Now that the salary cap is starting to pick up and make it more difficult to lock up all your talent. I'd like to be able to extend contracts and re-work contracts if a player declines. I may be wrong but as of now I believe that if you offered a 6 year contract to a player with 2 years left on his deal then he would have a 6 year contract instead of an 8 year contract. I'd like to have the option to make it 8. I think the max should be 10. I don't think I ever seen anyone in the NFL sign a contract longer than a 10 year deal. As far as re-working contracts. I'd like to be able to re-work a deal if a player starts to decline earlier than expected or his retirement percentage gets up there. These actions should have consequences with your current players and the player with whom you want to take a pay cut. Some players could react negatively to seeing you treat an older player bad by trying to make them take less money and the player could decline to take less money. Nothing should be automatic here

I actually love this idea. We constantly see players that are getting older or slower take big pay cuts or re-structure their deals, either for "one more shot at a title", to help the team sign other players, or the team wants to keep them aboard for their veteran leadership (which I also think should be an attribute that starts to develop after year 6 or 7 on players to provide small boosts for teams with veteran leadership).

Veterans make a big impact on teams. I will use the Steelers James Harrison for an example. James Harrison signed a 2 year, $2,750,000 contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers, including a $500,000 signing bonus, $500,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $1,375,000.... in his 13th season at age 36, just to compete for another title.

This also provides some relief from the contract situation as a by-product. I was all for salaries starting to increase to be a bit more realistic and provide some cap pressure, but salaries (both coaches and players) have spiraled way out of control IMO and it needs to be dialed back a little now.

Extensions in lieu of a new contract .. if I'm reading that correctly?