Cutting and draft question

I’m 99% sure I know the answer to this already but I want to check my understanding as it’s my first year in Ottoneu. When a player is cut (either before the keeper deadline or when a new owner takes over a team), they are then put in the draft pool? My main question here is, if an owner decides that he/she is not happy to pay the salary for that player in the coming season and they then cut them, does the player value at auction reset to $1?

For example, Player X is on the roster for $50 but the owner only wants to pay a maximum of $40, if they cut the player can they then bid for the player at auction (starting at $1), up to what they are prepared to pay and if they have the winning bid for say $40, that is what will count against the cap for the season?

Just want to check that the player’s previous value isn’t counted in the draft. Appreciate this is for offseason/pre draft as it’s different in season but thinking it’s a potentially risky move but could provide some salary relief if it worked.

It really depends on the type of cut.

If you’re taking over a new team or making a cut before the keeper deadline, those cuts are penalty-free. In those cases, the player’s new minimum salary is $1.

If you are cutting a player after the keeper deadline and you’ve already used your penalty-free cuts, there will be a cap penalty for cutting that player. That cap penalty is half the player’s salary, rounded up. That cap penalty will count against your cap and will be the player’s minimum salary at auction. Once the player is signed, the cap penalty goes away.

During the season, you cannot re-acquire a player you cut in the last 30 days. This is not true for the auction draft. So if you do end up cutting a player with a cap penalty before the auction draft, you can remedy that by starting their auction and bidding.

Generally, teams do not go into the auction draft with cap penalties, so this rarely comes up. It did come up tangentially in this thread about the keeper deadline, which is worth a quick read.

Hope that clarifies!

Perfect, thanks for that! That’s exactly what I thought was the case. Since I’ve taken over a couple of teams there are players who I don’t believe are worth their existing salary but I might be interested in at significantly lower salaries so that’s perfect.

Before cutting anyone, you should talk to your league and commissioner to see if there’s an opportunity for penalty-free cuts. There usually is when taking over an existing team.

Good luck!