FOF4 with preference draft

[FrogMan]

Reading Quiksand's diary, and all the talks about the FOF2004 coming out, got me to start a tiny career with FOF4, while I wait for the release of FOF2004.

For the first time ever, I decided to start my career with a preference draft. I set all my preferences right and the draft happened. Had a good first season and all, started 7-0, then lost 6 in a row when my QB went down, finished 9-7, lost in the first round of the playoffs.

Now for my question. When I entered the free agency part of the following season, there were only crappy players available and nobody bid on anyone, is that normal? Is it a byproduct of the preference draft, where all players draft in the early rounds all got a similar contract and will all be up at around the same time, making the first year one with very few good players available?

Thanks for your answers.

FM

[FBPro]

Just a guess here but I would imagine that the first off-season after this type of draft would be weaker than most since it is doubtful that many 1 year deals were made.

[Fritz]

Have you done the first rookie draft yet?

[FrogMan]

FBPro, that's my guess too.

Fritz, no. I'm talking about the free agency period right after the first complete season, but before the first rookie draft.

FM

[FrogMan]

as a followup, I have played my second season and the free agency seems a bit deeper this time around.

How many of you have started new careers with a preference draft before? This is my first time. I have always started my careers with either the straight start or the expansion draft (with the Texans or another team), so I'm discovering something new today... :)

Look at the attached screendump, the cohesion ratings are all at excellent, which makes sense, since all the teams have had the same roster for the first two seasons in the history of the league... Never thought about that before starting my career...

FM

[FrogMan]

To add a bit to this, seems like Fritz has made his way in my career :D

Look at this...

http://webhome.idirect.com/~stevegougeon/fritz.gif

http://webhome.idirect.com/~stevegougeon/fritz2.gif

Probably not the same, since "fans need a scorecard" should not aplly to the Fritz we know :) No comment about the "Very Low (10)" intelligence rating either :D

FM

[fantastic flying froggies]

'm not sure the "good health" applies either...

;)

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by FrogMan
Look at the attached screendump, the cohesion ratings are all at excellent, which makes sense, since all the teams have had the same roster for the first two seasons in the history of the league... Never thought about that before starting my career...


Just one clarifying thought here. Technically, the cohesion ratings are all relative, not absolute. That is, the best team in the league is assigned a rating of 100, and everyone else's rating is scaled down from there, as compared to them. (There are quite a lot of things in FOF done this way)

So, a bunch of teams with ratings of 95, 97, and 100 in their cohesion doesn't really mean that they have "excellent" cohesion, as compared to teams from other league where lots of players have been playing together for many years. It's just that there isn't much separation between the top and bottom of a newly-formed league, and so nearly everyone is pretty close to that league's leaders.

In my mind, it might be a little clearer to have all these teams rated something like 35-40... showing where they stand in an absolute sense. But it's really a non-issue, since these teams only play against one another, so it's their relative ratings that matter-- whether it's graded from 95 to 100 or 35 to 40.

Hope that helps.

[FrogMan]

Thanks for pointing this out QS. I sort of knew this and my main point was more of how everyone was all bunched up. I agree that for them to be from 35 to 40 or from 95 to 100 is a non issue...

Still, it's the first time I've ever started a career with the preference draft and I kind of like it. It's kinda dry at first, especially when you look up the draft order and see that every, team except one or two, have only 2 former first rounder on their lineup. I go "duh!" the season's been active only 2 seasons :)

FM