Is it just me or is Offline CFM completely busted now?

[ijumpedthegun]

I just started playing again after a few months hiatus from Madden, hoping the time for patches and the distance would make this game fun for me again.

I can appreciate that the contracts are more difficult to squeeze under the cap, but it seems impossible. I let some veterans walk, signed some guys during free agency on the cheap (that I shouldn't have been able to sign for that price) and still had to tweak some of the existing contracts to make it work.

It's so bad that in the CFM I'm in that even the CPU teams are struggling. After 5 weeks of free agency, the top 5 free agents, which included guys in their mid 20s in the 80s and 90s in OVR, were unsigned. None of them even had offers.

It feels like the cap number never changes from year to year. Makes me wish this game was more like NBA 2k,where the user can actually edit things like the overall cap, inflation rate, contract inflation/demand sliders, etc. because apparently EA can't give us a workable game themselves.

When the CPU drafts, it tends to ignore the QB position until round 3 or so, which is just bizarre.

Am I going crazy here? Just a bad data set in the one CFM I'm playing right now?

[booker21]

Re: Is it just me or is Offline CFM completely busted now?

this would be the first madden to have realistic cap if this is true.

[JoshC1977]

Re: Is it just me or is Offline CFM completely busted now?

I just started playing again after a few months hiatus from Madden, hoping the time for patches and the distance would make this game fun for me again.

I can appreciate that the contracts are more difficult to squeeze under the cap, but it seems impossible. I let some veterans walk, signed some guys during free agency on the cheap (that I shouldn't have been able to sign for that price) and still had to tweak some of the existing contracts to make it work.

It's so bad that in the CFM I'm in that even the CPU teams are struggling. After 5 weeks of free agency, the top 5 free agents, which included guys in their mid 20s in the 80s and 90s in OVR, were unsigned. None of them even had offers.

It feels like the cap number never changes from year to year. Makes me wish this game was more like NBA 2k,where the user can actually edit things like the overall cap, inflation rate, contract inflation/demand sliders, etc. because apparently EA can't give us a workable game themselves.

When the CPU drafts, it tends to ignore the QB position until round 3 or so, which is just bizarre.

Am I going crazy here? Just a bad data set in the one CFM I'm playing right now?

Just curious, did you use custom draft classes?

[ijumpedthegun]

Re: Is it just me or is Offline CFM completely busted now?

this would be the first madden to have realistic cap if this is true.

Not sure "No team can afford to sign the top free agents" is a realistic cap, but I support your right to custom-tailor the game that way.

[ijumpedthegun]

Re: Is it just me or is Offline CFM completely busted now?

Just curious, did you use custom draft classes?

Yeah, I'm running with the Associated Fictional Draft Classes that CWSapp has been working on. That shouldn't impact the game at this point though, right? It's only the second offseason and none of the players have gotten incredibly good or even hit their second contracts.

[Landeye]

Re: Is it just me or is Offline CFM completely busted now?

I read somewhere that the CPU offers contracts based purely on overall, so if the best QB in the league is an 80 overall they get paid less than if they are 95 overall regardless if the stats are the same. With their being so many higher rated players in the default roster you get the crazy contracts. After doing a 20 year sim with tdawgs xp sliders the overalls are lower and in my franchise teams don't seek to have as much of an issue with cap space.

[jaebonez34]

Re: Is it just me or is Offline CFM completely busted now?

I just started playing again after a few months hiatus from Madden, hoping the time for patches and the distance would make this game fun for me again.

I can appreciate that the contracts are more difficult to squeeze under the cap, but it seems impossible. I let some veterans walk, signed some guys during free agency on the cheap (that I shouldn't have been able to sign for that price) and still had to tweak some of the existing contracts to make it work.

It's so bad that in the CFM I'm in that even the CPU teams are struggling. After 5 weeks of free agency, the top 5 free agents, which included guys in their mid 20s in the 80s and 90s in OVR, were unsigned. None of them even had offers.

It feels like the cap number never changes from year to year. Makes me wish this game was more like NBA 2k,where the user can actually edit things like the overall cap, inflation rate, contract inflation/demand sliders, etc. because apparently EA can't give us a workable game themselves.

When the CPU drafts, it tends to ignore the QB position until round 3 or so, which is just bizarre.

Am I going crazy here? Just a bad data set in the one CFM I'm playing right now?

Something they need to put in the next madden connected franchise is to be able to renegotiate a players contract. Perfect example: Tom Brady did this a couple of years ago where he let the patriots renegotiate his contract so they would be able to sign some guys. If your team has already given a certain player a huge amount of money then depending on your salary cap there is nothing you can really do.

[JoshC1977]

Re: Is it just me or is Offline CFM completely busted now?

I read somewhere that the CPU offers contracts based purely on overall, so if the best QB in the league is an 80 overall they get paid less than if they are 95 overall regardless if the stats are the same. With their being so many higher rated players in the default roster you get the crazy contracts. After doing a 20 year sim with tdawgs xp sliders the overalls are lower and in my franchise teams don't seek to have as much of an issue with cap space.

That's actually incorrect. Contracts are based more on their ranking in the league. I've done long-term sims using XP sliders all at 25%....upper-echelon QBs with OVRs in the high 60s are making exorbitant money....and it's true across the board. It's the one thing Madden does that actually makes a lot of sense....

I think that a lot of what you see later on in franchise is due more to CPU teams using a "Stars and Scrubs" approach. Very few CPU teams carry high-priced depth at any position...backups tend to be players on rookie contracts or really crummy vets. It's a pretty smart approach IMO (one the NFL has been trending towards in the last 2 decades IRL) and while it may result in lower team OVRs, their top-end talent is still usually quite competitive.

[Tonesta78]

Re: Is it just me or is Offline CFM completely busted now?

I just started playing again after a few months hiatus from Madden, hoping the time for patches and the distance would make this game fun for me again.

I can appreciate that the contracts are more difficult to squeeze under the cap, but it seems impossible. I let some veterans walk, signed some guys during free agency on the cheap (that I shouldn't have been able to sign for that price) and still had to tweak some of the existing contracts to make it work.

It's so bad that in the CFM I'm in that even the CPU teams are struggling. After 5 weeks of free agency, the top 5 free agents, which included guys in their mid 20s in the 80s and 90s in OVR, were unsigned. None of them even had offers.

It feels like the cap number never changes from year to year. Makes me wish this game was more like NBA 2k,where the user can actually edit things like the overall cap, inflation rate, contract inflation/demand sliders, etc. because apparently EA can't give us a workable game themselves.

When the CPU drafts, it tends to ignore the QB position until round 3 or so, which is just bizarre.

Am I going crazy here? Just a bad data set in the one CFM I'm playing right now?

So I just experienced this at the end of my 2020 season, and wanted to see if anyone else had had the same issues.....now I see it wasn't just me.


I actually quite like the cap system from a User perspective - it's a genuine challenge at times to put together a competitive 55 man roster, and you can't keep all of the players you'd like to. There's some realism there.


Where the realism is lost is when it comes to the CPU roster management.


The most egregious example, for me, was Julio Jones.
Now I get that the Matt Ryan contract puts the Falcons in a bind, and therefore can see why they would have to let him go.
But then Julio, an aging but still 95 OVR WR, sits on the Free Agent Market for the whole off season without an offer. Once the 2021 season starts, I look around for him - and see that he signed a $700k 1-year deal with the Jets!!


It wasn't just him - a bunch of the top free agent vets ended up signing league minimum deals having not gotten an offer in Free Agency. The Dolphins signed a bunch of high priced players, the Patriots signed Deshaun Watson to replace the retiring Tom Brady, I signed Trent Williams to bolster the Chargers line.....and everyone else who was any good went unsigned through the Off Season.


Still love the game, but this was rather immersion-breaking!

[DSonTL]

Re: Is it just me or is Offline CFM completely busted now?

I noticed the FA signing problem the last few seasons but I dont let it break the game. I just imagine storylines in my head and keep it pushing. But if they sit before the Reg season starts, I WILL pick them up. LOL. They never do tho