Scouting Tool for Madden 17 CFM

[infinite76]

Quote: Originally Posted by rhymeorreason

Thanks for the incredible work on the tool! Didn't find it until Week 13 of my 2nd season so I had already wasted a bunch of scouting points on it but I hammered out a draft last night that was way more successful than my first season. - Traded into the top-10 to snag my top of the board player - a 79 over superstar HB - at #8 - Missed out on a stud C by one pick, so traded the 23rd to scoop the 32nd overall, a future 1st and a 4th this year, then landed a 76 ovr CB at 32 - 78 ovr RT in the 2nd. - 75 ovr Superstar dev WR in the 3rd (Had a huge Week 1 - 7 rec 126 yd. Insane in the open field!) - Mobile QB that ran a 4.54 40 in the 4th - 77 ovr RG in the 5th! - 75 ovr Speed back (90+ punt return) in the 7th Only downside was a "This must be too good to be true" Blue-Chip receiving TE in the 4th round 100th overall. Turned out to be #181 talent and a 68 OVR. (I read the full primer so expected this to happen somewhere. Honestly the fact that the tool isn't perfect made me happy. No such thing as a sure pick!) BUT the sting wore off pretty quick: Took the #1 overall true talent player 121st overall! Converted him from a 3-4 Pass Rush ROLB to a 4-3 Speed Rush RE and he STARTED as an 83 ovr with Superstar dev! Thanks again for the great tool, really excited for Year 3 with a full scouting cycle using the tool.

now that is how you retool an offense in one of season!

[OliverQuinn]

ive done so much trading back, i've accumulated about 6 picks in the first two rounds next year. do you guys just let your OLman and stud defenders go at the end of their rookie deals and let the high 70s depth take over? how do you solve your cap situation when you have like 6 90+ to resign every year?

[madmax25]

Quote: Originally Posted by OliverQuinn

ive done so much trading back, i've accumulated about 6 picks in the first two rounds next year. do you guys just let your OLman and stud defenders go at the end of their rookie deals and let the high 70s depth take over? how do you solve your cap situation when you have like 6 90+ to resign every year?

I have similar struggles as I take the same philosophy. I think you could also likely be getting hurt by the amount of early picks you have, based on the rookie reserve. Someone should correct me if I'm wrong, but having multiple 1st round picks pending means that when you go to resign your players that there is significantly less cap space available. I find myself in cap hell when I'm in your boat.

I tend to trade players that I know I will not be able to resign (had to once trade a 90 OVR ILB) for cap purposes. I try to flip those players for 1/2 round picks. I might be taking advantage of the CPU trade logic a little bit, but I enjoy nailing the draft. While this might be slightly unfair, I live with myself because Compensatory Picks do not exist in the game. I look at that as a way I even that playing field.

I also wait to develop the traits that most greatly affect the overall in some positions. For instance, RBs are major cap-eaters. I tend to focus only on their physical traits and just bank a lot of XP (thus keeping their OVR low) until I can resign them. Then I lock them into long term deals at a discount and splurge on their XP after that. This strategy works best if drafting 21 year-olds before they hit the dreaded age 26. Again, it's slightly hacking the game, but in real life resigning a player early would count the bonus towards the current year's cap space and to my knowledge that is not the case in CFM. These intricacies of cap management are just not in the game.

I don't know how much this helps, but I have had to spend time examining the players on my team. Be extremely wary of 1st round picks as they eat cap, as do QBs. I cannot seem to lock up a QB without eating up massive amounts of salary. I guess they have that accurate. I felt that last year was easier to resign, especially with the coach upgrade package. If you find a more authentic way to realistically re-sign players, please let me know! I understand big decisions, but there should be an easier way to re-sign current players on their rookie deals (as is usually the case in the NFL).

[paarman]

I feel like so much of that CAP hell could be alleviated if they just went back to being able to resign players earlier than their final year of a contract. Managing CAP was so much better in Madden 12 when you could "restructure", so to speak, not having to wait until the contract runs out to do something about it.

I, too, spend a lot of time analyzing my roster... I use a spreadsheet for each season that I keep an eye on when contracts run out in accordance with their age.. Because of this, I find myself trading a lot of players away during their final year, or when they are 26 or older as they just are not worth the money depending on their OVR.

The idea above of stacking up XP as to not influence their OVR seems like the most logical way to save yourself from paying through the teeth, even if it is cheap. You also suffer not being able to develop the player much during that year, but after you sign him at least you know you have a time limit from there forward to develop away.

If only Madden would keep the good features of franchise mode from game to game without getting rid of them in lieu of a whole new system!

[golfwang1600]

Quote: Originally Posted by paarman

I feel like so much of that CAP hell could be alleviated if they just went back to being able to resign players earlier than their final year of a contract. Managing CAP was so much better in Madden 12 when you could "restructure", so to speak, not having to wait until the contract runs out to do something about it.

Amen brother...I hate that everything is backloaded because when I rebuild bad teams I usually have TONS of cap space up front and would rather make things top loaded...really irritating.

[Danavan]

How do y'all deal with athletic freaks who don't register as draftable in the tool? Has anyone taken one and got positive or negative results based on it/the development of the player?

As an example, there is a HB in my current draft class who ran a 4.28 40, but has a TVR of 72.79 and is undraftable because his Carrying is a C+ (BC Vision B and Juke Move B-). There are also a few receivers who ran mid 4.3s with 40/shuttle under 11 seconds who don't have the requisite skill ratings.

[goalieump413]

I'd say if you're convinced a player or two would still make solid pro players, go ahead and draft them. As a user of this draft tool myself, I've seen some players rate very high in some combine stats that don't seem to make the cut as draftable players too, but it appears to be the exception, not the rule.

In your case, a player like this swift HB might be a good option if you already have a good starting HB, but need a rookie as a good change of pace option, and someone who can also line up in the slot, catching passes.

Because speed is the most costly rating to improve, I'd be okay with taking an otherwise undraftable player who has blazing speed because he's a threat to outrun an opponent. Other, cheaper ratings can be more rapidly improved through spending XP to a state of reason through big plays or meeting goals than speed.

My preference is to only fill needs as 2nd string players who might possess special measurables, rather than rely on them to become eventual starters, since it's more likely they'll only stick around for their rookie contract anyway. A similar rookie in three years will cost less cap space than trying to hang on to someone who doesn't get enough playing time to accumulate big ratings boosts. Yes, speed is the exception...

[greatone09]

Quick question..When I get to Scouting Skill 2 it wont let me put in a B grade. It gives me a B+ grade. What should i do? Thanks