FOF2004: question regarding Playing out of position

[Darkiller]

I'm toying with the idea of switching an experienced player (10+ year vet) from the left to the right side of his own position.
At the same time, I am kind of scared of the "hit" he might take and wonder if it wouldn't be a lot safer to simply play him out of position on the depth chart screen.

What would you recommend ?

[Vince]

How long do you intend to play him out of position? If it's going to be longer than a season, you might want to switch him, even if it's a pretty hefty hit to his bars. From what I know, he will play below his ability level out of position, but will not improve to his full potential at the new position if he isn't switched.

[Darkiller]

thanks for the answer Vince.
The question now would be: what % of "below his ability level" would he play at, when being out of position ?

10% ? 15% ? 25% ? .. 50% ??

[jbmagic]

veteran players wont take a big hit playing out of position. just play them out of position if you need too on the depth chart. No need to change the position.

for young players its best to change there position and not play them out of position on the depth chart. this way they can progress.

[korme]

If you are switching like a LDE to RDE, he shouldn't even take a hit at all.

[jbmagic]

If you are switching like a LDE to RDE, he shouldn't even take a hit at all.


it does sometimes.


best way to know if you switch a player position on the depth chart only and see if there a penalty for doiog that, just goto the player and click change position and see if there going to be a penalty.

[John Travolta]

I'm toying with the idea of switching an experienced player (10+ year vet) from the left to the right side of his own position.
At the same time, I am kind of scared of the "hit" he might take and wonder if it wouldn't be a lot safer to simply play him out of position on the depth chart screen.

What would you recommend ?

Switching from throwing right handed to left handed is almost always a bad idea for a quarterback. Although Peyton Manning did it once with some success.

[MrBigglesworth]

Offensive tackles seem to be hit hard by this when switching from right to left. Left to right doesn't seem to be a big deal.

[Vince]

thanks for the answer Vince.
The question now would be: what % of "below his ability level" would he play at, when being out of position ?

10% ? 15% ? 25% ? .. 50% ??
That's a good question, and I don't know if anyone even has an idea. I'm thinking like this (the numbers are completely arbitrary):

Player A = 60/60 @ LT

Playing RT as an LT Player A = 40/40
Switching to RT, Player A = 40/50

Hopefully that makes sense.

[MrBigglesworth]

When it says, "player will have 90% ability, and will have a significant experience reduction", does that mean that a 100/100 player will be:

1) 90/90
2) 90/100
3) 80/90

In other words, what does the percentage influence and what does the experience influence?

[QuikSand]

When it says, "player will have 90% ability, and will have a significant experience reduction", does that mean that a 100/100 player will be:

1) 90/90
2) 90/100
3) 80/90


In my experience, more like:

4) 30/90

[QuikSand]

After several conversations about this general topic, I think that the collective FOF commuinty just doesn't know the "correct" answer here. If anyone has done some sort of research on this, he's keeping it to himself.

The best we seem to know is:

-the formal position switch works better with a smaller difference between positions -- e.g. LG to RG is a smaller hit than LG to LT

-the formal position switch works best with either rookies or true veterans (like 10-11 year or more)

-players with some experience at the position may lose a lot of their current ratings if switched to the new position,but can gain it back with playing time at the new spot (this seems lessend as the player is later inhis career - a 10th year player seemingly suffers less than a 4th year player)

-the outcome of the position switch in multiplayer is more unpredictable than in single player, and the appearance of your player right after enteruing the switch is not a reliable indicator of how he will look upon your next file retreival

And for the big one:

-nobody seems to know or even have a good guess how much players suffer when played out of position

-Jim has commented publicly (here, I believe) that the penalty isn't much (not a quote, just my recollection and paraphrasing) with the specific exception of other linemen playing left tackle out of position

-nobody has shared any meaningful evidence suggesting that it's either better or worse to play a guy out of position long term rather than make the permanent switch - this is just an unknown

[Joe]

FWIW, I never seem to have problems playing players out of position. I routinely have a glut of players at center and safety, and I play them at guard/tackle and CB, respectively. They manage to play at a high level as well. Though there's no evidence to support a +/- like Quiksand said, I have done it enough (at times for a whole season), that I am comfortable with it and never make position changes unless it is absolutely necessary to do so (ie- a player will gain rating points).