[sbramfan]

I hate Free Agency.

I don't know how many times I can suggest it, but there needs to be a scenario where any FA player on your team will count less towards the cap than the team that tries to acquire them.

Just as with the Veteran thing where you can pay a guy $1 million (or whatever) and it only counts $750,000 vs. the cap.

I would say it could work something like this:

Restricted Free Agent's salary:
80% applies to the cap.

(Any player you drafted should always count 80% towards the cap).

Unrestricted Free Agent:
85% applies to the cap.

So if the Rams offered a guy like Bryce Fisher a 10 million dollar contract, it would only count 8.5 million towards the cap, allowing them a "SLIGHT" edge in trying to retain a player they've invested in.

And the 75% could have helped in keeping guys like Dre Bly, Az Hakim, or Grant Wistrom.

The 17 Million dollar contract Az got would have only cost the Rams about 14 million in cap room.

You would still be able to steal a guy away by over-paying, but it would help teams retain players they've invested in. Plus, the player will get the same money either way, so as an Unrestricted Free Agent, he could still leave if he wanted out.