Drafts and Franchise Mode

[canikickit1]

I love this game.

But do you guys do what I do when playing franchise?

Before the draft, do you guys view the "Rookie Report" List and draft the #1 rookie report? 80% of the time, that Player has the most rating progression potential and starting rookie stats. Makes me feel like the Raiders when I'm always drafting the #1 hyped player of the draft a la Rookie Report even when my team is set on the position.

Additionally, it IS possible to find steals in the draft, particularly with WR and the other skill positions.

I kid you not.. i drafted a 65 TE with great hands, agility, and RR, but weak PB and RB. By his 5th year, he was 85 and was my clutch 3rd down possession receiver.

Game plays great with the generics and all-pro/ legend performance EQ settings. Its addicting building through the draft to make an all-out offense, or stonewall defense, while still trying to keep under the cap.

If 2k12 is made and is better.. I will finally put this game down, but for now, this game has kept my attention for about 4 years now, and I still hear new quotes form the announcers and new animations.

[Fox1994]

lol. cool. quit insulting my raiders, dang it. lol. i might have 2 pick this game back up. it's just sitting on my shelf of ps2 games right now.

[canikickit1]

Yea the first person on the list in rookiereport is the one with the most potential for progression pretty much.

[puja21]

that's not correct

the first listed player on the rookie report is the highest rated remaining player (currently)

it has no correlation to potential & could change relative to the players around him even after the subsequent preseason

[bluewave]

Just like to add in I somehow found a gem of a WR in the 4th round while playing a Bears franchise last night. He was 78 overall when I drafted him, and by the start of his second season he was an 80. Don't know how I landed a stud pretty late in the draft, but I'm not complaining.

[Malignant]

I love the draft but I play my franchises on NFL 2K4 instead due to the poor CPU draft logic on 2K5.

In my last draft I picked up a DT in the 2nd round with an overall rating of 82. After preseason he shot up to an 86. Can't wait to see how he develops over the years.

I also picked up a Quarterback in the 5th round who was rated 76. I gave him the full 60mins in my last preseason game and he played really well. After preseason his overall rating rose to a 78. He's currently my third-string quarterback so I'll try and develop him slowly (Tony Romo style).

I do like the draft presentation in 2K5 though. For anyone who doesn't realise (and there's always one when I mention this) don't miss the Pre-draft report and the Post-draft report that Mel Kiper does on 2K5. It really gets you pumped before the draft starts, and it gives a great conclusion to the whole proceedings when all seven rounds are complete.

[Malignant]

Forgot to mention. I always use the official Draft Trade Value Chart when making trades during the draft. Both NFL 2K4 and NFL 2K5 work well with this.

[puja21]

I forget if this specifically applied to NFL 2K5 but it definitely was the case in many other 2Ksports games (NBA, NHL, CollegeHoops)

If you scouted a player who was projected low & found him to be better than advertised, then this "made the other teams aware" of him & his draft stock skyrocketed... stupid IMO. Basically, this destroys the purpose of scouting since the info spreads leaguewide... if you don't scout any players you are much more likely to find great players in the low rounds; this might lead you to think not scouting would potentially yield you worse players in rounds 1 & 2.

While this is true, the AI weakness is that the CPU does not scout & raise unknown players up for themselves. So, regrettably you could trade away all your high picks for established good players & still find great players in rounds 4 & beyond by not scouting. Just something that slipped through the cracks in their other games (I cant recall but assume it applied to 2K5's "combine")