[htown5933]

Well, guys.... it happened.

I have some good news and some potentially not so good news.

The good news is with this "No sports" thing going on I'm losing my mind and fighting boredom BIG TIME. That led me to try something I'd mentioned last year when I "tried" to retire from making the draft prospects lol.

Finding a draft class, taking pics of prospects' information, ratings, etc. on your phone then simply copying that when creating a prospect. I didn't go that route last year as I took CJ's rosters and starting editing and adding to that if you'll remember.

But, with the draft bug biting and the boredom setting in, I tried it a few days ago. I found a draft class that initially looked good to me. I tried a couple of the ones with the most downloads but didn't like 'em. Speed ratings seemed way off, equipment wasn't close, guys bodies looked like the Hulk, etc.

Now, I'm no college football expert, but I like the equipment to be accurate (hopefully to their last season and not from 2 or 3 years ago). I also like the speed ratings to be consistent. I've used a chart given to me by one of the guys who kept the NCAA game alive for years. Finally, too many roster makers have guys looking like professional wrestlers or comic book characters. Not saying I'm an expert by any means but the draft class I chose was partly because I liked the way the guy made his prospects LOOK body wise.

After looking at a few of the top picks and being impressed with the accuracy of the equipment I started copying and creating. Unfortunately, at some point I realized the consistency with the equipment wasn't as good as I initially thought. So, after creating 35 guys I had to go back and adjust a large majority of them.

So... that's the good news is. Looks like retirement from making prospects may be put off for another year.

The bad news is... I believe Jerwoods said there's only 112 CAP's this year. I know last year I had to stop in the 6th or 7th round as it just got too difficult and pretty much impossible to find rookies already in the game that weren't making teams and use them for the remaining draft picks.

There are 255 draft picks this year. If there are only 112 CAP's it makes it extremely difficult to get a "good draft class". Much harder than in the past.

I just went through the FA pool and each team to get a feel for how many rookies are already in the game that MAY be available. This is far from guaranteed and was just at first glance. I came up with being able to add anywhere from 207 to 263 rookies this year. That always causes some issues as there are guys who don't like using guys already created by EA as they feel they have a shot at making the roster. Becomes very hard and almost impossible to add every rookie while making everyone happy.

This all translates to : a guarantee to have the 1st two days of the draft - rounds 1-3 - included with newly created guys.

A very good chance of getting guys through round 4 included (146 picks). A decent chance of getting guys through the 5th round included (179 picks). A fair chance of having guys through the 6th round included (214 picks). Then it gets tough. It gets to a point where you hate "taking guys already made by EA off teams" to create the draft picks.

I already had a guy dislike the Free Agency roster because it didn't have the XFL and CFL guys his team had signed. No offense guys, but every year teams sign guys like that and they almost never make the team, much less have any impact. If the guy isn't already created by EA I'd rather use the CAP slots for potential draft picks. I can always try to add an XFL or CFL guy later if it becomes apparent he's going to make the team or have a good shot at it.

Now the question is, will I be able to continue as I have in the past? The main reason I tried to stop last yeas was it was so tedious and even tough physically - you guys laugh, but you'll get old one day lmao. The neck, shoulder and back issues from constantly being on the laptop while creating is a killer. At least by just "copying" - and now verifying equipment and 40 times only for the most part, it's seemed easier. Hopefully that continues.

I can't imagine not creating at least the 112 CAP's into prospects and getting through the 1st two days (through the 3rd round). Hopefully I'll want to keep going and create more from existing players but, we'll see.

My goal is to get 15 guys done tonight which will give me 50 of the top prospects for now (well, 49... I accidentally copied/created TE Byrcen Hopkins who I should've waited on). I'll upload when I get to 50 to give you guys a preview of what it's looking like.

Just wanted to give you guys a heads up of what's going on and hopefully some good news during this crazy time we're in.