Scouting Tool for Madden 17 CFM

[Old Man Nathy]

Quote: Originally Posted by darren1024

I cant open the file on ipad or windows. Any help wouls be appreciated

Which version on Windows and, more specifically, Excel are you using?

Quote: Originally Posted by czechman89

Hello Old Man Nathy, I started a CFM to test out and use this scouting tool. So far, I’ve gotten up to the week of the NFL combine, and I have a few observations that I think will help aid you in updating the scouting tool. Overall, I really like the functionality of the spreadsheet and think it is very beneficial to the scouting process as a whole, so thanks again for creating it! With that said, here are the observations/issues I came across in my ~3 hours of scouting thus far: 1.) Currently, it looks like the Draft Status cells do not take into account the order in which the Scouted Skills 1 – 3 are entered. For example, a LT must have at least one Scouted Skill at a grade of B or higher; otherwise, they should not be considered for drafting. However, one of my scouted LTs is not being removed from the Scout further Draft Status, even though his best skill, Scouted Skill 1, is Impact Blocking of C+ which does not meet the requirement of having at least one Scouted Skill at a grade of B or higher. It’s only when his third Scouted Skill, Pass Block of C-, does the Draft Status cell's logic switch the output to Do not draft. It should have said Do not draft right away after Scouted Skill 1 was entered. 2.) Similarly, the Draft Status cells do not have the logic built in to immediately remove a player from draft consideration if their first Scouted Skill Grade is lower than a specific skill requirement. For example, a MLB I scouted has his first Scouted Skill at as Block Shedding of B-. Well, if you look at the required skills for a MLB, one of them is B or higher in Tackle. Since the Scouted Skill 1 is a B-, that Tackle skill requirement can never be met; the highest it could be would also be a B-. After all 3 Scouted Skills are input, this MLB ends up being labeled as a Risky Pick, but I think he should be labeled as a Do not draft, since we know he doesn’t meet the Tackle skill requirement from the Scouted Skill 1. 3.) Lastly, and this addresses how to “fix” problem 2 listed above, I think the Scouting Requirements tab needs to have more entries in the G-column titled “Must have at least one”. Using the MLB as an example, if we are requiring the MLB to have a Tackle skill of B or above, then the G-column for the MLBs should have a B in it. In this example, if the G-column were updated to require a B for MLB, then the scouted MLB would be a Do not draft after entering just his Scouted Skill 1. Likewise, for QBs, they’d need an A- in this column, HBs would need a B, etc. all based on the highest required skill for that position. From QB all the way to CB (and technically Ks and Ps too), there should be a value in the G-column for “Must have at least one” if this cell is currently empty. So in conclusion, I think there are some simple ways to improve upon this already robust spreadsheet. Namely that the Draft Status cells would have functionality built in that also does these two things: a.) Checks the Scouted Skill 1 Grade, and if it is below the Scouting Requirement for "Must have at least one" rating at X or higher, then the player’s Draft Status switches immediately to Do not draft. Essentially, the order in which the Scouted Skills are entered and/or read would matter this way. b.) By adding entries to the Scouting Requirements tab under the “Must have at least one” for all positions, the Draft Status cell will be more accurate as a result. Again, overall this is already an awesome tool as it stands today, and I think these modifications can make it even better. Let me know what you all think! (Sidenote - I had originally planned to insert screenshots, but was unable to do so, not sure what I'm doing wrong there...)

Thanks for the feedback! Totally agree, this is one of my bug bears with the tool currently too. My original logic was that people might not put the skills in order so the tool shouldn't assume the grade for skill 1 is always the highest or equal highest for a prospect, but I think on reflection this was the wrong way to do it.

This change is top of my to-do list for v2.

Quote: Originally Posted by lbj273

In addition to this there should be some overrides in place to take a player from do not draft into risky or a pale green draft status. Something along the lines of if the players true value on the sheet is over X they bump up to risky or if their true value in Madden is mid 4th or higher.

I'm toying with the idea of making the draft status less black and white, and maybe give a risk rating out of 5 (or 10) based on percentage of checking criteria passed or failed. Does this sound like something people would prefer?

[howboutdat]

excellent tool there! Great work ! One thing i was curious about, would it be possible to add a column next to the combine numbers and maybe put what each one equals in translation to actual numbers in game? So when you plug in the number of bench reps , it then shows their strength , and same for the rest of those things? Just curious.

[DerkontheOS]

Quote: Originally Posted by Old Man Nathy

Which version on Windows and, more specifically, Excel are you using? Thanks for the feedback! Totally agree, this is one of my bug bears with the tool currently too. My original logic was that people might not put the skills in order so the tool shouldn't assume the grade for skill 1 is always the highest or equal highest for a prospect, but I think on reflection this was the wrong way to do it. This change is top of my to-do list for v2. I'm toying with the idea of making the draft status less black and white, and maybe give a risk rating out of 5 (or 10) based on percentage of checking criteria passed or failed. Does this sound like something people would prefer?

Yes that would be fantastic.

So is a 91 true value QB worth a top 5 pick?

[Old Man Nathy]

Quote: Originally Posted by howboutdat

excellent tool there! Great work ! One thing i was curious about, would it be possible to add a column next to the combine numbers and maybe put what each one equals in translation to actual numbers in game? So when you plug in the number of bench reps , it then shows their strength , and same for the rest of those things? Just curious.

This is actually already a column in the spreadsheet. You'll be able to see it if you download the unlocked version and change the background colour to white on all the cells. Or alternatively, you can look at the Skill Grades sheet which shows roughly what stat at the combine (or what skill grade) translates to what rating.

40 yard dash = speed.
Bench press = strength.
Vertical = jumping.
3 cone = agility.
Shuttle = acceleration.

Quote: Originally Posted by DerkontheOS

Yes that would be fantastic. So is a 91 true value QB worth a top 5 pick?

Yeah I'd say so. A QB over 95 on the true value is worth moving heaven and earth to get hold of (they're likely to be the 83, 84, 85 OVR Superstars), but one between about 91 and 95 is still going to be a good player. He might be a 77, he might be an 83, but he's worth a top 5 pick for sure.

[czechman89]

Quote: Originally Posted by Old Man Nathy

Thanks for the feedback! Totally agree, this is one of my bug bears with the tool currently too. My original logic was that people might not put the skills in order so the tool shouldn't assume the grade for skill 1 is always the highest or equal highest for a prospect, but I think on reflection this was the wrong way to do it. This change is top of my to-do list for v2.

Absolutely, I'm happy to help provide feedback for this tool. Glad that this same issue is on your to-do list.

I will mention that I tried modifying the unprotected version of the spreadsheet to include Skill Requirments for the G-Column "Must have at least one", but it didn't seem to work the way I was hoping/expecting. I added a B for the MLB, but it did not change the MLB in my example to a Do not draft status. I'm wondering if the current logic looks at the Tackling req. of B and the Block Shedding req. of B- (going from memory on that one, might be a different skill) and says if one of them is met, then it won't necessarily rule them out as a Do not draft. And only once both skill req. are not met does the Draft Status switch to Do not draft. Any feedback on that one?

This is odd to me, as I read the skill requirements as an all-or-nothing requirement, as opposed to an at-least-one-of-these requirement. Am I correct here? For instance, I think QBs need an A- in Throw Power, and Bs in TA Short, Mid, and Deep to be considered draftable, correct?

Also, after scouting all the MLBs, there was not a single one who garnered a Draft Status of DRAFT...is this what you've been seeing in general? Maybe it was a particularly weak MLB class. It seemed that there were a number of very nice prospects, who happened to have a B- in tackling. Perhaps that skill requirement is a bit too "harsh". I had similar results with TEs and DTs; not a single one garnered a DRAFT status. For TEs, it was the 3-cone and Shuttle combined time requirement; for DTs, it was their Strength (Bench Rep) requirement that made the majority of them Do not draft simply from those traits alone. Possibly something to tinker with for v2.

As for you toying with the idea of making the draft status less black and white, this is absolutely something that would take this tool to the "next level" in my opinion. Once I had scouted the majority of available players, I had a total of ~26-30 DRAFT-able players (I did run out of Scouting Points, did too much scouting of projected Undrafted players early on...), which I don't think is enough. The majority of them were projected 1st round talents, so many were gone after Round 1. If we had a tiered Draft Status system that wasn't either Draft or Do not draft, our draft boards would have a lot more options.
My suggestion here would be to have the Draft Status to output something similar to the following:

Tier 1 - Draft, and don't think twice (Highest graded players, perhaps those above a 90-something True Value Rating)
Tier 2 - Draft, should be quite good (Next grouping of players, perhaps lower 90s TVR, into high 80s)
Tier 3 - Draft, but lacks in something (Good players, one of their Skills may be at the threshold for Skill Requirement, TVR a bit lower in 80s)
Tier 4 - Draftable, but probably not a star (Solid players, not elite in any categories, one or more of their Skills may be at the threshold for Skill Requirement, probably contains more players than Tier 1, 2, and/or 3 combined)
Tier 5 - Draftable, but low end of spectrum (Risky player with some nice traits but others are just below Skill Requirement thresholds)
Tier 6 - Risky, buyer beware (Risky player with fewer nice traits, probably not draftable)
Tier 7 - Do not draft (Does not meet more than one Skill Requirement or Combine requirement, stay away)

I think some combination of this kind of Tier system with the risk rating based on a percentage of checking criteria passed or failed would help to make this the ultimate scouting tool for Madden CFM. What are your thoughts on a Tier system and how feasible it would be to implement, Old Man Nathy?

I'd be interested in assisting in this process going forward and providing continued feedback on what I'm seeing with the tool. So count me in as at least one tester of v2 or any intermediate modifications you'd want to have help testing out!

[howboutdat]

Quote: Originally Posted by Old Man Nathy

This is actually already a column in the spreadsheet. You'll be able to see it if you download the unlocked version and change the background colour to white on all the cells. Or alternatively, you can look at the Skill Grades sheet which shows roughly what stat at the combine (or what skill grade) translates to what rating. 40 yard dash = speed. Bench press = strength. Vertical = jumping. 3 cone = agility. Shuttle = acceleration. Yeah I'd say so. A QB over 95 on the true value is worth moving heaven and earth to get hold of (they're likely to be the 83, 84, 85 OVR Superstars), but one between about 91 and 95 is still going to be a good player. He might be a 77, he might be an 83, but he's worth a top 5 pick for sure.

Thanks man, i totally overlooked that,Great work !

[darren1024]

Windows 8 & not sure what version of Excel im using. Why cant I open with an ipad?

[GoSeahawks]

I just finished my first draft class using this tool, so I thought I would share.

Round 1 Pick 4
LE Dijon Hollis
81 OVR Super Star Development
Ranked #2 on the board with a 93.96 True Value Rating

He was my targeted first pick and luckily he fell to me at the fourth pick. The top rated player in TVR was LOLB Ray Steitz, but I didn't need anyone at the position. Steitz ended up with a 77 OVR and a Normal Development, so I hit a home run with this pick.

Round 1 Pick 32
RT Charley Cooley
78 OVR Normal Development
Ranked #6 on the board and a 93.10 TVR

The guy I was targeting here was CB Delen Coffee who was projected as an early second round pick, but the Seahawks snagged him at 24 overall. Coffee turns out to be 81 OVR with SS development

Round 2 Pick 4
C Austin Lafleur
73 OVR with Super Star Development
Ranked #20 on the board with an 88.47 TVR

There were a couple RBs available that were ranked higher, but I knew a good ranked RB was going to be available later, so I took the highest rated non RB here. Although he's not ranked high, I am happy with the development trait.

Round 2 Pick 29
QB Tannon Kern
76 OVR with a Normal Development Trait
Ranked #19 on the board with an 88.92 TVR

He had the highest TVR of any QB and was projected as a late 3rd round pick. There was one other QB worth drafting with the same OVR and he went in the first round. His development trait was quick, so he has the edge here. Not bad though for a late 2nd round pick.

Round 3 Pick 28
HB Deandre Enzor
73 OVR and a Quick Development Trait
Ranked 21 on the board with an 88.42 TVR

There were eight RBs in this draft that the scouting tool suggested I draft. Six of them had overall ratings between 75-79 and only one was rated lower than Enzor. Enzor was the only one projected to go after the second round.

Round 5 Pick 28
RG Jarius Peerman
75 OVR and a Normal Development Trait
Ranked 23 on the board with an 88.14 TVR

Highest ranked player left on my draft board.

Round 6 Pick 28
RE Trey Paige-Moss
OVR 72 and a Normal Development Trait
Ranked 34 on the board with an 82.67 TVR

At his point in the draft I only had two players left on my draft board with the other being DT Felix Rudolph. Both of these players were considered risky picks, so I just chose the higher of the two. Rudolph ended up with a 69 OVR and a slow development trait.

Conclusion
This is definitely better than the draft classes I have had in the past, so the tool worked well. It might have been better had I allocated my scouting points more efficiently. I kind of screwed up and only was able to scout about two rounds worth of CBs.

Also, risky picks really are risky. The 6 lowest rated OVR from my board were considered risky picks. The two highest risky picks were rated 78 OVR.

Anyway, thanks a lot for making this tool. It should really help me turn whatever team I use into a dynasty.