[Senator Palmer]

I know that formation subs have been on the community wishlist pretty much since Madden came to Gen 3 platforms. Now I have no idea whether they will be available in Madden 17, but I wanted to expand on the difference between formation subs and custom packages and why I think custom packages is the way to go.

As many of you know, the NFL more than ever is a game up matchups driven by an eclectic mix of personnel. Take a team just as an example like the Atlanta Falcons who have 246 lb. Vic Beasley playing as their open-side end. Now obviously at that weight you don't want to run him out there crashing into 300 plus pound tackles 65 snaps a game. You want to specialize his role, you want him to play in certain packages and not in others.

Now this is where Madden comes in. In a formation sub, as it worked in NCAA at least, you could place a player in a formation but the problem was that he would stay in that ENTIRE formation and all of its sets no matter what. So if I put a player in a position in Nickel that player would stay in that same spot in Nickel Normal, Wide-9, Nickel Strong, Nickel 3-3-5, whatever. And the player didn't move or sub even when you accessed the packages on the right stick. The only way to take the player out was to manually sub, which to me went against the point of formation subs in the first place.

I may want Vic Beasley as a 3rd down rusher in a Wide-9 set, but I may not want him to play in Nickel Strong because that's more of a run stopping set. But with formation subs you're stuck with Beasley in every Nickel set.

This is where custom packages comes in because I can create my own packages within the sets. Now I can have Courtney Upshaw who is listed as an OLB on Atlanta's roster, but is 272 lbs. -- now I can create a run-stopping package in Nickel Normal where he plays defensive end, along with Tyson Jackson, another stout run defender with no pass rush traits as a defensive tackle and have Derrick Shelby as the other defensive end. Then when I want to get after it and close a game out I got my pass rushing Nickel Normal package with Beasley on one edge, Derrick Shelby slid inside as a tackle in place of Tyson Jackson, with Adrian Clayborn coming off the bench as the other end... (pretty much the way Dan Quinn has indicated).

Now Madden has done a really good job the past few years of adding default packages to reflect actual personnel, but it has hit a wall and isn't able to keep up with what's going on. Like the Raiders defense. One week Khalil Mack is a defensive end, the next he's an OLB.

Now all of this may seem like a bit much and I know this isn't something everyone will get into, but the potential addition of formation subs indicates there is thought in the design of this game toward players who immerse themselves in this type of strategy, so I'm just saying let's go all the way. Formation subs are great, but they are a half-measure. Custom packages truly offer more control.