The 3GML league year will start the day after the Super Bowl and conclude with the following year’s Super Bowl.

Games: 

All games need to be played after the conclusion of the 'real' NFL week Monday night in order for 3GML teams to accurately know the playing status of injured players. For Head-to-Head matches, the home team will run the simulation and, if needed, broadcast the gameplay to other users via Twitch.

Gameplay Format: 

Members with utilize "slow sim" in the games.  This is where the user will choose sim once in the game an allow the CPU engine to run the simulation while members watch as if they were up in the club seats.  

When a team is home, the member may exit the sim twice to run a play.  If two members meet in the regular season, no plays may be run by the home team.  If two user teams meet in the playoffs (excluding the Super Bowl), the home team may run two plays.  If a team makes the Super Bowl against a CPU team, the user may run one play.  If two 3GML teams meet in the Super Bowl, no user plays may be run.

Re-Starts: 

Once a game is started, it must be finished. There are no restarts. If a connection is lost, the game freezes, or there is a genuine emergency, communicate the occurrence with league members. 

Coaches and Playbooks:

Each franchise will “hire” a Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator, and Defensive Coordinator.  The owner of that franchise will then declare an offensive and defensive playbook for their team.  These will be the playbooks that team uses in each game played.  If the 3GML member wishes to make a change to a different playbook during the season, they must fire the corresponding coordinator and hire a new one. Users may only do this once a season for each playbook.  If the team wishes to make a second playbook change in a season, they must “fire” their head coach and hire a new one. 

Trade Proposals: 

League members may propose trades either to other league members or to 'real' NFL teams. Trades between 2 or more league members do not require approval apart from participating teams. A trade between a league member and a real NFL team should be conducted via text to all league members. For a trade to be accepted, the proposal needs two "Yes" votes from non-involved owners. Trades should be submitted in the following format via text.

Example

Buffalo Receives:

2020 2nd round pick (#57)

2021 1st round pick

Green Bay Receives:

QB Brett Favre

2020 4th round pick

Real NFL Draft: 

Each year, local league members will collectively watch the first three rounds of the NFL Draft together to make our league's picks in concurrence with the NFL teams. If a GM lives out of town, they should call, text, or FaceTime in to the draft location. If a GM cannot be present for rounds 1, 2, & 3 of the draft (2 nights) or call/video/text in, they will make your picks the following day using the following criteria:

If, for Round 1, a GM held pick #20 and were absent on draft night, they would have the choice of the player chosen in real life at #20, #21, or #22 only (as long as one of those players was not selected by a 3GML-owned team). If the GM wanted a player who ended up being drafted at #27 (and missed the draft), they would have missed their chance to draft him.

Note 1: A team's NFL draft picks are listed within the NFL DRAFT link.

Note 2: There will be players drafted in 'real life' who will still remain available within our league whenever draft picks neighbor each other.  There will be a 'white board' present at the draft that will list all the "already drafted players" whom are still available for selection.  If a GM would like to trade up to select one of these players they must pay a premium of draft capital.  In the first round, a GM must overpay by at least 20% on the trade chart.  In rounds two and three, there is a 10% overage paid.

Note 3: There may be times where 3GML GMs are not privy to information on player physical health or character concerns.  If a GM selects a player and it is later discovered they fell down draft boards due to one of these unknown issues, the GM may change their pick with approval from the other GMs.  This injury or character concern must be private and unknown to the general public at the time of the selection.  If there are documented questions in the NFL community, the GM will not be allowed to change picks.

Draft Picks:

Draft picks will be awarded by inserting a 3GML team's record and finish into the real life draft order.  For instance, if a team finishes 8-9 and misses the playoffs, they would be inserted where the first 8-9 team would sit in the real life NFL draft order.

Additionally, teams will have the option of moving up draft spots in rounds 2-7 based on certain awards and number of All-League players.

OPOY, DPOY, OROY, or DROY awards will allow a GM to either:

1. Move up two draft spots per award (rounds 2-7)

2. Take a compensatory 4th round pick per award

If a GM wins all four of the above awards and has the 3GML MVP, they would receive the 33rd overall pick (or first pick in the 2nd round).

3GML All-League awards could also lead to adjustment in draft slots for rounds 2-7.  If a GM has the following number of players on their roster who win these awards, they would be entitled to the following adjustments.

 - Nine All-League players - Up one draft slot in rounds 2-7

 - Ten All-League players - Up two draft slots in rounds 2-7

 - Twelve or more All-League players - Up three slots in rounds 2-7

A GM could theoretically stack draft slots adjustments on top of one another to get a larger adjustment in their round two through seven positions.  However, a GM cannot stack draft picks that would move them into an earlier round.  The furthest they could go up would be the first pick in a round.

Compensatory Picks: 

The league will follow the compensation draft pick formula to the best of its ability to award compensation picks for departing free agents.  Players lost will be compared to players signed and picks will be awarded for the following year's draft.

Additionally, 3GML compensatory picks will be awarded for the following:

1. GM of the Year - 3rd round

2. 3GML MVP on Roster - 3rd round

3. Offensive Rookie of the Year in NFL - 4th round

4. Defensive Rookie of the Year in NFL - 4th round

5. OPOY, DPOY, OROY, or DROY award - 4th round per award (if chosen as desired compensation)

Salary Cap & Dead Money:

Within each year's game 3GML teams will spend the required money to pay each of their player's current NFL contract (and it will be up to GMs to ensure they do not have a team costing more than the yearly salary cap amount). If a player is traded or released during/after the season, the GM will need to track any "dead money" associated with that contract to determine if they have future salary cap implications. Owners will be responsible for keeping their salaries up to date in league approved GoogleSheet.

Salary Cap Rollover: 

League members will be permitted to rollover any unused cap space to the following season.

Additionally, league members will be required to spend the league salary cap minimum of 89% over a four year average.

NFL Cuts: 

If a player on a 3GML team is cut in real life and the resigned to a new deal, the GM will have two choices.
1. Keep the player under the "old" contract and then let that player leave at the end of that contract.
2. Take the dead money associated with the cut of the "old" contract and accept the "new" contract.

NFL Restructures: 

If a player on a 3GML team has their contract restructured in real life, the GM will have two choices.
1. Keep the player under the "old" contract and then let that player leave at the end of that contract.
2. Accept the restructured contract.

3GML Restructures: 

A 3GML GM may restructure their own players' contracts to stay under the salary cap.  When this occurs, the GM must get approval for the parameters of the restructure from two other GMs.

Free Agents, Retirements & Rookies:

During the off-season, at the start of real-life NFL free agency, league owners can enter offers for players in the league GoogleDoc.  Offers will be submitted in per year terms.  If an owner ends up with the highest bid compared to the player's real-life signed contract, the owner must sign that player to the terms they offered. When signed, all "over payment"/year must be spread as 'dead money' over the life of the signed contract.

Example:

During the 2017 off-season, the Miami Dolphins offered G/T DJ Fluker $5.1 million per year. In real life, Fluker signed for 1-year, $3 million. As a result, the Dolphins had to pay the $2.1 (5.1 - 3 = 2.1) million in dead cap for the 2017 salary cap year.

Players who not have signed real-life contracts but have outstanding 3GML offers at the time of roster creation will be awarded to the team with the highest offer. GMs may also remove offers to these players and pass on adding them to their roster.

If the player signs a real-life contract after the player is awarded to a team, the GM will have two options.

1. Keep the player under the deal originally accepted and let the player walk at the end of the season.

2. Accept the real-life deal and all the terms of that contract.

3GML members are prohibited from signing players who are retired to their rosters.

Within the 3GML season, only real life free agents and practice squad players can be signed to a team.  This prevents users from picking up players that would never be cut in real life but are in the game.  GMs will will be responsible for getting a salary approved for these players by other league members.

Guarantee and Super Guarantee Tags:

Each GM will be permitted one "Guarantee Tag" and one "Super Guarantee Tag" during free agency. These tags allows a GM to state they will match and increase the highest offer on the market.  Once a GM selects a player for these tags, they are guaranteed the player but will pay 10% more for the Guarantee Tag and 20% more for the Super Guarantee Tag than their real life contract.  This 10% and 20% is guaranteed money and will count against the cap.

Practice Squad: 

Each member of the 3GML may keep up to 16 players on their practice squad.  They also must be documented in the league salary cap GoogleSheet.  The players on a team’s practice squad will not be counted against the team cap.

Practice Squad Eligibility:

1. Players with no experience

2. Players with less than nine games active in their one accrued season

3. Up to 4 players with no more than two years experience

4. Up to 6 players with any years experience.  

If a GM moves a player with a guaranteed salary to their practice squad, the GM must also document this as a cut and put the corresponding dead cap in the league GoogleSheet cap document.

GMs may “steal” practice squad players from other league members (including rookies), but must sign them to the active roster for at least 3 weeks.  However, the GM intending to steal must notify the GM of the team whose player they intend to steal in order to give that GM an opportunity to sign that player to the team's 53 man roster.  If the player gets signed, he may not be stolen.  

GMs may also steal practice squad players from CPU franchises but only if they are a free agent or on a practice squad in real life.  These players must also stay on the active roster for 3 weeks.  At the conclusion of 3 weeks, the GM may place the player on their own practice squad.  The player would then be eligible to be taken by another member.   

Sliders/Settings: 

We will utilize the most realistic slider-set we can create.  The goal each season when setting and refining these “slider sets” is to create a Madden experience that allows players in the game to play as closely to the real versions of themselves.

League Records: 

At the conclusion of each season, “league records” for most major categories (team and player) will be documented and tracked digitally.  Division, Conference and Super Bowl titles will result with that team being memorialized on a plaque at League Headquarters.

MVP, All 3GML, and Other Awards:

At the end of the regular season, the members of the 3GML will come together and vote on a league MVP (who will get their name on a plaque at League Headquarters) GM of the year, the Orson Charles award, and Coach of the Year.

All 3GML League players will be awarded based on real life NFL performance.  At the conclusion of the real NFL regular season, the GMs will look at the body of work for each teams' players at each position as well as external data sources to award the All-League team, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Offensive Rookie of the Year, Defensive Rookie of the Year, and Special Teams Player of the Year.

League Manifesto Version 10.0 (12/31/2024)