NFL Comparisons too Powerful

[Shinywalrus]

I may be the only one in this boat, but I think the NFL player comparison tool is far too effective. Provided you have enough information regarding learning and possess a general knowledge of active NFL players, it is nearly impossible to draft a bust.

While the CPU drafts without the additional insight granted by this knowledge, the player can draft excellent players with outstanding potential by doing almost nothing but targeting players with quality counterparts.

By targeting Chad Johnson and Steve Smith comparison WRs, I have never had a sub-90 potential. By targeting Tom Brady/Donovan McNabb/Peyton Manning comparison QBs, I have never seen a sub-90 potential. Same across the board, really, although some defensive players can be a little quirky (Charles Tillman or Rodney Harrison, for example).

Now, you can't draft based just on potential, but provided decent learning skill and in many cases the Driven trait, it's tough to miss.

Probably too tough to patch in to a console game, but it would be nice in the future to at least turn off this feature or make it much more difficult to unlock, at least in my opinion.

[Josh_Looman]

Quote: Originally Posted by Shinywalrus

I may be the only one in this boat, but I think the NFL player comparison tool is far too effective. Provided you have enough information regarding learning and possess a general knowledge of active NFL players, it is nearly impossible to draft a bust. While the CPU drafts without the additional insight granted by this knowledge, the player can draft excellent players with outstanding potential by doing almost nothing but targeting players with quality counterparts. By targeting Chad Johnson and Steve Smith comparison WRs, I have never had a sub-90 potential. By targeting Tom Brady/Donovan McNabb/Peyton Manning comparison QBs, I have never seen a sub-90 potential. Same across the board, really, although some defensive players can be a little quirky (Charles Tillman or Rodney Harrison, for example). Now, you can't draft based just on potential, but provided decent learning skill and in many cases the Driven trait, it's tough to miss. Probably too tough to patch in to a console game, but it would be nice in the future to at least turn off this feature or make it much more difficult to unlock, at least in my opinion.

Some of these we purposely got wrong. We hid some of the gems' comparisons so that you still needed to unlock their potential grade.

[adembroski]

I'm pretty sure from my experience with the feature that it's based on relative strengths, player type, and body type, not potential or ability.

If you see a comparison like John Lynch, that means you're getting a hard nosed, hard hitting, cover-2 friendly Strong Safety, but not guarantee that he'll have Lynch's ability. Adam Archuletta is a guy that would be compared to John Lynch, but he's not in his league.

[Shinywalrus]

Quote: Originally Posted by Josh_Looman

Some of these we purposely got wrong. We hid some of the gems' comparisons so that you still needed to unlock their potential grade.

Fair enough - I noticed one of those from one of the Texas A&M Guard brothers in the Boar Jackson draft series. The better of the two had a scrub comparison but ended up with high POT.

Nonetheless, I still feel like it's way too effective. I might have missed a couple of incredible players, but I also haven't busted at all - I've never had a Shawn Andrews or Willie Anderson bust on me, the Ladainian Tomlinsons and Brian Westbrooks have all panned out, etc.

You may miss out on the next Tom Brady the way it's set up now, but you would have to be pretty daft to end up with the next Ryan Leaf, if you know what I mean.

[Shinywalrus]

Quote: Originally Posted by adembroski

I'm pretty sure from my experience with the feature that it's based on relative strengths, player type, and body type, not potential or ability. If you see a comparison like John Lynch, that means you're getting a hard nosed, hard hitting, cover-2 friendly Strong Safety, but not guarantee that he'll have Lynch's ability. Adam Archuletta is a guy that would be compared to John Lynch, but he's not in his league.

The correlation is not perfect, but is very, very high. If I see a LT, Adrian Peterson, Barry Sanders or Brian Westbrook on there, I've always seen 90+ POT. I have never seen a Patrick Kerney bust, or a Derrick Brooks bust. Shawn Andrews, Willie Anderson and Jonathan Ogden players have never let me down.

WRs are especially prone - I've never seen a Steve Smith or Chad Johnson with below 90 POT, and I've seen 10-12 of them.

Again, it's not perfect, and you'll miss some here and there. But in general, it's very difficult to screw up a draft with this feature enabled.

[Gim77]

I do agree with this but at least its better then Madden's draft day when the top 20 QB's and Top 10 RB's are comparable to Tom Brady and LT and they turn out to be 68 overall.

[NoleFan]

I can't remember who he was compared to but I had an individual workout with Alexis Serna and the kid came away with a 92 Potential. Needless to say, he was drafted. Unfortunately, he was the only one of the 8 players that invited for an individual workout who was available for one of my picks. I MUST do a better job of scouting later round type players.

I've seen it before in Madden, I think, but is there something that tells you a player's projected draft round?

[Shinywalrus]

Quote: Originally Posted by NoleFan

I can't remember who he was compared to but I had an individual workout with Alexis Serna and the kid came away with a 92 Potential. Needless to say, he was drafted. Unfortunately, he was the only one of the 8 players that invited for an individual workout who was available for one of my picks. I MUST do a better job of scouting later round type players. I've seen it before in Madden, I think, but is there something that tells you a player's projected draft round?

Your best bet on that is to get your GM's "Insider" special skills up to par immediately. You'll unlock pretty much everything except potential.

In terms of the projected draft round, your only real option is to find the player on your draft board - he should have a draft board number next to him. Divide that by 32 and you should have a good sense of the round. As a general rule, below 62-63 Ovr will be UDFAs.