TCY draft files--first impressions

[OldGiants]

I started up Nebraska and Cleveland careers to see how the draft files came over. My first look in 2004 at the Nebraska players coming in was satisfying.

The blue bars "ghosted" the senior red bars of the Cornhusker seniors quite well. I saw the same player, in other words. As the player quality dropped in the draft evealuation, the bars moved to the left, which is what should happen. The "pattern" remained, however, and that's good IMO.

I checked out the senior all-america team and was pleased to see a solid correllation between thses players and the top talent in the draft. where there was a difference, stats made the all-america choices. Plus, all these types of guys (the high stat, low combine score ) came in with high volitillity. Could these be the sleepers? I'll follow them closely.

One bad sign was that the senior all-america DT from Tulane did not appear in the draft file. NOr did any Tulane senior. Is this a known bug of some sort?

Any way, its great to draft with stats and be able to look up the draftees in college. Tracking them from HS to the pros will be amusing.

If anybody needs a reason to buy the latest FOF version and TCY, this is looking like proof.

[kcchief19]

I haven't played with any TCY draft files. Out of curiousity, do the names of high schools stay with college players into FOF2k4?

[MizzouRah]

Excellent news!


Thank you,


Todd

[OldGiants]

Originally posted by kcchief19
I haven't played with any TCY draft files. Out of curiousity, do the names of high schools stay with college players into FOF2k4?

The home town name comes along, but there's no HS listed in FOF.

[Easy Mac]

bastard, you must have known I was doing this

[primelord]

Originally posted by Easy Mac
bastard, you must have known I was doing this

And even knew a day before you did it!

[Easy Mac]

ahh, but this was far off the first page... I just find it odd how he bumped it a split second after I posted mine.... conspiracy methinks.

[OldGiants]

forgive the double posts, but I wanted to list a few things that I did with this draft that I loved:

First, I kept both FOF and TCY open and flipped back and forth as I checked out the players. What I noticed is that the Solesismic intelligence scores track the intelligence ratings from TCY. So they are usable, I think.

I also was able to check out the formations the players used in college, at least on offense. For instance, I was interested in a 5th round RB. I had three closely bunched on all the boards. I was most interested in the kid from Iowa, who had caught 77 passes, as well as put up 1400 yards on the ground like the other two. Then I delved into Iowa and found they ran the single back offense, and threw the fourth highest amount of passes in the nation. Interest ended.

I took a RB with high elusiveness and hole recognition, which I believe combine to give the TCY 'extra yardage' rating.

Other things I'm trying is reading the college scouting report for the category reports of strenght, weakness and consistancy and then compare that to the blue bars to see what meshes. If I get a conflict, I'm currently assuming that's a sign I'm getting poor scouting from someone (that is either the TCY or FOF scouts) and movning on to another player.

The college strengths and weaknesses do follow through into FOF. So if a scouting report says a CB is best at zone, count on that to be true in FOF.

FOF rated my draft a 'B' even though I didn't pick a much needed DT because there weren't many--where was the Tulane kid when I needed him?

I'm going on to training camp and seeing what develops from the unsigned rookies.

[OldGiants]

Originally posted by Easy Mac
ahh, but this was far off the first page... I just find it odd how he bumped it a split second after I posted mine.... conspiracy methinks.

Actually I haven't visited the main board today, all I've been doing is replying to the thread e-mails that I recieve.

Sorry to step on your toes, but a few threads like this are more than worth the time. The more the merrier and if they push drivel threads like the Survivor crap off the website entirely, then so much the better.

[Plundun]

I've played some seasons using TCY files, and the holding stat doesn't get assigned a value. Every draftee has a 0 rating. Anyone else notice this?

[Vikings13]

Old Giants,
If you don't mind, I'd like to see how the undrafted free agent rookies looked in TCY and then in FOF. Could you maybe post a little bit about that? Thanks for the report so far though -- good stuff to know.

[OldGiants]

Originally posted by Plundun
I've played some seasons using TCY files, and the holding stat doesn't get assigned a value. Every draftee has a 0 rating. Anyone else notice this?

What's the holding stat? sorry if I'm ignorant, but I don't know what you mean.

[JeeberD]

Down at the bottom of the ratings quarterbacks and punters have a rating for kick holding...

[OldGiants]

Originally posted by Vikings13
Old Giants,
If you don't mind, I'd like to see how the undrafted free agent rookies looked in TCY and then in FOF. Could you maybe post a little bit about that? Thanks for the report so far though -- good stuff to know.

An excellent question, and one I've been thinking and theorizing about. I've got a long winded answer/speculation and this is a good time to start it. I hope others using TCY draft files will chime in with their experience. I'd add some pics, but I'm unsure how to do that, plus the numbers are easy to visualize.

In essence, the undrafted rookies are often decent college players. They usually have a top skill in the 75 region, say a 75 in run defense for a DT, or run blocking for an OT. These guys come across as marginal, if that, in FOF.

A great example is OT Rex Lake of Nebraska. A first team B12 OT, Lake was 48 of 116 in key run blocking and didn't allow a sack all season (although neither did the other starting OT, and the team only allowed 11 in 14 games. Another great use of TCY data to scout pro prospects, IMO). His college talents, from a Pretty Good OL scout, were:

run blocking 86/99
pass blocking 56/69
endurance 24/27

I picked him up as the best undrafted FA OT left. His abilities, from a Good OL scout, are:

run blocking 14/39
pass blocking 0 !!
endurance 26

I've noticed similar numbers in other players. My working hypothosis for rookie "translation" is that FOF takes the TCY quantity and subtracts a fixed amount, which I believe to be around 70 (scout fuzziness will obscure this on both ends, of course) and then spreads the remaining quantity over a new, 100 point scale for FOF.

The reason I say there's a new scale, is that the 90+ ratings from TCY are very much spread out when they appear in FOF, I've found. The low end is less noticable, becasue crap is crap, but at the high end, there's big difference between a TCY 99 and a 90 when they come into FOF. This phenomanon will require studies and tests.

I also think this explains the disapearance of the Tulane DT. He had an overall rating of 58. Thus, he may simple have been three zeros when translated into FOF and therefore unworthy of any consideration whatsoever. This would also explain why no Sol8 players are popping on my draft lists. The startup teams are heavily skewed to real life talent, and that's all in the big conferecnes. We'll see what happens as the game progresses.

[OldGiants]

Originally posted by JeeberD
Down at the bottom of the ratings quarterbacks and punters have a rating for kick holding...

Ahh, yes.

Hmm. No rookie QB or P has a rating here. That's a problem. A search for future kick holding gave me no one at both positions, either drafted or undrafted.

[OldGiants]

Just imported the 2004 draft file, and still no kick holding. I realiized why I didn't notice this in the first draft file: there are blue lines snug to the left, so it looks like there could be talent, but there won't be, I fear.

Also, a few more all-americas from a 11-1 Boise State team didn't make the draft files. I'm assuming I'm right about the stats driving the selections, and the lack of talent driving the omissions.

Also, Nebraska had the first team senior QB (although not all-america) and he's not much of a prospect. Remind anyone of Turner Gill?

[Fritz]

that holding issue has nothing to do with TCY. Nothing in the draft file format maps to it in FOF2K4

[Plundun]

Originally posted by Fritz
that holding issue has nothing to do with TCY. Nothing in the draft file format maps to it in FOF2K4

I've only played with TCY draft-files, does the holding skill get a value using non-TCY drafts?

[korme]

yes

[OldGiants]

Originally posted by Fritz
that holding issue has nothing to do with TCY. Nothing in the draft file format maps to it in FOF2K4

So it would seem there's no quick fix?