Is hoarding draft picks cheating?

[mossme89]

What do you think? Usually the formula for what the CPU offers you in a trade for a draft pick is 1 round up the current year plus a late round pick (sometimes.) So trading a 2018 3rd gets you at least a 2019 2nd, and maybe a 5th, 6th, or 7th in either year. There’s some exceptions, like with first round picks, where I found you can get a 1, 2, and 3, reliably and sometimes even 2 2nd rounders. Also if you have the 1st overall pick, you can trade down twice, first to 2nd, and then to 3rd, picking up 2 1st rounders and a 2nd each time.

Following this strategy, you can have 10 or more first round picks by year 3 or year 4. Couple this with an aggressive strategy in free agency the first few years and you can reliably have as many first rounders as you’d like in subsequent years. I find I usually end up trading down anyway as the green talent becomes scarce for that round.

My question is: do you think it’s cheating? Yes it’s pretty cheap, but an NFL team could technically do this.

[Hooe]

Re: Is hoarding draft picks cheating?

It's certainly exploitative of CPU trading AI which doesn't value draft picks properly - especially when trading away young-ish mid-tier players - but whether it is cheating depends on the rules of your online league, if you are even in one. Based on my experience running a "free for all" league last year where anything goes, we changed our league rules this year to disable CPU trades entirely as to curtail this sort of behavior.

If you are just playing by yourself, though, I say do whatever you want.

[Other Guy]

Re: Is hoarding draft picks cheating?

Yes it’s pretty cheap, but an NFL team could technically do this.

I think you've answered you're own question right here. It is kinda cheesy, and you don't expect to see things like that in the NFL.....Then you realize Cleveland has 13 picks in the 2018 draft. So play it either way you like; nothing is out of the realm of possibilities.

[SmashMan]

Re: Is hoarding draft picks cheating?

If you are just playing by yourself, though, I say do whatever you want.

This is the right answer.

It's cheap, but if you're playing by yourself and it's fun for you to accumulate picks, why not do it? You can always trade those picks away again or start a new franchise if you get bored with it.



Sent from my iPad using Operation Sports

[ggsimmonds]

Re: Is hoarding draft picks cheating?

This is the right answer.

It's cheap, but if you're playing by yourself and it's fun for you to accumulate picks, why not do it? You can always trade those picks away again or start a new franchise if you get bored with it.



Sent from my iPad using Operation Sports

While I agree with this post, at the same time if you do this don't post in franchise threads bragging about your draft picks or how well you turned around the team.

[timhere1970]

Re: Is hoarding draft picks cheating?

I agree, play your franchise to your liking. Personally, it doesnt matter how many picks i have i do not allow myself to draft anybody in the first or second round at any position where my position grade is a- or above. I trade them away. I tend to try to stack another team with the largest cap space for a couple of seasons.

[Sheba2011]

Re: Is hoarding draft picks cheating?

If you are playing offline or in a league by yourself, there is no issue with it, other than possibly ruining the fun of it. If you were in my online league you would be kicked out. Our league has very strict rules for trading with the CPU.

[4thQtrStre5S]

Re: Is hoarding draft picks cheating?

Cleveland Browns did it...

[mossme89]

Re: Is hoarding draft picks cheating?

I play exclusively offline or in my own online league. I guess my follow-up question would be when you guys play by yourselves, what "rules" do you make to make things more realistic and challenging?

I feel like hoarding picks should be one - i.e. you're only allowed 3 draft pick trades a year.

Also, no clearing cap penalties - though I always end up cheating on that.

[rplatypus]

Re: Is hoarding draft picks cheating?

I play exclusively offline or in my own online league. I guess my follow-up question would be when you guys play by yourselves, what "rules" do you make to make things more realistic and challenging?

I feel like hoarding picks should be one - i.e. you're only allowed 3 draft pick trades a year.

Also, no clearing cap penalties - though I always end up cheating on that.

I use the NFL trade value chart. If you have a top 3 overall pick, only trade it to the CPU if they are targeting a stud QB. If you trade a late 1st for a future 1st, don't trade to a team that is likely to be awful the following year. No more than 3 instant starters per year. No more than 2 if you are a playoff team. Basically instant starters are equal to the number of top 75 picks you have. Trade off anyone else for another teams bust. Only select a projected starting Qb in round one.

[fballturkey]

Re: Is hoarding draft picks cheating?

It's definitely cheating. Cheating is also definitely OK in a single player game.

I was able to sign the top 3 FA WRs after the draft (so AFTER every team has had a chance to sign all these guys) and trade them for a top 5 projected 1st round pick and a 2nd. I also signed a FA CB that I traded for a first, and a RT that I traded along with a 4th for a 1st. It's crazy cheating. The AI is completely brain dead when it comes to trading. But it's also fun to do in single player.

It does mess up your free agency money though. I had 5 1sts last year and completely intended on trading a couple away for future picks but I had to reserve the money so I had nothing to get FAs with.

[roll2tide]

Re: Is hoarding draft picks cheating?

If you're playing solo, have it your way. Some guys really get into the solo CFM and have tons of self restraint rules. Others exploit everything. I think it just depends on what you enjoy on the field. Personally, I value generated players way more than real life players so I prefer the picks.

Be Good Or Be Gone
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[itsmb8]

Re: Is hoarding draft picks cheating?

I dont think its cheating, as long as each trade to acquire said picks is a fair one. For example, if you play a 32 team online league and acquire enough picks to have 13 in one draft, i dont think its cheating because 1) you did it by trading with other humans and not by exploiting a computer that obviously does not have the same power. and 2) every other person in the league technically has the same ability to do the same thing.

Now if its an online league, its not cheating if each trade is fair, but to an extent because the CPU does not have the same capability.

[aukoustics]

Re: Is hoarding draft picks cheating?

The game isnt realistic anyways. No team would trade top draft picks for scrub veterans. It can be as realistic as you want it to be.

[goalieump413]

Re: Is hoarding draft picks cheating?

No, I don't think it's cheating to accumulate picks through a system that's part of the game.

I understand that this accumulation of picks comes at the expense of realism can be disturbing to some game players, but there's also a dark side to stockpiling first rounders. As others have mentioned, your cap space will close up on you if you choose to accumulate these picks and then actually make the picks. Instead, I've adopted a pseudo-system that helps avoid this costly mistake.

If I start an offline CFM and go for the first overall pick (doing the trade down routine...) I usually never pick anyone in the first round. I always trade down, accumulating 2nd thru 4th round selections from the CPU teams. This way, the cost of drafting players doesn't mess things up. Also, if you think about it, the initial cap cost isn't the real trouble. The real trouble surfaces when these players sign their first, non-rookie contracts. If you make the mistake of signing 1st round studs, their salary demands in their second contract will be excessive, forcing you to make hard choices about who to release or trade.

Another aspect of draft pick hoarding is that there's no good reason to do it unless you plan on actually making the picks. Sounds foolishly obvious, but consider that drafting a player typically means that he'll make the team. Too many picks per draft and you're running out of available rookie roster space, forcing some of your veteran players to either be cut or traded away.

If you trade veterans on your current roster away to make roster space for the incoming wave of rookies, some of those vets have bonuses remaining that you'll be eating, leaving you with dead money against next year's cap. This doubles the problem, since you may need that money for future contract negotiations with your new batch of rookies.

So here's what I've done before... Yeah I may go after all those draft picks for the fun and excitement, but ultimately, I'm going to use those picks to increase the odds that the top scouted talent on my board goes to me. In other words, I'm buying more of the overall chance to draft and sign the incoming rookie that I really want. In my opinion, that improvement on the chance is the biggest single benefit to draft hoarding. Once I draft the player I really want, those other peripheral picks become pointless. I could trade down again, or just fail to draft someone. Either way.

Again, I wouldn't worry about any sort of cheating, since this is your private, single person league. Just be aware that there are some, not-so-obvious consequences down the road for taking this approach. It's fun, but the delayed reality check can be harsh.