James is absolutely correct. I have a spreadsheet that I made and use to scout players, but have also tested the 'intangible' theory since so many on the Madden subreddit swear by it.
Here are the pros & cons I've found with this method -
PROS:
* 'B' intangible is a GUARANTEED top player of the draft
* 'C' intangible is a mix of decent/good/great players
* To scout Intangible only costs 25 SP.. so it can be cheaper than scouting 3-4+ traits per player.
CONS:
* There are usually VERY few 'B' intangible players and you have to drop 25 SP on every player you scout until you find the 'B's.
* While 'D' intangible means the player is absolute trash, the 'C' intangible players could be anywhere from decent (70 OVR w/ low AWR & ok traits) to fantastic (79 OVR w/ decent AWR & fantastic traits + high DEV)... but there's no way to know which ones are which with just the intangible method.
I personally prefer my method (which always yields a mix of highly rated legit players, high dev players, and medium rated players that just need a few areas to be increase to become fantastic).
My method is to have a requirement trait per position that I scout. This requirement trait must be an A (or B for some positions) in order for me to scout further. For example... I will scout all QBs for their THP (throw power) and if it is an A I will then scout their SAC/MAC/DAC & SPD. If the THP is a B, I stop and disregard that player. This costs 10 SP per QB so I save 15 SP per QB (over the intangible method) who doesn't have an A in THP. This usually clears out 70% of the QBs and then I can either scout all 3 accuracies (10 SP a piece) or intangible (which is just a combination of these 3 plus things like Play action and throw on run) for 25 SP. I also use this method for DL (STR must be an A), RB (SPD must be an A), WR/TE (CIT must be a B), CB (SPD must be an A), etc.
I scout more in depth on the players I'm interested in and give value (with the spreadsheet tool I have) to each player for their scouted traits and then weigh them based on what I deem important/costly.... this then gives the players a raw number and I can use that to compare who is not only the best per position... but the best overall in the draft.
Yes, definitely more in-depth and time consuming.. but I like how it feels authentic when I find the gems every draft.