"The" Off-Season

[turfguy23]

• Feb. 18-24 - NFL Scouting Combine (Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN)
• Feb. 19 - Franchise and transition tag deadline
• Feb. 26 - Deadline for submission of qualifying offers to restricted free agents
• Feb. 27 - Free Agency begins
• April 17 - Restricted free agency period ends
• April 24 - Deadline for old club to exercise right of first refusal to restricted free agents.
• April 25-26 - NFL Draft (New York City, NY)
• Mid-July - Training camps open.
• July 22 - Signing period ends at 4 p.m. ET for unrestricted free agents who received June 1 tender.
• Aug. 8 - Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony (Canton, Ohio)
• Aug. 9 - Pro Football Hall of Fame Game (Canton, Ohio)
• Aug. 13-17 - Preseason Week 1
• Sept. 1 - Roster cuts - 75 players.
• Sept. 5 - Roster cuts - 53 players.
• Sept. 10-14 - Kickoff 2009 Weekend

Here's what I would like to see in the Madden Franchise Off-season mode.

Scouting Combine (Lucas Oil Field, Indianapolis)

1. Top 5 players per position will attend the Combine (110 players total to choose from during drills).
2. Passing Drill - 7 on 7 (NO Linemen). The user selects (QB, RB, FB, TE, and 3 WR's to play on Offense. The user selects 3 LB's, 2 CB's, and 2 Safety's to play on Defense. You get 15 passing plays to see all the selected players in action.
3. Rushing Drill - The user selects RB, FB, 2 TE's, 2 Tackles, 2 Guards, and a Center (Offense). The user selects 2 DE's, 2 DT's, and 3 LB's (Defense)(You can run the 3-4 if you choose, 3 DL and 4 LB's). You get 15 rushing plays to see all the selected players in action.
4. Pass Rush/Pass Protect Drill (1 on 1)- The user selects 2 Offensive Linemen and 2 Defensive Linemen to run through this drill. You get 10 plays total (on either side) to test out the players.
5. Coverage Drill (1 on 1)- The user selects 2 Defensive Backs and gets 10 plays against a WR. (same drill as we have now in madden is perfect)
6. After the Combine the user will have a better idea of the players they want to draft and best of all you get to see them in action on the field before you draft them. (real players and not JUST a scouting report)

The Draft-
The Draft remains the same and looks to be much improved (logic wise) in this years Madden 10. (Maybe some cutscenes of the commisioner announcing some picks and Radio City Music Hall with crazy Jet's fans booing their selection)

Training Camp-

You have the opportunity to see you new players in uniform for the first time with their teammates. Training Camp will consist of 2 options for practice (Risk/Reward involved). You get 7 "training camp practices" for you team. Each practice consists of 11 vs 11 with 15 plays on Offense and 15 plays on Defense. (this can be simmed)

1. "Soft" practice- Your team practices at %80 speed and there is NO RISK FOR INJURY. But the downside is you receive minimal progression points.
2. "Hard" practice- Your team practices at "FULL SPEED" just like a real game. There is a RISK FOR INJURY in this practice mode but.......you recieve maximum progression points. Progression points are limited to (Strength, Stamina, and Injury increases). It's a risk/reward practice that the user can choose. You make the choice.

-Hall of Fame induction ceremony (w/ HOF game, preseason)

-We get some nice cutscenes of player being inducted to the HOF and a nice clean interface with stats that shows the players illustrious career in the NFL. It should feel special.

- (Hall of Fame Game) Two Teams will be selected to play in the HOF game and this is a big event that kicks off the NFL season. It should be played in Canton's Fawcett Stadium and feel like a big game. (Add 1 Stadium to the game)

Expanded Rosters (80 man rosters, if NCAA can handle it...so can Madden)

1. CUT 1 -We get up to 80 man rosters to play the first 2 pre-season games with. Following week 2 of the pre-season game there will be a "roster cut" to 70 players. (if you don't have 70 then no cuts are made. Every team must be at/under 70 to advance to week 3 of pre-season)
2. CUT 2 -Following the last pre-season game, are roster will be cut to a 53 man roster. (all team must be at 53 to start season)
3. The cuts will force owners to make decisions about players on their team and gives the user a greater sense of accountability when building their Franchise in Madden. The more decisions we make the deeper we will be involved.

Thursday Night Kickoff game- There should the the NFL kickoff game on Thursday night with the defending Super Bowl Champs. Added commentary to really get us excited for the start of the season. (It's a big game!)

Regular Season starts- Have some fun and kick some butt.......

[lgxjames]

Re: "The" Off-Season

as much as I hate to do this to a fellow lions fan.........huh

[Hooe]

Re: "The" Off-Season

Expanded Rosters (65 players) (80 man rosters would be too big with 27 players X 32 teams = 864 players more players for the CPU AI to handle. That's alot of players to scroll through and keep track of. I compromised with 65 players. Thats's 12 X 32 = 384 more players.....big difference)

I like the ideas on your list, but on the point of roster size: currently, the NCAA game handles team management functions on up to 8400 players (70 player roster x 120 FBS teams), and often more because after the recruiting period teams have to cut down to 70 players. I see no reason why Madden couldn't increase the roster limits to the full 85 that the NFL allows during the offseason, which is about a third of the number of players (about 2700) that NCAA manages.

I'd also offer very minimal progression in your soft practice idea (to give that some meaning, other than to avoid injury), and (I've been harping on this for seemingly years now) add an option to hide player ratings completely and thus making the player able to only judge players based on performance and scouting numbers.

[duncan54matt]

Re: "The" Off-Season

this is a great thread we need to keep this alive .... FOREVER ..... until they read this ... i cant wait until the madden team sees this .... this would be the coolest thing EVER!!!

[turfguy23]

Re: "The" Off-Season

I like the ideas on your list, but on the point of roster size: currently, the NCAA game handles team management functions on up to 8400 players (70 player roster x 120 FBS teams), and often more because after the recruiting period teams have to cut down to 70 players. I see no reason why Madden couldn't increase the roster limits to the full 85 that the NFL allows during the offseason, which is about a third of the number of players (about 2700) that NCAA manages.

I'd also offer very minimal progression in your soft practice idea (to give that some meaning, other than to avoid injury), and (I've been harping on this for seemingly years now) add an option to hide player ratings completely and thus making the player able to only judge players based on performance and scouting numbers.

Good points! I didn't even think about NCAA but your right. Why shouldn't Madden be able to handle the bigger roster size? I'm all for the 80 man roster. It would just add to the depth of the game.

Your second idea, to hide player ratings, where would this be at? Would it be across the board in the game or just in certain areas of the off-season?

[turfguy23]

Re: "The" Off-Season

as much as I hate to do this to a fellow lions fan.........huh

What's your question? I'll try to answer anything regarding my ideas for an off-season.

[lgxjames]

Re: "The" Off-Season

What's your question? I'll try to answer anything regarding my ideas for an off-season.

you know what, my ignorance, i didnt get what you were talkin about at 1st but I reread it and got it now, good work!

[jdr4693]

Re: "The" Off-Season

Presentation Shows in the off season would keep the game fresh and increase the replay ability factor for another long season. Cuts, free agents, hold outs, trade requests, injuries in camp etc. All good stuff that should be in the game already.

[jzal8]

Re: "The" Off-Season

Exactly what Madden Franchise needs offseason wise. Great Post. Especially the roster cuts, that is key!

[Canadeion]

Re: "The" Off-Season

What would be the reward for a soft practice? Why even do it if you get nothing, besides 'not getting injured'?

Why not make it 'minimum progression'... so atleast you get some progression points out of soft practice... then have a hard practice offer 'maximum progression'...

I dunno, seems pointless to me to do something (soft practice) if the most I'm going to get out of it would be the same if I didn't do it at all (not getting hurt).

[PlatooN]

Re: "The" Off-Season

good post

[turfguy23]

Re: "The" Off-Season

What would be the reward for a soft practice? Why even do it if you get nothing, besides 'not getting injured'?

Why not make it 'minimum progression'... so atleast you get some progression points out of soft practice... then have a hard practice offer 'maximum progression'...

I dunno, seems pointless to me to do something (soft practice) if the most I'm going to get out of it would be the same if I didn't do it at all (not getting hurt).

Your right. This was mentioned by another poster above. That's the great thing about the internet and forums. Ideas can be exchanged and further improved upon.

The main idea is that some coaches have "softer" practices while others run a military style training camp. You should receive more progression points based on a harder practice. But only limited to certain attributes like Strength, Stamina, and Injury. I think the other attributes should relate to on-the-field play during the season.

What about adding to these ideas? Anything better we can do for the off-season? This is where I would like to be able to spend MORE time in my franchise. I love building a team and we all know that the Lions is the greatest challenge to Franchise owners.

[jdr4693]

Re: "The" Off-Season

Shouldn't the Dev team know this stuff needs to be in the game after 5 years. Are they that clueless? I mean god, sometimes It's like were doing all the work for them by constantly helping them fix this game (I should be on their payroll.) They should know these things need to be in. They should already be in after 5 years. Why do we need to do your jobs for you devs are you that clueless?

[Canadeion]

Re: "The" Off-Season

I'd like to be able to ALTER team uniforms, without having to change the whole thing. I'm not sure the NFL would allow that kinda thing, but to give a team a different STYLE of jersey. Have the Raven's style numbers, on the 49ers jerseys...

Everytime I tried to do that in previous years, the whole uniform would be erased, and I couldn't even use the team logo on the helmet anymore.

Not a big deal, but would be cool to be able to customize like that.

[IndyColts2]

Re: "The" Off-Season

Shouldn't the Dev team know this stuff needs to be in the game after 5 years. Are they that clueless? I mean god, sometimes It's like were doing all the work for them by constantly helping them fix this game (I should be on their payroll.) They should know these things need to be in. They should already be in after 5 years. Why do we need to do your jobs for you devs are you that clueless?

I would edit your post if I were you. The devs and the mods don't like it when people say stuff like that.