Player development - particularly QB

[RavenWire]

just finished my first season (standard rosters) after dusting the ps2 off again and after going 13-3 and winning the superbowl was expecting a couple of players to improve, notably kyle boller. he had 26 TD's and 14 ints and just under 60% completion. i was hoping for maybe a 4-5 point increase - and he went up 1. another one that baffled me was gary baxter. despite 6 picks and 2 forced fumbles he DROPPED 5 points. i even had adalius thomas play most of the year as boulware was injured - he played very well and he went down too!

can anyone help me out as i'd like to try and develop my players into stars. any tips on how to do this would be greatly appreciated

[sb24]

Quote: Originally Posted by RavenWire

just finished my first season (standard rosters) after dusting the ps2 off again and after going 13-3 and winning the superbowl was expecting a couple of players to improve, notably kyle boller. he had 26 TD's and 14 ints and just under 60% completion. i was hoping for maybe a 4-5 point increase - and he went up 1. another one that baffled me was gary baxter. despite 6 picks and 2 forced fumbles he DROPPED 5 points. i even had adalius thomas play most of the year as boulware was injured - he played very well and he went down too! can anyone help me out as i'd like to try and develop my players into stars. any tips on how to do this would be greatly appreciated

Im pretty sure its pre determined. Try it out. Use the same team sim a year and see how they advance as well. It should be pretty much the same. 2k dropped the ball on this.

[dan77733]

I think I know why there's no progression. Its because VC wanted you to use Weekly Prep every week. The only progression is after the season which is minor and after the pre-season going into week one.

[bluewave]

After every season you can just use Finn's editor and edit the attributes of players to make them progress and have a better rating.

[shsboiballa13]

ive seen players progress a little bit through the season in my redskins dynasty 7 years later Malcolm Kelly is like a 96 one guy i drafted in the first draft is a 92 and another guy i took the draft right after is like 88 and Darren McFadden is like a 100 and Fred Davis has progressed to like a 90 something too..

[RavenWire]

I've started one with weekly prep on and all that does is boost you for the game. I don't get it because the first time i played this game I drafted a cornerback who went up to 90+ after being in the 70's the season before. How do I get my QB to progress that much (or at least around the 5 point mark) per season? Otherwise I'm going to have to trade to get a very good QB

[ovrcfntdorgamiartist]

I hate the weekly prep. No matter how detailed I get, I always seem to mess up my players, so I just turn it off.

as for player progression, it's kinda weird and disjointed in 2k5. After the season it shows you the player progression +/- points that occurred at the end of the previous preseason. I don't know why it does that. For example, I have an 82 rated QB, he's been 82 all season. After the season ends, it shows his prior rating as 78 and his new rating as +4, or 82. He'll be 82 through the next preseason, then when I click on "Start Season" he'll rate differently based on age, experience, etc.

I've seen some pretty wild progressions too in just a preseason. I drafted this one linebacker in the 3rd round, he was a 65 overall. I started him in the preseason, never really blitzed him much and didn't user-control him much either, but when the season rolled around, he was an 82 overall with a 93 pass rush rating! Unreal.

At the same time, I have this cornerback I drafted the prior year that's an 80 overall. He played well, had about 6 picks for me in his first year, but after his second pre-season with me, no matter if I sim the preseason or play the games, no matter if I start him or stick him on the bench, he drops to 67. I even had one game in the preseason where I had him returning kickoffs, put him in on offense as a WR, and he had picks in one preseason game for me. Doesn't matter, still a 67 when the season rolls around.

Also, editing rookies is a damn cool feature, and I wish Madden had that capability. However, sometimes no matter how you edit, the hidden potential ratings take effect. Let's say you have a QB you edit from a 65 arm strength to a 98 arm strength. Well he's gonna throw the ball like a bullet down the field, but even with great games and awesome QB ratings, he still may not improve much year after year because you've kinda maxed out his ratings. At least that's from my own experience.

I actually really like that some players have drastic improvements and drop offs. It makes things more of a crapshoot and more realistic. I like drafting a player and they become a surprise star. Or on the other end, I've drafted 90 overall rated defensive ends that couldn't get off blocks to save their lives and had players rated 70 overall get 15 sacks in a season, so the ratings aren't everything either, especially the overall rating.