CFM Draft classes impressions

[Sheba2011]

Quote: Originally Posted by mjavon

I'm only in week three but I was looking through the upcoming class and I have FOUR QB's coming from Wisconsin, lol

Interesting, maybe they used a multiple QB system lol? I haven't seen anything that bad yet, but with a random system it is entirely possible, I have seen 2 QBs from the same school but one was always an early pick and the other a late pick.

[Sheba2011]

Quote: Originally Posted by innet7

I find scouting to be a pain. Anyone have any advice they can give that would make things a bit easier?

Wait till the end of the season to do your scouting, figure out what positions you need most (who leaves in free agency, who had a bad year etc). If it helps grab a pen and paper and make a mini draft board. List each position by need from most needed to least. When you scout players focus on the attributes listed below, don't worry about OVR it's a waste of points. On your mini draft board rank each prospect by who has the best traits that fit your offense/defense. In parenthesis put the round they are expected to get drafted in. During the draft instead of switching between multiple menus you have everything right there in front of you. (just cross them off when they get drafted).

[innet7]

Using the tips you guys provided, I was able to get 3 players that were 80+. I did have 3 top 15 first round picks (I traded half of Buffalo's team away to grab picks in the draft). I was able to grab an 82 QB, 80 WR that is 6'4 with 92 speed, and an 84 LT.

With that being said, the rest of my draft wasn't all too great. Couple mid 70s and two 60s. Definitely will take a few drafts to get everything down correctly.

Thanks again everyone!

[SlackJawedYokel]

After going through 4 drafts in my cfm, and also saving and reloading about 15 drafts to check certain details my overall impression is that these drafts are very solid & well rounded.

The one issue I have that I haven't seen anyone mention is that the running backs have low strength across the board. You'll find 240-250LB power backs but their strength is almost always 60-69. It's not a huge issue but not very realistic. The highest strength rating I've seen for an RB is 73 in all the drafts I've checked & this is with checking the str rating of each back in these drafts. I'm glad we're not seeing multiple rb in each draft coming out with high 80s str like last yr but now it's toned down too much. Especially when considering that I've seen numerous 190LB cornerbacks with high 70s - low 80s strength.

Other than that it seems like the attributes are well balanced.

[sbattisti]

Quote: Originally Posted by innet7

Using the tips you guys provided, I was able to get 3 players that were 80+. I did have 3 top 15 first round picks (I traded half of Buffalo's team away to grab picks in the draft). I was able to grab an 82 QB, 80 WR that is 6'4 with 92 speed, and an 84 LT. With that being said, the rest of my draft wasn't all too great. Couple mid 70s and two 60s. Definitely will take a few drafts to get everything down correctly. Thanks again everyone!

Not sure where you were drafting, but mid 70s are a "win" as far as I am concerned just about anywhere in the draft except round 1. Just my two cents though.

[Daywalker3]

Quote: Originally Posted by sbattisti

First of all, I don't even bother scouting until the week before the draft. There are some college players who can be scouted early who don't end up coming out in the draft (or at least that's how it wast last year), so I don't want to waste my precious points on those guys. Second, be sure to get the coach upgrade that doubles your scouting points as early as possible in your career. I go for the one that reduces XP costs, and then the scouting one next, in my first year. Third, while the NFL touts "best player available," unfortunately with our limited scouting points, that's often not realistic. You really have to start with a relatively small group of targets (maybe a few positions), and then quickly narrow down your pool. For example, I immediately eliminate players who are a bad scheme fit. To me, this is more important on the defensive side of the ball. I play a 3-4, so I don't want a 4-3 defensive end. This will narrow your pool further. Within those positions, if you are looking for plug and play players, you can scout AWR first. Players with good AWR (A-Cish) are usually the most ready to play and the most likely to have high OVR immediately. It's not a killer if they have a bad grade (D-F), but those players tend to be more of "project" players. If you have a fairly small target group now, consider scouting Physical. It's a little pricey, so you can't scout everyone or you will run out. But Physical is a good indication of their overall suitability. Typically I won't consider anything but an A for the top half of the draft, so use that to narrow down your field. I won't take a CB or a WR with anything below an A period, because that likely means their Speed is sub-90. If you still have points left, try to scout additional important areas to continue to narrow things down. I will often scout Injury on people I am seriously targeting, just in case they are a C or lower. For other positions, here is what I focus on most: QB THP, SAC, MAC, DAC HB Spd, Acc, Agi, Elu, Car FB Rblk, Catch, Car WR Catch, Cit, Spd, Acc, Route TE Catch, Cit, Spd, Acc, Route OT PBlk, RBlk, Str, Acc OG RBlk, Pblk, Str, Acc C RBlk, Pblk, Str, Acc DE Pwr, Fin, Spd, Acc, Blk Shed, Pur, Tak DT Pwr, Fin, Spd, Acc, Blk Shed, Pur, Tak OLB Tak, Pur, Spd, Acc ILB Tak, Pur, Spd, Acc CB Man, Zone, Spd, Acc FS Zone, Spd, Man, Acc SS Run Support, Zone, Spd, Acc K KPOW, KAC P KPOW, KAC Good luck!

Some awesome tips in here. I definitely suggest making sure your coach has the Double Scouting Points trait. That's my first purchase every time.

From there, I like to set parameters for myself, like knowing what attribute you want to scout first for each position. Then, if it doesn't match what you want (i.e. only CBs with A speed), then you stop scouting that player immediately and don't waste any more points on him. Then write or type out some notes leading into the draft. I always pick my target or potential guys and write them all out, as well as their projected draft position, so I can always grab them at least 15 or 20 picks before then. If it's a guy I really covet, I'll try to grab them a full round worth of picks before they're supposed to go, just so I won't miss out on them.

Inevitably this year too, there are generally good options at every position, so your options are high. You can determine how important scouting awareness is to you but this year, it seems like a lot of guys have high physical attributes and bottomed out awareness, so pay little attention to their starting overall rating after you draft them. They may bump up 8 or 10 overall by the end of the first preseason just from adding to awareness.

Is it perfect? No. I'd like to see a more varied group of players rather than just "the good ones have higher awareness" but they're still the best draft classes in a long time, by a wide margin IMO. So scouting heavily on the 3 or 4 top physical attributes for each position (with double scouting points) should go a long way towards getting you a good idea on a large number of players.

I typically don't mess with scouting the "Physical" as a whole, but I may look into its cost effectiveness. I generally like to be able to dump just 30-50 points into a player and get a good mix of physical and intangible (and make sure to scout their injury/stamina rating, particularly if you really like a guy and/or he's projected to go very early).

Also, I'd suggest this ... if you have an extra pick in the second or third round and you don't have a guy you're targeting in that round, before you trade down, take a look and see who might have fallen in the draft. There are always a couple projected first round guys that fall to the second or even third. Even if you haven't scouted them because you didn't have a pick that high, don't be afraid to take a flier on that guy. Once you're into the second round, the contract implications are pretty small. Even if he sucks and you have to cut him, you're out maybe a million in cap penalties? Less if it's third round. Just a thought ...

Edit: Also make sure to scout for your scheme, like mentioned above. But also know that those positions value different attributes more heavily. A 3-4 OLB you might want to focus on finesse moves and acceleration a little more than a 4-3 OLB, where I'd focus heavily on pursuit, tackling, and even coverage skills. Most importantly, if you're actually playing the games and not simming, scout the attributes that fit how YOU play. I play a lot of man coverage, so no matter what the player type and scheme for CB, I tend to scout their MCV ability, provided they meet my A speed requirement, that is

[sbattisti]

See, I never take the guys who plummet. I'm too scared of what the AI knows that I don't.

[77Hockey]

Quote: Originally Posted by sbattisti

See, I never take the guys who plummet. I'm too scared of what the AI knows that I don't.

I actually took one of those guys with a cool story who plummeted.

He was a RG who transitioned to LE and was projected late 1st. He fell to me in the late rounds and came out as 18 overall with superstar development. I got him up to 62 after 1 year, giving him game prep at any time possible.