Player Development

[Mike3207]

Learning development II

Just some follow up thoughts on learning development. The degree to which you need to spend on points in LD with your HC-largely is dependent on how good your learning development is with your sub coaches. Keep in mind that how quickly your team will learn plays is largely dependent on how good the Learning rating is with your players.

As long as most of your coaches are 4 or 5 in learning development, it shouldn't be any problem for a player to max out their learning rating before their RFA contract is up.

Disciplined Routine and the Playbook Skills are also very helpful in this regard. It's good to get it with one coach, much better to have all the relevant skills with all coaches.I noticed I could learn plays in 2 reps once my HC and OC had Playbook Training, and all coaches bought Disciplined Routine.

Still, no reason to not put points in it early in a career, especially if you have players like Vobora, Hale and Johnson who need help early on.

[Mike3207]

Safeties

The player development with safeties was even slower than that of cornerbacks. I was seeing in the neighborhood of 1-2 points of progression over a 15 game stretch. Physical development with my safeties has been especially slow, you might only get a handful of points in progression. You really shouldn't expect safeties to move much off their drafted physical ratings before their physical tools start to decline, maybe agility.

FS:

ZCV-93-540, 94-771
BSH-62-78, 63-89
Spec Catch- 12-210, 12-231
PR-88-1421, 89-1348
Aw- 86-1005, 88-49
SPD-87-380, 87-494
Acc-90-533, 90-647
Agi-93-24, 93-1626

SS:

ZCV- 94-720, 96-415
Press- 58-218, 59-122
HP-93-172, 93-172
Pur- 94-891, 94-1741.
SC-11-339, 11-446
PR-88-1421, 89-1348
AW-86-1209, 88-49

[Mike3207]

Kickers and Punters

Yeah-I know. I've dont even bother with trying to progress kicking power or learning for kickers or punters, I focus all my development on kicking intangibles. Punters-trade for one or sign one in FA. You might get 300 points in awareness a year at maxed out P intangibles-even with 100 punt attempts. Keep in mind that this is with a pretty good STC in Jason Hanson.This is one of those cases where the Learning Increase Gamechanger can really help out your kicker/punter development.

K:

KA-86-834, 86-1301
Awareness-74-445, 75-375

P:

KA-87-495, 87-567
Aw-81-523, 81-595
Lrn-75-440, 75-464

[Skarecrow]

interesting. anecdotal evidence always said that cornerbacks were one of the slowest positions to develop, after tight ends, fullbacks, and kickers/punters.

I thought for sure they were slower than safeties. apparently not?

[Mike3207]

Quote: Originally Posted by Skarecrow

interesting. anecdotal evidence always said that cornerbacks were one of the slowest positions to develop, after tight ends, fullbacks, and kickers/punters. I thought for sure they were slower than safeties. apparently not?

I think it's part the lack of progress safeties seem to have in physical development, unless you go all the way to 5. Cornerbacks do seem to increase in the physical ratings a little bit, and a bit faster than the safeties. Keep in mind that I still managed to get my DB's overall into the 88-91 range, although all but Sanrick Raines started fairly well with Intangibles.

[Mike3207]

Learning and the Playbook

This will be a look at the various Learning classes, what rating in learning you will have to qualify, and how various players did on learning the playbook. All players covered the 2008 preseason and the first 2 games of the 2008 season-the games were played.

Elite-96-99-Learns at the fastest rate
Very Quick-91-95-Learns at a very quick rate
Quick-86-90-Learns new plays quickly
Above Average-81-85-Learns at a better than average rate
Average- 71-80-Learns at a average rate
Below Average-61-70- Takes longer than most to learn
Weak Football IQ-51-60-Has a hard time keeping up
Poor Football IQ-1-50-Struggles Learning new plays.

Player, mastered Plays %, Learning rating and class

Vasher-60%-98-Elite
T.Harris-58%-97-Elite
B. Urlacher-58%-99-Elite
Briggs-56%-95-Very Quick
N. Mangold-50%-97-Elite
J. Staley-41%- 87- Quick
J. Tait-38%-83-Above Average
C. Tillman-37%-88-Quick
K. Phillips-32%-82-Above Average
D. Moore-29%-86-Quick
E. Bennett-25%-84-Above Average
K. Johnson-22%-80-Average
E. Doucet-21%-79- Average
C. Steltz-19%-80-Average
A. Ogunleye-19%-82-Average
H. Hillenmeyer-18%-86-Quick
C. Campbell-15%-76-Average
R. Rice-15%-84-Above Average
G. Olsen-12%-82-Above Average
R. Manning-11%-83-Above Average
D. Hale-10%-36-Poor

Elite and Very Quick players learn the playbook very fast-50% or more-very quickly. Quick to Average players vary a bit. Some like Staley are fast, others like Hillenmeyer are a bit slower. There was only 1 player who met the 10%minimum with less than a Average rating-David Hale.

I think the conclusions are pretty clear. You're going to want at a minimum players with a 71 Learning to start, although players with a 91 rating and greater are very important. I can't see players with sub-par learning rating ever having the ability to learn your playbook.

[Mike3207]

The Intangibles Grade

95-99-Excellent-Elite intangibles
90-94-Good-Pro Bowl caliber skillset
85-89-Average-Can get the job done
80-84-Below Average-has the skill of a NFL backup
71-79-Mediocre-has minimal skill set
66-70-Poor-Lacks skill of a normal player
1-65-Terrible-Lacks even basic skill set

Basically, 85 and greater is a starter in the league, anything less than that is a backup. There are exceptions at certain positions, namely FB/TE/K/P. You can have starters at those position who can do quite well in the range of 75-84 INT.

Obviously, you'll see a lot of starters in the league who come far short of the 85 target with intangibles. It's really what separates the good teams in the league from the bad ones. A good team like the Colts can take a 70 INT rookie and turn him into a 85 INT veteran by the time the RFA contract is done.

All I'll say is that look at intangibles when you look to acquire a player by whatever means. The farther their intangibles is from 85, the longer it'll take them to be a legitimate starter in the league.

[Mike3207]

The Physical Grade

Elite-97-99-Has ability to dominate
Great-93-96- possesses excellent ability
Good-89-92- Can hold his own
Decent-86-88-Has Ok athletic ability
Mediocre- 81-85-Will struggle athletically
Poor-76-80-Lacks ability to compete
Weak-75 and below-Not NFL caliber

The physical ratings are a bit different. Learning and Intangibles-they'll progress until you reach the cap, then stay there for the rest of your career. Physical ratings will also do that, but they'll also regress at certain key positions-HB, WR, DB.

The regression can vary a bit, but it will usually start at some point after a player reaches the age of 30. I've actually seen players late in a career with sub-50 physical ratings. With significant physical development, you might be able to neutralize the regression. I know my 30 year old WR Aundray Bender hadn't shown any sign of regression at 30.

Another thing, on some of the weaker draft paths you'll see a significant number of Weak players still in the league. They mange to overcome the lack of physical ability by maintaining high learning and intangibles grade.

Strength ratings seem to progress more quickly than speed ratings for whatever reason. Physical development seems most effective at a number of key positions-HB, WR, OL, DL, and DB. The speed positions obviously, but I've also seen it make a difference along the various line. Strength obviously, but offensive linemen also seem to progress speed pretty well.

All I'll really say is keep an eye on your players once you fall out of the Decent grade, it's really not a far fall from Mediocre to being out of the league. A good example of this is Adam Vinatieri-he has trouble kicking XPs when his leg strength goes.