Operation Sports Forums - View Single Post - Could Madden ever have true role players?

TMJOHNS18 · 10-09-2017, 12:01 AM

Watching another Sunday's worth of football has made me look at one of Madden's limitations yet again. In the perfect world sports games would reflect their true life counterparts. But, they don't. It's almost impossible to recreate the crazy world of sports, some games do it well, some games don't.

When it comes to Madden there is clear disconnect between game day and the game in many ways, one of them being the 'role player'. Watching games this week I once again see guys like D'Onta Foreman, James White, Duke Johnson, blocking TE's, Tavon Austin, Mathew Slater, etc. who are role/situational players who are not rated high enough to be starters but play a significant role for their respective teams.

These guys and many others are the reason a team rosters 53 players, but Madden doesn't reflect this in its current state. Sure human players can use formation subs in a way to replicate it, but the CPU will always default to OVR and never differentiate between player strengths.

Look at Tarik Cohen of the Bears. He's quick, agile, can catch, and is explosive. But at this stage of his career he isn't an overall stud RB (or he could be but hasn't been given the playing time to see). Yet he only gets a handful of touches and a portion of snaps each week. In Madden's current state he'd be a pure backup who would only be given opportunities on third down (if he is rated the highest 3RDB) or if Howard is injured.

In its current state Madden clearly can't incorporate role players. But, could it ever? American Football is a very complex sport, outside of multiple depth charts for multiple situations, it would seem unlikely to happen.

10-09-2017, 12:01 AM	#1
TMJOHNS18 MVP OVR: 10 Join Date: May 2011	Could Madden ever have true role players? Watching another Sunday's worth of football has made me look at one of Madden's limitations yet again. In the perfect world sports games would reflect their true life counterparts. But, they don't. It's almost impossible to recreate the crazy world of sports, some games do it well, some games don't. When it comes to Madden there is clear disconnect between game day and the game in many ways, one of them being the 'role player'. Watching games this week I once again see guys like D'Onta Foreman, James White, Duke Johnson, blocking TE's, Tavon Austin, Mathew Slater, etc. who are role/situational players who are not rated high enough to be starters but play a significant role for their respective teams. These guys and many others are the reason a team rosters 53 players, but Madden doesn't reflect this in its current state. Sure human players can use formation subs in a way to replicate it, but the CPU will always default to OVR and never differentiate between player strengths. Look at Tarik Cohen of the Bears. He's quick, agile, can catch, and is explosive. But at this stage of his career he isn't an overall stud RB (or he could be but hasn't been given the playing time to see). Yet he only gets a handful of touches and a portion of snaps each week. In Madden's current state he'd be a pure backup who would only be given opportunities on third down (if he is rated the highest 3RDB) or if Howard is injured. In its current state Madden clearly can't incorporate role players. But, could it ever? American Football is a very complex sport, outside of multiple depth charts for multiple situations, it would seem unlikely to happen.