So, I open free agency. It's a long list of available players, each with a simple series of ratings 0-100...a framework that harkens back to the FPS FB Pro series.
Strength, Agility <- everyone has something here
Arm, Accuracy <- QBs only, with a scattering of others with meager non-zero
Speed, Intelligence <- again, everyone...no idea why this order
Hands, RunBlocking, PassBlocking, Tackling, Endurance, Kick Dist, Kick Acc
So, that's it. Fine. I decide that what I'd really love to do in free agency is build around some promising young players. I have $32m in cap space (though no clue how much my rookie draft will occupy of that) and that seems like I'm a serious player. A look at the "Finances" page bears this out - only a couple other teams are even under the cap at all, and only by a thin margin. So, I can look for bargains and try to lock them up long term.
When I sort by the "Overall" rating, I am put off a bit. Seeing names that don't make much sense here as the most highly skilled players available - 34y/o RB LeGarrette Blount? 42y/o CB Terrance Newman? A whole gaggle of 30-something fullbacks I've never hear of? What gives?
...I have no idea. So, RB Blount sat out all last year, but looks to me, on paper, to be a star. Fast, strong, etc. Nobody thought he would be worth a 1yr deal last season? Nobody?
Okay... I decide that must be a glitch. I'll sort by age, instead, and look through the younger players available to see what's worth adding to my woeful Dolphins roster. We've only got 35 players, we need help everywhere. Young guys with potential, especially.
Uhh... now who are
these guys?
I see a smattering of 22-24y/o players out there with pretty good ratings. Okay, trying to make sense of this... I'm seeing guys who I suppose had some potential at one point, but never really clicked. RB
Boston Scott is graded here as an 80/100 overall. In FOF terms that makes him Leveon Bell. Here, that's just a click or two below the fossils - Blount, Marshawn Lynch. Bo Scarbrough is here, too, rated 80/100 overall...right alngside Deangelo Williams and Chris Johnson. Okay, I don't want to get too down in the muck here. I'll just ignore the messy stuff and try to move on.
Are there young players who look good enough to use? I'll take a look at our secondary, for a frame of reference. Recall, this is the 2-14 Dolphins, and the most promising guy got dealt (for nothing, apparently) so this is a unit that
should be improved upon, not just complemented. Here's what I see on my own roster:
(Quick note here... when I order the positions, it gives me, toward the end... CB then LB then DT then DE then LB. I can't make any sense of how that happened, but it's off-putting, once again. Is this another American sports text sim game being created by a non-US-native who doesn't really follow the actual game?)
Code:
31 Webster, Ken 5' 11" 189 84 CB 25 1 57 66 1 70 63 74 1 1 1 78 82 1 1 3 $1,083,000
33 Wiltz, Jomal 5' 10" 174 75 CB 26 3 54 65 1 69 54 64 1 1 1 60 67 1 1 1 $1,212,000
25 Howard, Xavien 6' 0" 201 87 CB 27 4 43 73 1 80 56 50 1 1 1 84 75 1 1 3 $1,985,500
35 Aikens, Walt 6' 1" 210 85 CB 29 6 57 72 1 81 58 56 1 1 1 70 73 1 1 2 $4,270,000
30 Lammons, Chris 5' 10" 190 77 CB 24 2 57 58 1 64 64 69 1 1 1 72 68 1 1 1 $450,000
23 Tankersley, Cordrea 6' 1" 200 82 CB 26 3 42 69 1 81 45 53 1 1 1 79 61 1 1 2 $730,000
20 Bademosi, Johnson 6' 0" 200 88 CB 30 8 44 72 1 79 53 50 1 1 1 90 80 1 1 3 $5,016,000
28 McCain, Bobby 5' 11" 196 86 FS 27 5 34 72 1 93 52 52 1 1 1 83 64 1 1 3 $2,061,500
20 Jones, Reshad 6' 1" 215 98 SS 32 10 83 77 7 80 56 68 1 1 8 98 97 1 3 1 $10,000,000
So, looking at the overall ratings for now, we have X Howard as an 87 (stud?) seems correct from a programming perspective. But Johnson Bademosi is rated more highly, at 87. He's a guy who was a throw-in from the Texans in the real life Tunsil trade, Miami cut him soon after. Here he's CB1 and making $5m.
Okay...faithfulness to my pre-conceptions of NFL players is not the main point. We'll set that aside as well. My goal isn't to sim the NFL, it's to build a team.
So, my overall ratings appear to be:
CB 88,87,85,84,82,77,75
S 98,86
Reshad Jones is the 98 stud, and he's paid $10m. Ok, that fits. Maybe Howard is the unfairly graded guy at only high 80s. Dunno.
By the way, among my DBs, top ratings for Speed seem to be low 80s, with one exception - S McCain at a roster-high 93. I don't know what to make of that, yet, but speed seems like it would be important in a football game, call me crazy. Agility seems to max in the low 70s, except Jones at 77 (only top WRs Parker and Hurns higher at 86/85).
So... might be too soon to conclude this, but in the overall ratings, maybe classroom scoring is about right. 70 totally marginal, 80 useful, and 90 very good.
So, the most promising young DB I see out there is...uhhh...
Derrek Thomas, who IRL apparently had been a "fringe" NFL guy recently. He's rated 87 overall (better than nearly my whole team) despite not being picked up by anyone last year (along with Darrell Revis 87 and Terrance Newman 96. I'm baffled, but I want to
do something so I decide to try to sign Thomas.
CB Thomas wants a rotation role (nice feature), and a 4yr deal worth about $2.5m/yr, "balanced." That sounds high for a guy who couldn't find a job last year, but maybe that was a function of league weirdness (salary cap being set imperfectly?). Now, when I try to make an offer (lowball) I can't figure out how to make an offer. I see his demands (I think) in semi-grayed lettering... but I can't type anything into those places. Maybe my only choice here is to click "Offer" and meet his demands? (Oh that would suuuuck) I click on the ?Help item along the top of the game, that just gets me an error sound. Awesome.
...time passes...