Making Trades, Training Players, and Scouting?

[dubbs88]

Might be a stupid question, just started playing. How do you go about making trades using draft picks all the game says is that I need to make roster room to do so. Also where can you go to train any player I desire, because my goals in the preseason they want me to train certain guys an they are never an option in practice. Also is there an area where I am able to scout specific players and view what draft class I have, or is this an option available once preseason is completed. Any and all help is much appreciated, I am enjoying my experience with this game so far!

[KBLover]

Quote: Originally Posted by dubbs88

Might be a stupid question, just started playing. How do you go about making trades using draft picks all the game says is that I need to make roster room to do so.

I've never gotten that message. Maybe cut some loser (just about every team has one) to free up one slot and see if that keeps the game from complaining?

Quote: Originally Posted by dubbs88

Also where can you go to train any player I desire, because my goals in the preseason they want me to train certain guys an they are never an option in practice. Also is there an area where I am able to scout specific players and view what draft class I have, or is this an option available once preseason is completed. Any and all help is much appreciated, I am enjoying my experience with this game so far!

Yeah, this confused me too. What you can do is look at what plays they don't know (if it's a guy you just drafted, they won't know any of them) and choose a play as the focus for your practice. This will coach the unlearned in the play, and, typically, that will include the goal player.

To see what an individual's playbook knowledge is:

-View you playbook
-Each play will have Unlearned/Learned/Mastered. I'm assuming that's the average knowledge of the play
-You can select a play to get an individual player's knowledge of the play. Your whole roster will be shown, you can filter by position.

Then you can make a note of what plays you want to run in practice. If they don't show up in practice, make a point of using those plays heavily in the preseason games until they are learned.

Like when I had to train up Dumervil after picking him up in a trade, I chose to focus on defensive plays he didn't know.

One thing to keep in mind, the other players aren't just sitting around when you're focusing on someone in training camp. You'll practice 5 plays and many times you'll get some more knowledge for other guys involved. Say your C and LG didn't know the plays that were run - they could end up learning them, even though the focus was on the QB.

Also, when preseason games come around, I like to call only unlearned plays (choose plays by playbook knowledge, then choose unlearned) as this will help them learn plays in games that don't matter. Keep in mind that the backups will come in at some point, so you might want to repeat the process so they can learn the plays also. Practices tend to focus on the starters first (just like in real life, the starters get most of the reps) so the backups often end up falling behind.

There's also a trick you can use where you can quit the game before time expires and players will keep the knowledge they had in the quit game. I don't use this, but it's an option, especially if you get desperate and don't want to fail the goal.


Scouting the next draft class will happen during the regular season. You'll get "College Scouting" as an item on your clipboard and you can hit X on it and then scout Big, Medium, or Small schools by position (like you could do Big School QBs or Small School LBs, etc).

[BrnwsBucksFanNC]

Good post...only thing I would add is about finding out which draft path you have. After the last pre-season game you will find out which one you have. Some people save right after the game so they can re-load if they dont get the path they want.

There are 4 draft paths and each one is different. There are loads of threads on here dealing with each one and the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Good Luck!

[Mike3207]

You can't trade your own draft picks until the Draft, I don't believe. You can trade players for draft picks before the draft , though. I've mentioned the preseason trick before, so I won't do it again. Playbook Training is a very useful special skill: I've found I can learn a play in 4 reps, and master it in 8 or 9 using that skills. It's an improvement of about 50%.

[dubbs88]

Thanks for all the tips. Still struggling through my first year. 1-6 with the Seahawks. Need to go out and find a reciever, and a TE. My running game is hurting, even after getting Dangelo Williams and Sproles. Hopefully I can turn it around, but if not I am in the English draft path so from what I see on here I am getting a pretty solid first draft. It would be nice to start winning, maybe time to change some of my philosiphies.

[Joshua1207]

Quote: Originally Posted by dubbs88

Thanks for all the tips. Still struggling through my first year. 1-6 with the Seahawks. Need to go out and find a reciever, and a TE. My running game is hurting, even after getting Dangelo Williams and Sproles. Hopefully I can turn it around, but if not I am in the English draft path so from what I see on here I am getting a pretty solid first draft. It would be nice to start winning, maybe time to change some of my philosiphies.

Yeah DeAngelo Williams isn't too good in this game, same with Sproles I believe. Theres a lot of good players you can get in the English draft to turn your team around. And you might want to buy some special skills for your coach to make your team preform better.