finding good free agents?

[BleedGreen710]

I hardly ever see any good free agents in the offseason of CFM. there is rarely any player around 85 or higher and when they are it seems to always be a very old player. this is disappointing to me as its impossible to really build your team in free agency. and I miss the bidding wars for the top guys that made the offseason really exciting.

I haven't played more then 1 or 2 seasons with my franchises though, so maybe someone who has played longer ones can tell me - does it change as the years go by? do more elite free agents start popping up? cause every year in the NFL there is always a couple. but on M16 I haven't seen a single one.

In addition - why do you think this happens? Do you think its too easy to manage salary cap? I have never had to let one of my best players go in free agency due to salary cap problems. the CPU probably just signs all their best players like I do. So maybe thats an issue as well - too easy to manage the salary cap.

[Robo COP]

Prior to AJ Green getting his new deal in a few sims I saw him hit the FA market. I also saw Josh Gordon in their a few times.

I feel like madden has always had an issue with realistically portraying the salary cap. And part of that issue may be the fact that they don't want players to complain it is "too hard" with the cap. It's very easy to sink a team with poor signings/a lot of guaranteed money, and since most players do use the "resign all your best players" approach they resign them without really even looking at their cap situation. In order to save players from themselves they simplify the whole process by not having realistic contract demands.

I remember years back the issue always was that they had the salary cap continuously climb every year (which made sense) but players never demanded more than what they would have in year 1 of the franchise. The salary cap would be up to 200 mil but elite players were still only asking or $16 mil a year.

I definitely hope that they overhaul contracts and the salary cap soon. Perhaps a "help" tool that warns you of what your salary cap situation looks like for the current year and the next year or 2 before you offer a player a contract could help with the "save players from themselves" part of it all

[garyraymond23]

Josh Gordon & Nick Fairley were the only people that came to mind with the exception of a few 87-91 overall offensive linemen.

[jfsolo]

I actually see a decent amount of top tier free agents on the market despite every team having too much cap space. Right now a 31-year-old Richard Sherman(97Ovr) is sitting in the FA pool in the second week of the regular season despite every team having the money to sign him.

[ggsimmonds]

I only went through one offseason but I saw plenty of quality FAs available. Two 4-3 ends rated 90+, several mosre above 80, a handful of quality DTs, several Olinemen rated 80+, and multiple other positions with guys above 80

Edit: As to why elite players don't show up more often, how often do you see elite players on the FA list in real life?

[BleedGreen710]

thats so weird you guys have had such a different experience then me

I have done 4-5 1 year sims and I never see any good free agents I think the best I've seen was like an 85 OVR OLB and 87 WR


as for "how often do you see elite players on the FA list in real life?"

every year. this past year we had Suh, Demarco Murray, Julius Thomas, Revis, to name a few.

[ithinkimchipkelly]

If you find stop looking at overalls you can find jems. I do run hybrid so i look and sign those players 1st next attacking 34 than other 34 defense players coming 3rd.
However look for players that fit your play style not just Overall I prefer to run heavy man defense so I will look for high man lbs who are 34 scheme preferably hybrid.
Since I run a 34 i try to fill my back 8 with people who can cover.
line play if you look at attributes of line play u can find gems. look at traits. some low rated guys be having moor traits than high overall players.
i take players with moor traits over a high overall. B/c soon as you increase AWR or PRC overall goes up a lot.
Same for offense. search for line players that fit your style. and high impact or strength.
i search for scheme specific players and i look at all and who ever has most traits goes on top of list. however u have to play with some to get fill as some will out play others. even if lower overall. just got to know how to put them in good positions.

[BleedGreen710]

Quote: Originally Posted by ithinkimchipkelly

If you find stop looking at overalls you can find jems. I do run hybrid so i look and sign those players 1st next attacking 34 than other 34 defense players coming 3rd. However look for players that fit your play style not just Overall I prefer to run heavy man defense so I will look for high man lbs who are 34 scheme preferably hybrid. Since I run a 34 i try to fill my back 8 with people who can cover. line play if you look at attributes of line play u can find gems. look at traits. some low rated guys be having moor traits than high overall players. i take players with moor traits over a high overall. B/c soon as you increase AWR or PRC overall goes up a lot. Same for offense. search for line players that fit your style. and high impact or strength. i search for scheme specific players and i look at all and who ever has most traits goes on top of list. however u have to play with some to get fill as some will out play others. even if lower overall. just got to know how to put them in good positions.

thats really a whole different thing then what I was getting at. im not just disappointed by the lack of big name free agents cause I cant build my team properly. its more so the unrealisticness of it.