When the AI manages a team, it wrecks it. It uses the negotiation wizard for the contract renewal which ends up paying a player more than what a live owner would offer, and creates a salary cap problem. When the salary cap is exceeded, usually following the draft with all the new rookie salaries, the AI goes to work cuttinng players starting with the highest "saved if released" amount, which is most likely one of the best, if not the best players on the team.
I dont know what can be done to fix this problem, but it is a problem and makes it more difficult to get new owners for teams that have been hurt by it. I would suggest that the re-negotiation "wizard" get a lot better than he currently is, and negotiate contracts that do not blow up the salary cap for a team, and when it comes to having to cut players due to a salary cap overage, to do so based on lowest AI default rating and highest salary formula. This problem not only hurts the team but it also hurts a league if there are more than a few open teams.