Scouting rookies, what is your process?

[D-MAC©®]

OVR cost too much points.
I usually wait until the end of the season, since players get injured,stay in school,etc, & many move up, & down the draft board.
Save yourself the disappointment & scout just before the draft.

[ghostlight85]

I'm pretty immersed in my CCM right now, despite having to tinker around to get better challenge from the CPU. Scouting is a blast. I keep a running list of team needs, split between depth needs and upgrade needs. I update the list throughout the season and scout based on these needs.

I also scout based on where my draft picks will be. If I'm going to be drafting late in the first round, I typically will ignore players in the top 10, unless it is someone I covet for an upgrade and have the means to trade for. I try to match up the later round picks to depth needs.

As for actual scouting, I like to wait to scout intangibles until I know a little about the physical makeup of a player. Physical attributes are incredibly hard to upgrade, so for some positions that is where I start.

OL, DL start with speed strength acceleration, then block shedding, awr, and various positional skills.

For many positions, I look for different things from the upgrade needs than I do for depth. If I am drafting a player who I want to quickly replace a starter, then I look for AWR and position skills more than otherwise. For a depth player, I can afford to take the time to progress these ratings, so it mostly is based on physical tools.

[..GameOver..]

For me it falls in this order:

1) Athleticism (Speed, Acceleration, Agility)
2) Intangibles
3) Position Specific

It has worked really well for me. The injury thing doesn't bother me. I had a draft class where I got a hb that was supposed to go first round but tore his acl. His injury was low but it was up to an 85 after the first season. The thing I hate doing the most is sinking exp points into athleticism attributes. It works better for me when those are already somewhat decent and I work on building up the player in other areas.