Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike D
Following a players development is one of the best features of FOF in general and I think it would be wise to embrace this somehow within the game.
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Totally agree with this 100%. Two things on this subject;
1. I disagree with the statement that tracking a player's development curve is not a football activity (assuming that this is what you are saying). First off, an FOF example where we can see player one go from 23/32 -> 29/37 in TC1, followed by 34/42 the next year and 39/47 the year after that. Contrast that to the player that goes 30/58 -> 30/52 in TC 1, followed by 34/47 and 38/43. While player two has both a higher current and future rating, much like in the example above, having been witness to both their development curves, we know that player one has much more upside. Obviously this is the FOF example, but because we can't visually see players perform in practice and games, we have no way to measure actual development like one would in real life, although it does take place. For instance, a team in real life signs an undrafted free agent tackle, who only started one year at tackle in college and was a tight end before that. The guy is signed to the practice squad his first year, he sticks on the roster the next year, maybe gets a start or two the year after that and performs well. This guy has continually progressed in his development and you are likely to keep him around the next season. Contrast this to a tackle taken in the second round who is given a starting spot partway through his rookie year, under performs and then loses a training camp battle his second year and doesn't even see the field in his third year. Now, these two players may be at the same level of talent by the end of their third year but which one are you likely going to keep around?
2. I will agree that tracking development curves by numbers is not a real football activity. Neither however, is the practice of grading every player over every ability throughout each season. Denver isn't grading out Peyton Manning and saying that Deep Passes went from a 78 -> 71 while Medium Passes dropped form only an 85 -> 83. Teams will certainly make an observation that arm strength has decreased somewhat but not to the specific levels we are getting at in FOF. Again though, I understand that this is part and parcel to what we can observe in the game and how this can be realistically contrasted to what we can visually observe in real life. However, it's much like development curves that way.
Drafting and player development are my two favourite parts of the game and the ability to track the development of players is imperative while one of the biggest missing features in my opinion is the ability to see past draft classes while within the game.