lotusfather's Madden 25 Draft Guide

[Robrain]

And it's probably unimportant, but I wanted to note:

Damon Banks draft class:
In my storyline, CB Davion Scott was moved to FS by his coach. He excelled at this new position. Then later, "Florida FS Davion Scott has solid Pro Day, viewed as late 1st round pick." and:

@RossTuckerEA: "Instincts and speed like Davion Scot's get rewarded. He'll be a day 1 pick, or he'll make teams regret it."

This resulted in his projected 96 SPD (top percentile) actually dropping to 92 SPD. However, instead of SLOW DEV, he now has AVG DEV.

Regardless, he's a beast with 90 STR and 90 Hit Power.

Also in the same storyline, the LBs (Adonys Adams and Jalen Shaw) are projected to go #1 and #2 overall. Which was pretty cool to see.

And I think I got WR Geno Castro's good storyline, though it's debatable as to whether it's actually "good" for the team that drafts him (keep reading):

"SUREFIRE 1ST ROUNDER"
"After interviewing with teams, GM's have little doubt that Georgia Tech WR Geno Castro is a 1st round pick."

"ROUTE TO EXCELLENCE"
"Georgia Tech WR Geno Castro's route running may be the best of all the players in the NFL Draft."

"SIZE MATTERS"
"Georgia Tech WR Geno Castro impresses tams with hands and fastest 40 ever (4.22), but size is a concern."

@MattMillerEA: "Fastest 40 ever. Grat route runner. Solid hands. Stop knocking Geno Castro's size and let's start praising the rest!"

@ToddMcShayEA: "Everyone's talking about Geno Castro's size. He's small, but so is Santonio Holmes. My concern is his durability."

[which is notably laughable because Geno Castro is 6'2" / 215 lbs, he's not really small by any measure, and at 77 STR he's probably in the Top 5% of NFL receivers for the STR stat - meanwhile, fake McShay compares him to Santonio Holmes, who is listed in this game at 5'11" / 192 lbs ...]

@SCollinsEA: "You don't expect a player with sprinter's speed to run routes as well as well as Geno Castro can. World class, indeed." (yes, one of the many typos included in Madden 25)

However, be warned. This results in his RTE increasing from it's projected 65, all the way up to 87. SIMULTANEOUSLY, his Elite 99 SPD is now reduced to 93 SPD. He also jumps from a projected ADP of 4.23, all the way to 1.19.

I was going to draft him, but eating a 1st Rounder to do it AND losing his Elite Speed value made me change my mind. 87 RTE is not worth that kind of loss. He still has SLOW DEV and 55 AWR (80 CTH - 70 CIT - 71 SPC - 65 RLS), so he's more of a project than you'd think based on all the gushing from these blurbs by the fake analysts. At least DROPS PASSES = NO, so you don't have to worry about that for him while trying to build up his production if you decide to burn a 1st Rounder on this version of him.

If he'd still had 99 SPD, I'd have drafted him even if it meant paying that 1st round price tag. Without it, with the WR corps I have, I probably wouldn't have drafted him even if he was going in the 4th round.

[NoFlyZoneAzCards]

Are these classes someone created or actual in the game??

[Robrain]

Updating my above post, FS Davion Scott got drafted @ 1.20.

WR Geno Castro got drafted @ 4.04 (by the Jaguars, who basically only had Torrey Smith @ WR), even after being projected to go @ 1.19. That's a helluva slide after all the insane hype.

The LB duo doesn't necessarily go #1 and #2 like the story wants to happen, either.

[somestatguy]

So I'm working on a stat analysis of Madden 25's system (I know it's a bit older game, but I think it being the 25th Anniversary Edition merits a look at how poorly thought out the draft classes in CFM mode were).

I'd like to create a separate thread for it, but I don't seem to be able to create a thread in this forum (probably since I just made my account).

Lotusfather did a pretty nice job (and a lot of work) giving a quick rundown of the major players at each position in each draft class. I'm hoping to take it one step further by giving a full detailing of each position (every player in the draft class), along with each player's STR/SPD/ACC (the three base factors that have the greatest long-term impact on a prospect). Might include AGI values where I feel it's beneficial to know that information (I still don't know if AGI has any real bearing on Offensive Linemen, for example, and if the O-lineman doesn't have good SPD/ACC or STR, then high AGI is probably borderline useless anyway).

What I mean is, AGI seems like a stat that is a tie-breaker. You don't look for high AGI first when checking the draft board, you only use it to weed out players (people tend to make sure they have high SPD first, then make sure their ACC / AGI doesn't suck after that).

I'll also include little tidbits like impressions of lesser-used players (whether they can be used to serve a niche role, or whether they might be useful as future tradebait if you give them a season or two of XP to develop).

[somestatguy]

As an example, here's the full WR position from the Ty Ponder Draft Class.

I'm sorting them by STR from highest to lowest, if you're looking for SPD, it's pretty easy to skim and pick out the handful of 90+ SPD prospects since it's the first stat on the left on that line. I'm sorting by STR though because it has a universal bearing on actions like Blocking and Trucking as well, and lots of guides tend to have glazed over it (which is one reason I had to manually do it myself).

88 STR - Graham Maclin AVGDEV 1.03
6'6" / 243 lbs - 20 Y.O.
74 SPD / 87 ACC / 74 AGI / 95 JMP - 81 ELU / 88 TRK - 67 RBK / 63 IBK
81 CTH / 90 CIT / 85 SPC / 67 AWR - 86 RTE / 75 RLS - 81 CAR / 69 BCV
92 INJ / 88 STA / 82 TGH + CLUTCH + NO DROPS + COVER BALL 2 + CONF1
81 JKM / 72 SPM / 84 SFA

85 STR - Giovanni Donald AVGDEV 4.16
6'6" / 236 lbs - 21 Y.O.
75 SPD / 75 ACC / 78 AGI / 96 JMP - 77 ELU / 91 TRK - 76 RBK / 67 IBK
80 CTH / 81 CIT / 87 SPC / 72 AWR - 79 RTE / 77 RLS - 80 CAR / 68 BCV
83 INJ / 76 STA / 78 TGH + PREDICTABLE + FIGHTS + COVER BALL 3 + NO DROPS + 2CONF/CONS
82 JKM / 74 SPM / 79 SFA

So, these two WRs are actually very similar, despite Graham Maclin being projected as the 3rd Overall pick (and the 1st WR), and Giovanni Donald being projected as the 12th WR to be drafted.

Key takeaways here:

1) Is there really any difference between a 6'6" / 74 SPD / 87 ACC WR, versus a 6'6" / 75 SPD / 75 ACC WR? I mean, 87 ACC isn't even GOOD for a WR, so they're both going to be slow as molasses regardless. Their best use case will be as a short-range possession receiver, about 5-10 yards from the line of scrimmage, probably against Zone defenses that aren't covering them closely anyway. Their ability to break tackles after the catch is their only real, consistent value in the receiving game.

2) Since their use as a receiver will be fairly limited to specific situations and distances, their primary role might actually be thought of as more of a Blocking WR. If you think of them like that, Giovanni Donald is probably the more proficient blocker, with 76 RBK versus Maclin's 67 RBK. Granted, Maclin does have an extra 3 STR, but Donald also has 4 higher IBK, and you can't raise a WR's IBK stat using XP (they're stuck with whatever they come with in that stat). This is actually why it's usually more useful to convert a fast RB to a WR, since you can boost their IBK before you convert them fully. IBK tends to come into effect a lot with WRs, as they run a fair distance before engaging the defender in a block (which if successful triggers the blocking animation that knocks the defender off their feet, rather than grappling with the defender).

3) Giovanni Donald has a higher injury risk, but blockers don't ever get injured in Madden 25 (only way they can get injured is by taking possession of the football like during a fumble). So if you use Donald sparingly as an actual receiver and primarily to block for outside running plays, the higher injury risk almost never comes into play in real game usage.

4) Donald has a higher TRK stat (91) than Maclin (88). For reference (I'm using a custom roster at the moment, note), Arian Foster has 92 TRK. Also remember that WRs actually benefit more from TRK, because they tend to go up against CBs and Safeties, who tend to have really low STR values and thus are more susceptible to being trucked, compared to a RB running inside against high-STR DT's and LBs. This is one reason why even a slow-footed WR with high STR/TRK can be reasonably effective for 5-10 yards on the outside, because they tend to just flatten the low-STR CBs covering them when you use the truck ability. And since short passes are really all you want to use this type of WR for ideally, of these two WRs, Donald is the best candidate for this aspect of the passing game. Plus he comes ready and loaded with the Fights-For-Yards trait, to better grind out that short first down on the screen play.

5) Since fast TEs are harder to come by in these draft classes, you can temporarily use Donald as a second Blocking TE during your first season or two, which can also help get him on the field more frequently for more XP opportunities, without him wasting one of your WR spots on the field.

6) Draft capital. If you're only going to use the player primarily as a Blocking WR/TE, with some very limited short-possession usage in the passing game, do you really want to spend a Top-3 Overall pick on them? That doesn't make any sense for the role they'll serve within your team's gameplan. Donald is the value here when it comes to this aspect of the draft process.

7) Donald will probably not be long for your team anyway. Within a season or two, you'll likely be in a position to draft higher caliber athletes for all the various areas of your roster. Pump up Donald with XP for a season or two and trade him away to another team. Now you've made the game a bit more interesting since there will be a solid blocking WR that you may have to eventually play against. Always nice to expand the challenges you'll face

I'm not sure who to really compare him to, in the sense of a real NFL WR. Maybe a slow version of former Chargers WR Malcom Floyd? (who was a solid blocking WR with a large frame)