Scouting Tips

[Sheba2011]

Quote: Originally Posted by daddies3angels

I had last year scouting system down. I always start a CCM with coach and sim 1 year to get overview of changes. Scouting has changed a bit. Last year I could scout every player and still have points left over to get some guys overall. Now this year I cant come close to scouting all the players. Figured this be great spot to give some scouting tips. Good luck in draft!

You can still scout quite a few players if you keep it simple, just unlock letter grades and only unlock them for key attributes for each player, for instance for a QB just unlock THP, and the accuracies.

[raiderphantom]

On Madden 13 I would scout awareness on everyone and there were always some good players in that group if it was B or higher. Didn't touch 25 and haven't dove into this one yet. I'm interested if anyone has any good strategy.

[agrimsley]

I generally steer clear of scouting awareness but if I did, I would look hard at those with lower stats. Awareness is one of the cheapest stats to increase to a workable level but physical stats are expensive. I'd take a dumb speedy CB over a smart slow one every time. Those guys tend to have low OVR so will not go early in the draft and can become good value lower down the rounds.

[tessl]

Quote: Originally Posted by Syncmastr

One tip for anyone playing more than 1 year in their franchise. As soon as you have the XP, buy the Double Scouting points package for your coach. Its 7500 but will give you twice the scouting points to work with for the rest of your franchise.

Excellent idea.

I see people advocating scouting skills. I disagree. The easiest thing to develop are skills. Scout physical attributes like strength, acceleration and speed depending on position.

A slow cornerback will remain slow. A fast cornerback can have his man coverage and tackle skills improved and become a solid player.

A weak offensive lineman will not be able to sustain blocks. A strong lineman can have his run block, impact block and pass block skills improved and become a solid player. It is a lot easier to train the player with solid physical attributes than to improve a guy with poor physical.

You can save a lot of scouting points by focusing on position specific physical attributes.

[Brandwin]

Some good tips in here. I need to sim a few seasons to get a grasp on how it works.

[Beelzebot44]

The thing that bothers me about scouting is that we shouldn't have to scout some things like speed and strength. It's not realistic. Every team has complete access to the combine 40 times and bench press numbers for every player, so at minimum the letter grades for those traits should be available for all players. Even if you want to throw some wrong info for some (guy has a sore quad at the combine, runs a bad 40, etc), that information should be fairly available without scouting it.

[ggsimmonds]

First I identify positions of need. It is usually 4 positions or so.

I wait until the offseason to do my scouting and one of the perks is knowing the draft order.

So if I am picking 26th and need a DT, CB, FS, and RT I look at the projections and check for those positions that could be available at my position.

For each position I initially only unlock the letter grade of a few attributes.
For DT it would be:strength, block shedding, tackle, acc, pmv
CB: spd, agi, acc, mcv, prs, jmp, prc
FS: spd, agi, acc, zcv, prc, jmp
RT: str, pbk, rbk, impact

That is it. Doing this is very cheap and allows me to narrow the field.
Inevitably I will find two guys of the same position with very similar attributes. This is when I unlock more letter grades to differentiate them.

Then I use scrap paper to make a draft plan. I write my initial plan for each round. Say I need a CB and a good one is projected to go 5th in the 2nd round. I target him with my 26th in the first.

Also inevitably I will have a round where no need guys are available. This is where flexibility comes in. I scout some guys to see if any nonneed big talent guys are available. If not I consider trading down.

The only time I would consider unlocking numerical values isto decide on which first rounder to pick up.

With this strategy I am able to have good drafts, but at the same time each pick is not a sure thing because I did not unlock numbers. So it is a good balance between the two.

My first draft had these picks:
1. Quay Dunbar, LE came in at 84 ovr
2. Ryan Reid, FS, came in at 82 ovr
3. Trammel Fender, WR. Came in at 80 ovr
4. Traded pick
5. Rick Diehl, RT. Came in at 68 ovr
6. Stuart Smith, CB came in at 71 ovr
7. Robert Worthy, DT. came in at 72 ovr

[killacam96]

i could be wrong here but i'm AMOLST positive my scouting points reset each week! Meaning i couldn't save my points till the offseason