Effective Drafting Strategy/Planning 101

[steelraccoon]

I see a lot of new people on the boards who have recently purchased the game and I want to welcome them all to the forum here.

Now, some of you maybe football Gurus but for thos of you who aren't, I am putting together this list of Draft Day tips that may help u get your career off on the right foot. I hope that they help u and maybe even help some of the veterans on the board here.

Tips for Good Drafting:

1) GM Scouting Skill : Never overlook this skill for your GM.. it is so very important. It affects how much you can scout each position each week during the season and how many players u can scout during the Senior Game/Combine period. If your GM has a scouting of 1 in QB scouting, you will only get information on 20% of the players from each school size (Small, Medium and Big) that u select but if you have QB scouting of 4, you get 80%. Also, the higher the skill, the more players u can scout in the off season.

2) Unless u have an immediate needs, don't burn all of your cap room on Free Agents cause u will regret it later. Sign players that are in the 80 to 85 range on Overall and u can get them for 3.0 to 5.0 Million a season but if u go for guys over 85, you are looking at 5.5 to 8.0 per season. In essence, your could get two 80 to 85 guys for the same yearly price as a single 85+ player

3) Draft Day 1 : Unless u just have to have one of the top players in the draft, try trading down (if u have an early draft pick) until pick 15 or later in the 1st and 2nd rounds, you can save a ton of money doing so and still get pretty good players if you scouted well. Don't forget that the NFL Comparisons is a dead give away for if a player will be any good or not.

3) Draft Day 1, Part 2 : Don't Trade up too much cause the CPU will rob you blind! If u wanna move up from 24th pick to 1st, 2nd, or 3rd , you need to be prepared to lose a lot of picks this year or the next in the 1st and 2nd rounds. Yeah, Boar jackson maybe the guy to get but unless u are willing to bet the future of your team on him, look elsewhere.

4) Draft Day 2 : This is where u can get some real gems. Most people you Draft in the 3rd or 4th rounds can be pretty high Potential (80+) and you can get a lot of value for them, once again, especially if u scouted properly. Remember, Tom Brady was a 6th round draft pick and look how that worked out. I myself drafted a player in the 7th round, last pick, of my second season with the Dolphins who was a 96 POT with 83 Learning and 79 Intangibles so always be on the look out for those kinda gems.

5) Planning for the Draft : This is the single most important piece of advice I can give you for an effective Draft. If u are thin in the MLB position and need to draft someone, make sure u looked at the Draft preview and noticed who the Sleeper is and that the star rating is 3 or better, odds are u don't have to waste a first round pick on a MLB cause u might be able to get the guy that fits your scheme better in the 3rd or later. Always sit down and figure out what position u wanna draft in what round and scout accordingly. If u need a CB but u need to wait till the third to get him, don't scout the CB's in the 80-90 range on the draft board. Look for the guys in the high 70 range cause they are more likely gonna be around in the 3rd round and I can assure you that 90 range guy won't.

6) And Finally, one more bit of advice : Never forget to scout a players personality when selecting who to draft. A player with a Bad Attitude personality trait will always give u a fit when signing them and contract negotiations. They will ask for more money than what they are worth. But, a Team Player will be more patient and giving when signing them and may even as to renegotiate their contract if the team gets in a tight spot with Cap Room

I hope this helps you new guys and improves your game experience. If you have any more questions about the Drafting/Scouting process, please feel free to ask and myself, or some of the other forum posters, will be more than happy to help.

Good Luck to ya.

[Mike2001]

thanks that was alot of help, i dont have the game yet but i am planning on buyin the game soon

[Lieutenant Dan]

Great post steel!


Took me a while to figure out the whole trading down thing. Those top guys are going to nail you for big bucks in their contract negotiations, and you can get all-star calibur players in the mid-rounds and the sleepers.

Also, score some leftover sleepers and hidden gems at the end of the draft as unsigned rookies. It's a bidding thing that's timed, but you can get 4-5 players out of it. Trip the bid with 2 seconds left like you would do on ebay! LOL

[GGKoul]

Yep. Nothing like spending $10m a year / 5 year contract on a 1st round player... Only to have that 7th round player signed for 400k, start.

[milkman41]

I have a question about the bidding, since I haven't been able to play for about a month (XBOX is on the fritz, ****in RROD :\). When you look at the players themselves, like their little pages n whatnot with attributes, is the timer still running?

Also, great post steel! Do you think you (or anyone else) could go over the financials of the draft? Like how much should I expect certain picks to want, how much money should I put away for the draft, etc. Thanks!

[Lieutenant Dan]

Quote: Originally Posted by GGKoul

Yep. Nothing like spending $10m a year / 5 year contract on a 1st round player... Only to have that 7th round player signed for 400k, start.

Amen, brother!

[steelraccoon]

Quote: Originally Posted by milkman41

I have a question about the bidding, since I haven't been able to play for about a month (XBOX is on the fritz, ****in RROD :\). When you look at the players themselves, like their little pages n whatnot with attributes, is the timer still running? Also, great post steel! Do you think you (or anyone else) could go over the financials of the draft? Like how much should I expect certain picks to want, how much money should I put away for the draft, etc. Thanks!

Sure thing.

Picks 1-10 First Round : Between 6 to 10 Million per season
Pick 11-15 First Round : Between 3 to 5 Million per season
Picks 16-32 First Round : Between 1.5 to 3 Million per season
First round picks sign 5 or 6 year contracts depending on when they are taken.

Round 2 of the Draft is about 1 to 1.5 Million per season if I remember correctly, with a 4 year contract

Round 3 is about 3 to 4 Million for 4 years unless I am mistaken
3 to 4 year contracts

Round 4 is between 2 to 3 Million for 3 Years

Round 5 and above is about 500k to 750k per season for how ever long the contract is, usually 2 to 3 years unless I am mistaken.

Depending on where your pics are, u will need a cap room of about 10 million for the Draft unless u had a rough season and are near the top of the picking order, and if that is the case, I would say 15 to 20 million is safe.

Now, You have to plan on how many picks u have each round to. If u have a 1 thru ten pick and then a second first round pick later on, you will be signing both of those players for around 12 million a year alone. That's why i say it is sometimes better to trade down and save money unless u absolutely NEED, not want, a player in the draft.

Also, when negotiating contracts, try to get someone to sign with NO signing bonus in rounds 3 thru 7 picks. That way, if u find they are a bust, you can cut them and not suffer a penalty for the next season.

Here is another tip. It's ok to sign backups to Incentives like starting 16 games and such cause the odds are, they won't get 16 starts in a season as a backup and they are likely to take less money per year if u give them an incentive or two.

I hope this answers your question and feel free to ask if U need any more help.

[milkman41]

Thanks man, that was very helpful.