Guide To Recent FOF Changes (Mainly 6.1)
 

Since there are quite a few people in my MP leagues who don't play SP, I thought I'd make this post to give a quick capsule of observations on how your strategies might want to change with the update. Some of this will also cover some ground of some changes that were made in 6.0e or earlier, but that seem to be misunderstood by a significant number of people. This isn’t intended to be an exhaustive strategy guide, but a consolidation of information that's mostly already out there--a quick reference for help mainly for the player who doesn't have a good number of seasons with 6.0e/6.1 under his belt. Therefore, I'm trying to keep this as short as possible for those looking for some quick bullet points, intentionally leaving out details at some places, but instead providing links to discussions with more information for those who want to dig into a particular aspect more deeply. I've organized it by game stage so that there are just a few bullet points to consider in each stage. Hope this is helpful.

• Because of the importance of interviews, it's important to pay attention to the scout's skills at positions of need in the upcoming draft. My playing leads me to believe that the better the scout, the less incorrect reads and “hard to reads” you end up with. (For more on interviews, check this thread.)

• The chance of injury in summer league was increased in 6.0e. Injuries still don't appear to be a huge risk there, but they can be a factor to consider in the decision.
• The player you send to summer league will develop more quickly if he’s given playing time in the subsequent season. (Details here)
• The player you send to summer league has a small chance of becoming a better player entirely.
• All indications are that the only potential negative of sending a player to summer league is the potential for injury. There’s a perception out there that appears to be a complete myth: that sometimes players lose points as a result of summer league. Just because their ratings drop at the point right after summer league, don’t assume that they got worse because of summer league. (For more details on what’s really happening when a summer league guy appears to lose ratings, go to the unmasking 101 thread.)
• Franchising a player causes a negative hit to loyalty. Sometimes your franchisee will refuse to sign a long-term deal as a result, and in rare cases, he’ll hold out AND refuse to sign a long-term deal, forcing you to either trade him or hope he ends the holdout.

• The first free agency stage is the time to do interviews with draftees. As mentioned above, they’re very important. Check the interview thread referenced earlier for more details.
• Most younger players' scouted ratings will change at the beginning of FA1. Check the unmasking thread referenced earlier for more details.
• One thing to think about in roster building during free agency is that with 6.1, there’s more “wiggle room” in the regular season to pick up players, since you’re only charged the cap hit for the time they’re on the roster.

• Scout error was reduced in 6.1. So far, it seems more likely that this will be most noticed in that more players will have combines and bars that are consistent with one another.
• No-combine players are now not as likely to be better than their scouting bars than they were in 6.0e.

The comments in this section will be focused on what we understand about the engine tweaks so far, and how that information could impact your offensive and defensive game plans.

• Passes from screen to 12 yards in length are more effective overall now. Some details can be found in this post.
• Passes that are 13 yards and longer are less effective overall now. Details can also be found in the same link as the previous bullet point.
• The recommended defensive game plans will now call pass aggressive far more often in 2^nd and Long and 3^rd and Long situations than in 6.0e. Plan accordingly on both sides of the ball.
• Detailed situational statistical data has been compiled for 6.1. It can be found at http://www.fof-research.com/runinfo61.php and http://www.fof-research.com/passinfo61.php
• Directly from the 6.1 change log: "Try and ensure nickel and dime backs don't blitz, and change the replaced linebacker in the 3-4 to the strong-side, since the weak-side linebacker is involved in the pass rush. This will give 3-4 teams a more sensible way to use the depth chart.”
• Also directly from the 6.1 change log: “Ensure that the double-coverage options when choosing wide receivers by ability rather than side of formation, work properly.”
• On both sides of the ball, severe imbalance is a bad thing. Doing too much of pretty much any one thing, whether it's a coverage type, a run direction, a pass distance, or any of a number of other things is a bad idea. In FOF, as in real life, offenses and defenses seem to pick up on the tendencies of the other team if the other team is too predictable.
  

This should go without saying, but if there's anything that you feel has been left out or that would be useful information at a high level, please let me know so I can add it. I've played a lot of SP, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if there are things that are still "new", but that I'm used to now and no longer identify in my head as "new."

Delete this post at will if you think it's been covered before or is inapporopriate, SD.
Something I noticed to franchised players since 6.0e, their contract demands will fit with their franchise player status independant of their role on the team. That means if you franchise a player who is a backup and didn't see significant playing time, he'll ask for the moon and the stars. He still will after being traded to a different team. In effect, using it on an average or lower skilled player basically makes him rises his demands too high for his skill set and becomes either an overpaid backup or a season-long FA candidate.

Damn, I think a lot of people hadn't picked up on that yet. It was a great way to get a VG player in the 3rd round or later.

It definitely isn't covered in the thread I posted. My first thought is that this isn't really new to FOF2K7, though. At some point in FOF2K4, I think that players' demands in renegotiation became at least partially tied to the current year's salary. It's not something that would be that easily noticed, since usually the guy with the big salary is a very good player, but if you pay a mediocre player big-time money (like a franchise salary), it'll end up looking out of whack. At least that's how I *think* that works.

Right. I haven't used the franchise tag very often, but when I did I remember using it in fof2004 on a below average player and his renegotiation salary demands kind of fit with what you would expect of a player his skill and recent stats. Two days ago in fof2007/6.1, I tagged a similar player, yet he's unwilling to sign anything below franchise tag value.

Nice summary. Thanks for posting!

Great stuff as always, SkyDog, thanks.