If I elect not to offer any contracts to my own FAs until the season has completed, aside from having less time to counter a rejected offer and negotiate before FA, is there anything in the player's decision making process that will alter compared to offering a deal during the season?

I like to see a player's full body of work before I decide if I'm going to bring them back, but I don't want to do so if it's going to disadvantage me in some way. Can't be having annoyed dots because I didn't offer them a new deal quickly enough :)

No, as long as you have offered the contract by the end of season stage (which is the last stage that you can re-sign players in the last year of their contract) they won't care. The only time it might bite you would be if the player is trending upward, he might ask for more near the end of the season than he would have earlier, or if other contracts have been signed they may bring up the value of his position, but that's just as likely to go the other way.

Appreciated, thanks :)