Maximizing your NFL Madden Franchise Mode Experience

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Maximizing your NFL Madden Franchise Mode Experience
Do you need help with your NFL Madden Franchise? I'll provide some tips on getting the most out of your game and enhance your gaming experience.
What is your favorite way to build an NFL franchise? Perhaps it’s by drafting a super athletic Quarterback from California, Florida or Texas #1 overall in the NFL Draft? Or maybe your team needs that elusive game breaker in the form of a wide receiver or running back? Whatever the case is, wouldn’t it be great if you, the General Manager of your NFL franchise could inherit top college players at various positions without even drafting them to your organization? Now that I’ve got your attention, let’s inch closer to the goal line. With this team building method in mind, you’ll be able to enhance your chances of hoisting the Super Bowl.

Every year, the NFL combine is conducted in Indianapolis for each team to get a closer look at all the college players entering the NFL. These players have been scouted throughout the season, and here their skill set is evaluated against their peers through extensive tests.Every NFL player is rated on each and every one of their skills, and you can view those ratings within their player profile. For example, I’ve analyzed the top 23 NFL Quarterbacks, basically the ones who are legitimate NFL starters. With this data, along with the parameters EA Sports recommends for BE A PRO players, I’ve designed 32 rookie quarterbacks. I figure I might as well supply the league with an influx of new talent to keep things fresh. Those players will probably become the new face-of the-franchise player in each organization. Actually, they’ll be just one of those fresh faces, because I’ve conducted this research for various positions on offense and defense. These players in essence will become the cornerstone of each NFL franchise while competing in BE A GM mode.

To be fair, and keep the authentic feel to the game, each player’s skill set has been kept within the BE A PRO player’s guidelines. Essentially there are 5 types of Quarterbacks in the NFL and they each have a skill set of their own that demonstrates their own unique ability. I took the parameters of each of these types, and compared it to that of the top 23 veterans around the NFL. So with this in mind, put on your General Manager’s hat and begin to think astutely. You’re in your office at the stadium, overlooking the football field, on a sunny August afternoon. Your office walls exhibit an array of framed photos of Hall of Fame players for your organization, and these conjure up some visions of what you’d like to see in some of your future players. You can’t help but imagine the possibilities of a roster loaded with talented rookies.

To be fair, I recommend creating an equal amount of players for each team across the league. Not only will this create a new fresh feel to your league, it’ll enhance the competition of each games. To enhance your league with a plethora of super rookies you’ll need to use MS Office, create an Excel spreadsheet and do some date entry. With a very detailed spreadsheet full of player ratings, you’ll be able to creatively design your own roster of players to scatter around the NFL. It’ll be an enhanced NFL full of future stars all vying for the Rookie of the Year award.

I hope this helps everyone with their player creation. I’m curious to hear everyone’s thoughts on this guideline. I encourage everyone to create as many players as possible within the BE A PRO parameters. Then once you’ve done this you can either choose to use just your one player that’s already created or take control over the entire team. Either way, the created rookies will be authentic!
Creating players within the BE A PRO player parameters
OK, let’s get to the combine and look at how players are designed. There are 45 attributes within a players’ skill set seen within their profile. I’ll list the range for each attribute that EA Sports recommends. Again there are 5 types of quarterbacks, so if you chose to only create your one player in BE A PRO you’d have to choose one of these 5 types, and there’d be no customization within the BE A PRO parameters. Personally I prefer to create more unique customized players who are all different rather than being strict and have multiple QB’s with the exact same skill sets. The 5 types are balanced, pocket passer, strong arm, field general, west coast. I recommend creating each player as a 20 year old rookie to maximize the length of his playing career.

Now onto the range of the players’ skill set. I’ll list the attribute and the range that EA Sports recommends for it. Speed 55-75, Strength 46-68, Agility 55-77, Acceleration 60-78, Awareness 70-85, Trucking, 25-65, Elusiveness 20-65, Ball Carrier Vision, 45-65, Stiff Arm 26-60, Spin Move 44-60, Juke move 45-60, Carrying 60-80, Catching 12-40, Route Running 10-15, Catch in Traffic 10-36, Spectacular Catch 15-39, Release 7-23, Jumping 21-66, Throw Power 88-98, Short Throw Accuracy 70-85, Medium Throw Accuracy 75-85, Deep Throw Accuracy 70-80, Throw On The Run 75-80, Play Action 80-85, Tackle 10-25, Hit Power 12-29, Power Moves 10-23, Finesse Moves 10-28, Block Shedding 10-22, Pursuit 7-29, Play Recognition 10-40, Man Coverage 10-33, Zone Coverage 7-21, Press 7-23, Pass Block 12-22, Run Block 10-34, Impact Blocking 12-25, Run Block Strength 10-34, Run Block Footwork 10-34, Pass Block Strength 12-22, Pass Block Footwork 12-22, Kick Power 6-42, Kick Accuracy 16-31, Return 10-38, Stamina 88-97.

You also get to choose the players equipment. For helmets and face mask I stuck to the default one, but for visor I usually chose clear visor or no visor (for Quarterbacks), with no neck pad, pad eight of 0, pad width of 0, Standard Sleeves (look best), no back plate and normal flak jacket. For their arm sleeves, Quarterbacks typically either never had any arm sleeves, long sleeves or they chose undershirt team colour. No left or right elbow pads, no left or right wrist pads either. QB’s typically don’t wear gloves either, only 2 of the 23 wore a glove on one of their hands, but almost everyone wears a hand warmer and towel. Most QB’s wear normal thigh pads, regular knee pads, while no QB’s wear the left or right ankle pads. As far as socks go, it’s a mixed bag, it’s about 33% each for low/standard/high socks. The shoes are totally a player’s preference while almost everyone wears a different brand.

One of the most important things in creating a Quarterback is his bias towards tucking & running (with the ball). Of the top 23 QB’s, 9 were rarely, 10 were sometimes, 4 were often. 7 of the 23 had a yes in “throw ball away”, while the other 16 were no’s. Another crucial bias to form your QB is his ability to sense pressure. You have the choice of ideal, average, trigger happy, paranoid or oblivious. Each of these certainly has some pros and cons to them, but I won’t get in to that now. Forces passes is another one, it’s similar to the previous categories and you have a choice of Ideal, Aggressive or Conservative. The ability to throw tight spirals is also an option, and I certainly recommend you choose yes. The majority of the QB’s have a no for Fights for extra yards, only 2 had a yes. The next category is covers the ball, and the majority of them have brace for all hits, while just have brace against medium hits. It’s probably best to be ready for all hits. Make sideline catches, choose no, as QB’s aren’t exactly known for doing this. The majority of them have a no for dropping open passes. Choose balanced for plays ball in the air. Choose no for big hitter, no for utilizes swim move, no for utilizes spin move, no for utilizes bull rush move, YES for clutch if you want them to become clutch performers. I found the consistency bias really interesting too. This ranges from 5 being very consistent and 1 not so consistent. Obviously the higher the rating, the better off your player will be. For confidence, the majority of them had a 3, while just a few had a 4. It’s probably wise to have a very confident QB considering he’s leading your team. Lastly, but certainly not least important is whether or not your QB has a high motor skill. Basically is he’s capable of scrambling at all, a QB has high motor skill.