[highandoutside]

Yes, I imagine this is very difficult to program. That's why, with issues such as this, I wouldn't mind if the game departed from reality a little bit, if it gave us a stronger, more realistic, AI.

For example, how about a single signing period where the AI deals with extensions and free agent signings all at once? That way it can calculate the cost of extensions against free agents. The problem now is that the AI has no idea who the free agents are going to be at the end of the year, so they may offer extensions and run out of money before the free agent period starts. If all player costs were known to the AI at the same time, it may distribute its money in a more realistic way.

The difficulty of the programming is also why I don't take players from the AI on waivers. It just isn't capable of managing all the complexities of the financial system well enough, so I leave it alone when it runs to problems and places good players on waivers.