Our auction draft produces what we call base-value contracts. Which is simply this: the price at which a team wins a player at auction becomes the starting point for any future contract values. To wit: If you draft a player for $10 this year, you can "extend" that contract to $13 in year 2, $16 in year 3, $19 in year four and so on. There are two options leagues have for handling contracts. The first way, and this is how we played the first ten years of our league, is that all contract extensions are fully guaranteed. There is no way out of a bad contract. The new way, and how we've played the last few seasons, is to allow for "Contract Amnesty," which basically allows teams to "buy out" contracts for real money (which is placed in the prize pool) and get cap relief.
What you will read below is an excerpt from Franchise Fantasy Football: A Fantasy Football Revolution. The story tells of the trials and tribulations of being aggressive with contract extensions. Namely, the sad and sorry tale of one of our owners who spent big money on Kansas City Running Back Priest Holmes and paid dearly for his trouble.
You can buy the whole book HERE.
The next story of heartbreak and woe is the real-life reason our Peterson owner balked at taking a longer-term risk. Yes, it’s time now for the obligatory recitation of the Priest Holmes Tragedy.
The career of Priest Holmes is a great story. He was undrafted out of the University of Texas, signed in 1997 by the Baltimore Ravens and released after 48 games over four seasons. Holmes was then picked up by the Kansas City Chiefs following the 2000 season. Once he donned the Chiefs’ uniform, Holmes ran amok across the NFL landscape, scoring 21 touchdowns in 2002 and a whopping 27 TDs in 2003. Holmes, unquestionably, was an absolute superstar; a three-time Pro Bowler and three-times named First Team All-Pro; he and the Chiefs were clearly riding a gravy train with biscuit wheels. 2004 was an injury-marred season for Holmes, but he still lit up the league for 15 touchdowns while playing just eight games. During his first four Kansas City seasons, Holmes scored 76 total touchdowns and had three seasons over 2,000 combined rushing and receiving yards. Prior to the 2005 season, the Oshkosh franchise drafted Holmes at auction for $33. A respectable sum, but with Franchise Fantasy Football, one must consider the context in which a player is purchased. Some of the other auction values for running backs that season included:
- LaDanian Tomlinson and Shaun Alexander: $46
- Steven Jackson: $42
- Willis McGahee and Edgerrin James: $40
- Julius Jones: $39
- Rudi Johnson: $37
- LaMont Jordan and Dominack Davis: $35
With those figures in mind, $33 for Priest Holmes coming off of a 15-touchdown season, albeit an injury-shortened 15-TD season, seemed pretty reasonable. But remember, once you extended a contract, your team was responsible for every last dollar of the contract. Teams were able to cut the player to open up the roster spot, but were still responsible for the cap number. Further, our extensions had to be done by week eight of that season; meaning a decision on Holmes’ long-term future with the Oshkosh franchise had to be determined by mid-season in the year in which he was drafted. Oshkosh had only two choices. Extend Holmes for multiple future seasons or lose him back into the auction pool for 2006. So, based on Holmes career performance, Oshkosh pulled the trigger on a five-year deal:
- $33 in 2005
- $39 in 2006
- $45 in 2007
- $51 in 2008
- $57 in 2009
Alas, it was not to be for our intrepid owner. Holmes was injured in just the seventh game of that five-year contract. He missed the remainder of 2005 and all of 2006. He did return for 2007, but his comeback lasted just four more games and he subsequently announced his retirement from the National Football League. In summation, the Priest Holmes contract was scheduled to last for 80 games, but Oshkosh only received eleven at a total cost of $225 or 15% of the Oshkosh salary cap for those five seasons. Oshkosh paid over $20 per game for Priest Holmes.
Oshkosh may have been able to weather the storm on Holmes had they possessed some salary cap flexibility. But, the Donovan McNabb Travesty robbed the club of $43 in 2006 and $49 in 2007. Yet, Oshkosh wasn’t done with their profligacy. Marvin Harrison was on board for $46 and $52 for those two years. Corey Dillon’s contract also had two years to run at $35 and $40. And when the team wasn’t drafting expensive players, they were making trades for them. Oshkosh picked up Nate Burleson for $32 and Chris Chambers for $42 before the 2006 season. Oshkosh had put himself in salary cap jail. For all these reasons, just two years later, the aforementioned Adrian Peterson cost his owner just $16 as teams decided the reward was not worth the level of risk.
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