Safety Run Support upgrades

[tg88forHOF]

Has anybody else noticed that upgrading the Run Support safety archetype is more optimal than the previous two years of the archetype system....maybe a little too optimal?

In previous years, dropping a point in Run Support would usually get you upgrades in PRC, TAK, AWR, and sometimes BSH. ZCV and MCV would upgrade, but rarely and slowly...that was the trade-off for taking a point in that archetype; your coverage would suffer over time.

This year, I'm still getting the other upgrades, but I'm also regularly getting 2-3 points across the two coverages...this last upgrade on a 73 OVR SS was a total of 5 stats: 1 in PRC and AWR, 2 in BSH, 1 in MCV, and 2 in ZCV. It's doing this consistently for me across all safeties, even those that already have reasonable coverage scores (I had an 82 OVR Zone archetype FS, who already had low 80s in both coverage scores get a point in each the other day, in addition to the Run Support stats).

It's very similar to M19, where Speed Rusher was the optimal upgrade to take for every DT, regardless of their archetype, because of the generous point spread it gave in other stats....enough so that EA tuned Speed Rusher down in M20.

I've been noticing this all year, so it's not a patch-related change. Anybody else seeing this, or do I just have the perfect storm of S stats to cause generous upgrades?

[stinkubus]

No, you are not alone in noticing this. Run Support are the best safeties and it's not close. I thought they were clearly the best in both M19 and M20, as well.

Most positions make you choose between quality of upgrades and quality of abilities but there's no trade off at safety. For example, Physical WR get the best upgrades but Route Runners get the best abilities. Slot CBs get the best upgrades but Man and Zone CBs get better abilities. All IMO, of course.

Safeties don't have to make that trade off.

[tg88forHOF]

Quote: Originally Posted by stinkubus

No, you are not alone in noticing this. Run Support are the best safeties and it's not close. I thought they were clearly the best in both M19 and M20, as well.

I know they were very strong "out of the box" (franchise start and generated draft classes) the last couple years, but the upgrades didn't stand out to me as so clearly optimal until this year...could be I simply didn't notice until now.

[stinkubus]

There's an RNG element to the upgrades so we could've gotten some different results. I have always gotten strong ZCV upgrades out of that path. This year seems more balanced between both man and zone but as you said you get great coverage upgrades down that path now.

The only catch is that there is no scheme which uses Run Support FS and you must have at least one FS on the roster.

[tg88forHOF]

Quote: Originally Posted by stinkubus

The only catch is that there is no scheme which uses Run Support FS and you must have at least one FS on the roster.

Yeah, I've just reversed strategy. Previous years, I'd look for RS FS I could easily upgrade into scheme fits via Zone/Hybrid upgrades (Zone, at least, has the benefit of not upgrading the other two archetypes so quickly that you're always behind).

Now I'm looking for the correct scheme fit, but with a very strong RS secondary archetype....the coverage upgrades are so generous that I can drop RS upgrades forever and Zone/Hybrid will still stay ahead.

Which, now I think about it, is exactly what I did with DTs in 19...points in SR fed enough points to the other two that they always stayed ahead.

[tearyourshirt]

What about using a scheme that uses a RS Strong safety? Take your RS FS and move him to SS, but start him at FS. That way, he’s still playing/starting and still in his primary archetype


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[tg88forHOF]

Quote: Originally Posted by tearyourshirt

What about using a scheme that uses a RS Strong safety? Take your RS FS and move him to SS, but start him at FS. That way, he’s still playing/starting and still in his primary archetype Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

The problem with that is, like Stinkubus said, the roster-checker requires you to keep at least one FS (that's actually listed at that position, not just depth charted into it). So you'd still have to keep a FS on the roster either out-of-scheme, or with stats that are less optimal than they could be.

It's one player, and scheme XP is less than it used to be, so it wouldn't end the world or anything, but the most optimal approach is getting a scheme fit FS and just putting all their upgrades in RS.

[tearyourshirt]

What I do to get a 100% scheme fit is have 1 FS that fits the scheme (Zone for example)
Start the the guy that you really want at FS (the converted RS SS) and put the 1 scheme fit FS at the 2nd or 3rd spot.

The way madden looks at it, on the scheme screen, it would show that you have 1/1 100% scheme fit at FS because it only looks at the actual position, as long as that player is somewhere on the depth chart.

So if I were running a 3-4 Under scheme, my depth chart would look like:

FS- Hybrid
1- converted RS SS (the RS FS that you originally wanted here)
2- next best option (could be a CB or SS or scheme fit FS)
3-scheme fit FS (if hes not good, just really here to fit the scheme

SS - Run Support
1- best SS (scheme fit)
2- the converted FS or next best player or scheme fit SS
3- scheme fit SS or CB or FS

With that setup, on the coach scheme screen, it would show you at 100% scheme fit at FS and SS with them getting the full XP that they should get!