Or if this has been asked previously I'm curious..

Regarding players in FA, do these players have a predetermined time that they will sign or set $$ amount that if exceeded, they sign.

My typical take in FA is to try to resign my old players to a 1yr minimum contract and let the draft play out. Doing that strategy, more often then not I am having to wait until the week 5 sim to sign a bunch of players and, inevitably, lose a few due to last ditch contracts by other teams.

Free agents will sign for the best contract they have available. During the early and late free agency stages, there are a couple of factors that will influence whether they choose to wait or not; during the season they will just sign for the best offer available.

Renegotiations, however, will not re-sign for less than they ask (although there are some ways you can restructure the request that may be more cap friendly)

Are these hidden factors? Lol

I thought it was more complicated than it is, just looked at the code - basically the more weeks that remain, the less likely he will sign.