(as a base set)
ill try and help if I'm understanding you, your wanting to know where to start off at before tweaking to your liking.
i just copy these different slider sets at the level they advertise like varsity, AA so on, then play a game with a team i should beat, a team that's on par with mine and a team that should be better than me.
then it comes down to the feel of the game, which set i feel plays near what i think the game of football is like. then its time to get out the paper and take notes while playing the slider set i picked, what feels wrong about them. maybe (to me) it might feel like the CPU is getting in the backfield a little to much, maybe I'm passing a little to easy, things like that and start making some small adjustments to them to get them where i want.