The process of scouting in Madden Franchise
 

Here's how I scout, take what you like: I've found this to work for me.

- Get Scout specialist obviously before starting

- Positive or negative, on my computer I write out the ENTIRE news article and the player it refers to. ASAP I search for the name and scout them.

- Anytime a player's news article is "injured" or "suspended from team" they usually vanish from the scouting place till the off season. Still keep them in mind and don't delete it.

- Any player who is "EARLY 1st" I mark down. The golden and most important players to get are the guys you find in NEGATIVE news articles who slide to the 2nd or 3rd round with Early 1st potential. More often than not I find they also have Star or better development.

- With leftover points, I look at all the players who fit my scheme from scouting. Usually going backwards from 7th round to 1st. I find with CB's, DT's and HB's especially you can get lucky and find 1st round value in 6th-7th round players.

- By the end of the season I usually have a targeted list of 5-8 guys I want to get most of the players usually in the 2nd-5th rounds.

- Anytime the news mentions "star player" or says how amazing they played it's a strong sign for star development. Anytime a player has a "bad attitude" or "used to be a star but is falling down drafts" ALSO is good for star development.

- I find whenever Todd Mcshay likes a player they suck or aren't star development UNLESS he says it's his, "No. 1 DB"

- I find the news articles at Pro Day and during FA to Never be useful UNLESS they mention a player who is dropping.

- IN general, I find the most studs and star players from NEGATIVE news articles that end up with a player with mid-early 1st round value who dropped into the 2nd-3rd round.

- A lot of this as mentioned is just paying attention to what is said and noticing what are their top traits. Players with strong "power moves", "deep route running" "deep throw power" "finesse move" aka any "skill moves" tend to be more likely to have star development even if it's a 2nd or 3rd trait.

I'll add more to this as I think of it. But there is a method to their madness the more and more I play..

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QB's: - Just look at the news articles. Anytime they are mentioned it's much more likely they have star or better development (Hesiman, won a head to head, made a great throw etc). Top skill is usually A+ Throw power and A- or better deep throw power. For scramblers or improvisers, you should have all at least two A- or better traits.

HB: Crapshoot. Always can find great value in the 3rd-7th rounds, I'd almost never spend an early pick on them ever.

WR: Another crapshoot. Your best bet is when it's a deep rookie class of WR's, usually by searching and scouting efficiently at least 2 of the 6-8 1st 2nd rounders will have star or better development. WR's I find aren't as easy to find through news articles, moreso from just the 3 skills shown to you and their "Early-Mid round potential".

TE: News articles and if not look to 5th-7th round for value. Can't tell you amount of times someone had phenomenal stats but was normal development. Would not a waste pick here...

Oline: Crapshoot for star development BUT I find you can always get great bargains bc most Oline news articles are negative one's that drop great players value (2nd-3rd round pick for 1st value). Also my favorite thing to do is get players who specialize in Pass Protect at C or guard and move to T. Rarely if ever spend an early mid 1st rounder on Oline.


DE: Super easy. Very obvious to read into news articles AND if they have "power or finesse" moves and A level things, very easy to see. Probably easiest position to spot star or better talent at. The difference in players is startling. Rarely see star or better players in later rounds BUT can always find nice depth at times.

DT: Power move DT's I find are more likely to have star development, but otherwise not worth it at any point. very easy to get decent guys in 6th-7th round.

LB: Crapshoot. Similar to Oline, sometimes the classes just have absolutely 0 competent LB's available particularly at ROLB and LOLB. BUT when you see news articles on LB's I find they have a high likelihood of star development. Never tend to drop negatively from what I see

CB/SS: News articles blend them together. "No 1 DB" is usually the best signal for star development but they also usually end up being projected as early rounders. I like to always start from 7th round and go based on scheme when scouting here bc they tend to have the most steal players. Negative articles on DB's also tend to have a VERY high likelihood of star development.


If you take one thing away from this, be happy whenever a negative story appears. I've got some of my best studs in 2nd or 3rd rounds who fell off negative stories AND ending up costing way less. The most overrated picks are early in the 1st round UNLESS you have a significant need and are CERTAIN they are star or better development. I love nothing more than continuously trading down if I have an early draft pick and setting myself up with multiple 2nd rounders OR picks for the future. Once you spend one year constantly trading down, it can set you up for the rest of your franchise.

Any questions let me know!

Re: The process of scouting in Madden Franchise
 

I have a question: What are you gonna do when EA completely overhauls their scouting engine?



Lol trick question. They never will. 😝



Ehehhee that, too, was just a joke.

Re: The process of scouting in Madden Franchise
 

I think there's one very important factor to add in. All these round projections, trading down, etc. only goes for single player franchise.


As soon as you play with others (preferrably 32 user franchise), then you have to assume that all will have the same information and the 3rd round steal is known for everyone - and obviously won't last until the 3rd round.


Unfortunately the AI is very stupid and even if true value comes up as Early 1st, they will stick roughly to the initial round projection and you can cheese them easily with trade downs.


Otherwise I can agree with most of your points!

Re: The process of scouting in Madden Franchise
 

The problem is scouting is just to easy, they tell you the projected round but the true round ratings of players, they give you definite grades to their attributes it’s just all so up front and easy. Wish scouting was more dynamic and they went back to player comparisons of the old days, add in COLLEGE STATS.

Re: The process of scouting in Madden Franchise
 

You could make it easier and harder at the same time. For example, by giving users the ability to get a BUNCH of information on a few players, and have it more ambiguous on the rest. That would add a resource allocation challenge.

But for all draftees I feel like physical measurements should be known and college statistical output should be known, along with information about the context of those stats if the user spends the scouting resource points.



I’d be 100% thrilled with Deuce’s draft overhaul.



https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nriQyWzNRdE

Re: The process of scouting in Madden Franchise
 

I'd love if you could track players college stats week to week with analysis after as in the tweet form. Or even quarter of the way in each season you get updates on how they are playing and scouts assessments.
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Re: The process of scouting in Madden Franchise
 

And that's the thing. It needs to be blown up and the remaining pieces dumped into acid then start over.

EA's biggest problem is they roll out a 'new feature." Seven years ago, this was new and differnt (I suppose) then they think it's ok for the next 12 years. But as I always say, they won't touch it because they are too busy making new stupid modes (KO Superstar, the yard, I'm looking at you) to focus on stuff that we actually ask for.

Re: The process of scouting in Madden Franchise
 

My scouting overhaul was based on the concept that all teams scout pretty much all the players. The major difference is that they all come to a different conclusion. The game can emulate this by showing the ratings as a +/-. The worst the personnel department is, the larger the ranger. A player might be a 77. A team with a strong personnel department will have a +/- of, say, 3, thus making that player between an 74 and 80. A bad team might have a range of 10 s0 be could be anywhere betweena 67-87.

To spice it up, some teams might be especially stronger with offensive players, but not with defensive players. Some teams a strong in finding the late round gem, so in rounds 4-7 the ranges are smaller.

This emulates real life way better than the current system