Ok, I have looked at the code. The end-of-season stage behaves the same way as a midweek stage or free agency stage, which means that you can sign a player and go over the cap without the AI cutting anyone. If you sign a player before the championship game that takes you over the cap, the highest-priced players will be cut but there is a safeguard that will adjust your dead cap so that the 49 lowest-priced players on your roster will remain and you will have exactly $0 cap available.

Good to know. Thanks for taking the time to check.

So if I am understanding this correctly. End of Season stage I can jump my roster to 60 by signing 2 year contracts to have a safety net of players to cover any potential FA losses and retirements?

In essence, what the NFL considers "Futures" contracts?

You could, but you still need to be under the cap again by the end of the offseason.

just to follow up on this discussion ... what is the first stage in a season that one has to be under the cap by (to avoid having the computer cut players?) ... late free agency 1? training camp? preseason game 1? regular season game 1?

(i'm currently over the cap heading into late free agency and want to make sure I don't have to cut anyone yet!)

You must be under the cap at any game stage. So you have until preseason game 1 stage to get under the cap.

Thank you!!