Madden CFM planning?

[Kfox93]

When it comes to your CFM, how I'm depth do you get into the game? Like how serious do you take the salary cap into consideration? When it comes to the draft, how do you go about scouting your players? Do storyline draft prospects matter to you? Do you create a plan heading into the off-season or just jump in and do whatever? How do you balance out game prep?

[Toupal]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kfox93

When it comes to your CFM, how I'm depth do you get into the game? Like how serious do you take the salary cap into consideration? When it comes to the draft, how do you go about scouting your players? Do storyline draft prospects matter to you? Do you create a plan heading into the off-season or just jump in and do whatever? How do you balance out game prep?

In madden 12, I get very detailed into everything. I think Maddens' draft story lines mean well, but they really don't hold any context to me. When I could load draft classes from NCAA, I felt like I had my own story line that beats anything Madden has put out for that.

Scouting has become a little too easy for me (as far as QB's and RB's go). I usually just look for a high combine grade, and usually the player with the most "green" in their combine stats is usually a pretty solid player.

It is also hard for me to create a plan going into the offseason, because I have no idea what that offseason is bringing me as far as free agents and the draft go. I do plan out my salary cap, and I will cut or trade a player if they aren't living up to their contract (Jay Cutler).
If CFM had a segment or storyline that highlights upcoming free agents, or teams that are looking to release a player, then I could do some planning. But it is usually a surprise when I open up the free agent menu.

Same with draft. I have no idea who is going where, or what teams in front of me have what needs. Additionally, I would like to trade picks as easy as they do in the real draft. I would like a function, similar to that in MLB the Show, where I tell a team what I want, and they tell me their asking price. If they had a mock draft it would be a lot easier for me to plan as well to see who I can get in what round.

So in short, I try to make a plan, but I am pretty limited by the lack of depth and knowledge madden gives me to make a plan.

[bloobloouk]

I have a salary cap spreadsheet that I use for team planning:


I track every player who is on the roster at start of the regular season, and set budgets for contract negotiations going forward. It also allows me to track depth within position groupings, and players are classified as:
STAR = Important member of the roster
CORE = Starter or key rotational player
BACKUP = First on the chopping block
DEV = Young player with potential. Will enter either CORE or BACKUP by time their rookie contract ends.

It's hardly the most sophisticated system, but it has worked relatively well for me. My online CFM is just me and my brother in law - he doesn't do any tracking, and consequently is always panicking about the cap even when he shouldn't be!

We've reached the 2021 season since I took that screenshot and my projected figures now run much further into the future. I'm now projecting only 140k in cap room for 2024 - eeek!

Doing this work has really made me wish that Madden allowed contract restructures. The reason I am descending into cap hell is because of the backweighting of contracts. My QB counts $28m against my cap in his final year of a 7 year $110m - I wouldn't have structured it that way!

[Kfox93]

Quote: Originally Posted by bloobloouk

I have a salary cap spreadsheet that I use for team planning: I track every player who is on the roster at start of the regular season, and set budgets for contract negotiations going forward. It also allows me to track depth within position groupings, and players are classified as: STAR = Important member of the roster CORE = Starter or key rotational player BACKUP = First on the chopping block DEV = Young player with potential. Will enter either CORE or BACKUP by time their rookie contract ends. It's hardly the most sophisticated system, but it has worked relatively well for me. My online CFM is just me and my brother in law - he doesn't do any tracking, and consequently is always panicking about the cap even when he shouldn't be! We've reached the 2021 season since I took that screenshot and my projected figures now run much further into the future. I'm now projecting only 140k in cap room for 2024 - eeek! Doing this work has really made me wish that Madden allowed contract restructures. The reason I am descending into cap hell is because of the backweighting of contracts. My QB counts $28m against my cap in his final year of a 7 year $110m - I wouldn't have structured it that way!

That is awesome! I have never went as far as making spread sheets, but I think it would be pretty cool! How do you handle your scouting?

[BB_Dynasty]

I'm a huge Bills fan. I exclusively play CFM with the Bills. My CFM planning is simple, identify my "core" and who I want to be as a team. Find players that fit the vision, develop those players, then keep them long term. To do this I don't spend big in free agency, just supplement the roster with quality depth.

The Bills often haven't had a core worth developing or a true identity, so that makes each year challenging and fun. I do my best to mimic what the team seems to be doing in real life. I ran the tampa 2 with Dick Jauron and a spread offense with Chan Gailey etc. Each year of Bills misery in real life has brought up unique circumstances in my virtual football world.

This year has been so much fun offensively. Sammy Watkins, LeSean McCoy, and Tyrod Taylor are a great trio. Add in Charles Clay and Percy Harvin who mysteriously stays healthy in Madden lol. Defensively, I haven't figured it out yet. The Bills roster isn't setup for the 3-4 and I still haven't figured out the right combination to make it work consistently. Madden 17 should be great with Shaq Lawson and Reggie Ragland, plus the roster should be officially set up for the 3-4, but I'm still trying to figure it out for this madden lol.

[whitey7886]

In previous years I would ge fairly in depth with my career especially when you could bring players from NCAA and follow careers of those players. I love when you can take young guys on your team and have them become stars and hall of famers. You would keep them around just to see them make it to the Hall even when they werent as productive anymore. Now with drafting its all about finding the next guy, someone fast or bigger to helo you win now. I dont follow the draft story lines as it doesnt much matter to me and I often dont get a chance to have those guys on my team anyway. Qb's are so good from the draft now that you just get rid of you star qb to save money and have a star in 3 years anyway. With the fall off of current players 4 years in its easier just to cut them and get new young guys in there. So the overall takeaway of CFM is for me, I just cant create a connection to players the way it sits now. I play half of my games and sim the other half for the season. As for gamw prep i dont waste my time, I just sim that each week. The only thing I really do during the season is unlock draft grades and play the games. In week 2 I usually sign all of my expiring contract players that I will keep, if they want to much they are gone and I'll find a rookie to relace them. I hardly sign free agents unless I'm rebuilding. Then I usually in the first 2 to 3 years sign lineman and db's to get me through until I can get decent ones drafted and improve them.

[OhMrHanky]

People have kind of complained about the draft/scouting/watchlist setup implemented with madden 16, but it works pretty well for me and I feel like I don't have to spend quite as much time with scouting as before. For positions that I know I want to improve with young drafted players, I get the full scouting report on the 1-3 rounders and maybe even more, just to get as much info on all those players at the position. I then 'watch' the specific players with my fav traits. Like a MLB - I want high Hit Power, actually, FIRST! Lol. Pursuit and tackle should obviously be important. But, I want a THUMPER in the middle who can hit hard and cause fumbles. So, I watch the few who really look like players I want. I tend to always scout HB, WR, and CB somewhat heavily, or at least look at many players top 2 traits in order to have a broad spectrum to look at come draft time. Because, once the combine stats come out, I then look for speed, #1, across the board (potential kick returners or special teams guys). I then watch those players from HB, WR, and CB with high speed numbers, or I watch 'freak' players. Like, a large WR with blazing speed. Or, a small cornerback with high strength or something random like that. That is what I like about the watchlist mechanism. U really can use it for combine guys that don't show the greatest traits, but might actually indicate a 'superstar' trait. And, having on the watchlist, I can more quickly look at them in 5th round or later if they are still there. That way, I might get some random stud late in the draft. I NEVER draft Olinemen. Lol. I use free agency for that. I tend to go for 80-90 overall for linemen as they will be solid, but won't cost as much as a 90+ Olineman.


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[Harmfuleffect]

You Sir, have impressed me! I keep a notebook full of numbers, notes, rankings, upcoming player scouting tips, etc. but this takes the cake!