============================================================================== Madden NFL '09 Off-Season Walkthrough FAQ(Version 1.0; August 19 '08) Written by: Aj_the_one ============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A.Version History B.Introduction C.Legal Stuff D.Owner Off-Season D1.Staffing D2.Training Staff E.Stadium E1.Rename E2.Rebuild EE1.Design Stadium EE2.Secure Funds EE3.Submit Proposal E3.Upgrades E4.Pricing E5.Information F.Regular Off-Season Schedule F1.Retired Players F2.Roster Management F3.Restricted Free Agents F4.Re-Sign Players F5.Free Agent Signing F6.The Draft FF1.College All-Star Game FF2.Rookie Workouts FFF1.Draft Time and Ratings Conversion FF3.NFL Draft F7.Roster Management F8.Sign Draft Picks F9.Free Agent Signing(Part 2) F10.Re-Order Depth Charts F11.Start New Season G.My Franchise details and year end moves H.Credits *Represents nothing changed from '08 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A.Version History ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Version 1.0- FAQ Completed ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ B.Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WELCOME!!! to the offseason. To those who won the Super Bowl congrats!!! and to those who didn't with some good off-season moves you'll get there soon enough. I should note that if you don't care much about how much money you make then you would probably do well to skip this section. Anyway enough with the intro let's get started. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ C.Legal Stuff ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ My FAQ may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal or private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site except for www.gamefaqs.com and www.ign.com or as part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. Copyright 2007 Armand Sellers ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ D.Owner Off-Season* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here you have a couple of options that concern the financial state of your team and also your coaches. Since this will be comprehensive I will break down each option and explain what I think your best move should be. There is nothing that changed from last year's game in thi section. D1.Staffing There are some people who I have spoken to who believe that your coaches don't matter. Well let me tell you now: IT MATTERS A GREAT DEAL!!! Your coaches affect just about everything that goes on with how your players play. If you have coaches who have poor defense and don't have high ratings with certain positions then not only will your defense play a little poorly(You can't control everyone on the field)your players won't progress as much in the off-season. With that said I'll break down the different coaches(Head, Offensive, Defensive, Special) and what their ratings mean. Ratings(What they mean) MOTivation- This stat basically determines how riled up your coach gets your players. This is useful in pressure situations(especially on defense). Always try to get a coach with a high stat. Work ETHic- This determines how hard your players are worked by coach. This is important for discipline. I've noticed teams that are lead by a coach with poor ethic commit more penalties(I should note that the difference isn't astonishing and quite hard to spot) CHeMistry- This stat(though I really haven't seen a difference for this) is for how well your coach meshes with the rest if team. As you all know the more you team plays like a team the better your chances of winning. KNoWledge- This stat determines preparedness for the game(Once again this one is a little harder to spot the difference). A coach with low Knowledge won't hurt you team to much. OFFense- This is very important(though not so much if you have already your go to plays nad can gain easy yardage). This helps determine how good your offense is(Mostly with the AI). Your Offensive coordinator should always have a high offense as this also determines your offseason progression. DEFense- This is the most important stat that a coach can have as it determines(along with the players you have) how good your defense is. A coach (either Head or Defensive) with a high defense stat can make a defense better than it actually is. My Head Coach is always defensive minded as is my Defensive Coordinator since most of the defense is controlled by the AI and a high defense makes them smarter and raises their awareness in the offseason. Offensive Line- This determines your effectiveness with your offensive line. Most of these ratings determine how much the players at that position progress during the season. This isn't as important because my OL has 5 players with high ratings(avg 96) and they get better regardless(due to pancaking alot of people and not giving a lot of sacks. Quarter Back- This rating determines how much better your QB gets as the season progresses and at the end of the season. This is important if you have young QB's because you would want them to develop as fast as possible so they can win Super Bowl's for you. Running Back- This rating determines how much better your RB gets as the season progresses and at the end of the season. Like QB's this rating should be high if you have a young RB or 1st Round pick who you want to develop in a Star. Wide Reciever- This rating determines how much better your WR gets as the season progresses and at the end of the season. You should get the general theme of the position ratings by now but this is important if you want to develop a young WR into a threat then your coach should have a high rating Defensive Line- This rating determines how much better your DE and Dt's get as the season progresses and at the end of the season. Since I place more emphasis on defense than offense these ratings are especially important. The higher the rating the better they will get in the offseason and the better they will play also. Line Backer- This rating determines how much better your LB gets as the season progresses and at the end of the season. My coaches normally have a high LB rating because I rely heavily on my LB's(Manny Lawson and Patrick Willis) to roam the field and get tackles and deflect passes. As such they need to get smarter(AWR) faster and with a high LB rating they will grow faster. Defensive Backs- his rating determines how much better your CB's and Safeties get as the season progresses and at the end of the season. I can't stress the importance of having a coach who is good with the secondary. Since they are almost always controlled by the AI they will need to be smart because if they aren't your going to get beat deep and give up alot of yards. Make sure that your HC or DC has a high DB rating so they will progress faster. Kicker- This rating determines how much better your Kicker gets as the season progresses and at the end of the season. This is important because everybody needs a good kicker. The better the coach the better the kicker gets. Punter- This rating determines how much better your Punter gets as the season progresses and at the end of the season. This is important because everybody needs a good punter to put the ball deep in their own territory when your O fails. IMPORTANT!!! I should note that Chemistry and Knowledge are that important in my experiences. The most important stats are Motivation, Ethic, Offense, Defense and the position stats. Also my coaches for Head coach and Defensive coordinator are interchangeable because I love defense coaches. HEAD COACH This is leader of your team on the sideline and as such this is the only coach who dosen't need to have stellar player ratings. He should however have a high MOT, ETH, CHM, and KNW. These are leader qualities and I feel are the most important. Recommended Stats- High Coach stats, High defensive player stats. Recommended Coaches- Joe Gibbs, Ron Rivera, Mike Nolan OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR The counterpart of the Defensive Coordinator, this guy is responsible for calling your offensive plays and some of your playbook(You Head Coach also makes these decisions). For me the OC isn't that important because I know how to run my offense to maximum effectiveness and most of my young players are already stars so there's no need for them to develop. Still I believe in spending money if you want to win so I would recommend a coach with a high Offense stat and good player stats also(high 80's to mid 90's) in addition to a high motivation stat. Recommended Stats- High MOT and High offensive player stats. Recommended Coaches- Tom Moore(Colts offensive mastermind), Mike Martz, Al Sanders. DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR This guy is responsible for your defense. What plays you call your playbook, how they play, how motivated they are. As such it is extremely important that you make sure that he has high ratings in Defense and also high player ratings as this will make your entire defense better than it is. Recommended Stats- High Defense and Defensive player stats, High ETH. Recommended Coaches- Monty Kiffin, Joe Johnson, Mike Nolan SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR This guy is responsible for the development of your Kikcer and Punter. He also is responsible for everything related to special teams including kick and punt returns(though not in this game) Recommended Stats- Kicker and Punter player ratings Recommended Coaches- John Marciano, Jay Decamillis, F.Gansz Jr. D2.Training Staff I to think this really didn't matter that much until I chose I crappy company and had 5 players get injured in the first game of the season. For the money this is the best injury prevention you can get. RECovery- This is how long it takes for your players to come back from an injury. The higher the stat the shorter the injury will be. PReVention- This how efficient your staff is at preventing injuries. The higher this stat the less injuries your team will see. KNoWledge- This is a combination of the two stats. This stat basically compliments the other two decreasing the chance of injury and also the length of the injury. Recommended Companies- Livelihood Training, Doc's Training Studio ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ E.Stadium* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This option has everything to do with the physical appearance of your stadium. Like I said earlier in the FAQ, if you don't care much about how much money your franchise makes then you really won't bother with your stadium because alot of the stadium has to do with making money but that's something else so read on for your dream stadium!!! E1.Rename You can rename your stadium for a certain amount of money per year from alot of different companies. The most offers I have gotten in an Offseason was 4. None of which were very good. I would recommend that you pick a contract that is in line with your team success. If you always win the superbowl then wait for a contract that demands that you win the super bowl because these normally pay you more money. If you only win 8 games then choose a sponsorship that pays you to win at least 8 games that way you get some money for your franchise which helps keeps you above the salary cap and out of the red. E2.Rebuild If you aren't happy with your current stadium or you just want to switch it up you can rebuild your own stadium. This has various benefits because more often than not your new stadium will make more money than your old stadium and will look better to you because you designed it!!! I would recommend that everyone take this step as it will almost always maximize your profits. EE1.DESIGN STADIUM You have to build your stadium from a limited number of pieces for each section I will break down each option for all the section and what I think is the best design. N END ZONE 1st Deck- Indent, Stairs, Tunnel, Straight Across. My Opinion- I went with the straight across design because it has the most seats available 2nd Deck- Scoreboard, Open Ended, Scoreboard Cut-in, Straight Across My opinion- Once again I went with he straight across design because it offers the most seats which would mean more money for the team. 3rd Deck- Scoreboard, Split Scoreboard, Open Scoreboard, Closed Scoreboard, Straight Across. My Opinion- Once again I went with straight across because of the potential money. N CORNER 1st Deck NW Corner- Extended, Tunnel, Straight Across, Stairs My Opinion- Extended is the best option because it would have the most seats. 1st Deck NE Corner- Extended, Tunnel, Straight Across, Stairs My Opinion- Extended is the best option because it would provide you with the most seating. S END ZONE 1st Deck- Indent, Stairs, Tunnel, Straight Across. My Opinion- I went with the straight across design because it has the most seats available. 2nd Deck- Scoreboard, Open Ended, Scoreboard Cut-in, Straight Across My Opinion- I went with the straight across design because it has the most seats available. 3rd Deck- Scoreboard, Split Scoreboard, Open Scoreboard, Closed Scoreboard, Straight Across. My Opinion- I went with the straight across design because it has the most seats available. S CORNER 1st Deck SW Corner- Extended, Tunnel, Straight Across, Stairs My Opinion- I went with the straight across design because it has the most seats available. 1st Deck SE Corner- Extended, Tunnel, Straight Across, Stairs My Opinion- I went with the straight across design because it has the most seats available. E SIDELINE 1st Deck- Straight Across, Stairs, Tunnel, Indented My Opinion- I went with the straight across design because it has the most seats available. 2nd Deck- Press & Luxury, Open Single Deck, 2 Decks, Straight Across My Opinion- I went with the straight across design because it has the most seats available. 3rd Deck- Press & Luxury, Press, Straight Across My Opinion- I would recommend that you go with the Luxury boxes because on average they should go for $7000 per box and there will either 44 or 88 of them generating a good amount of revenue. W SIDELINE 1st Deck- Straight Across, Stairs, Tunnel, Indented. My Opinion- I went with the straight across design because it has the most seats available. 2nd Deck- Press & Luxury, Open Single Deck, 2 Decks, Straight Across My Opinion- I went with the straight across design because it has the most seats available. 3rd Deck- Press & Luxury, Press, Straight Across My Opinion- I would once again recommend that you go with the luxury boxes because they will add to the amount of money you make and make it easier for you to hit the $10 million per game mark. ROOF/LIGHTS Roof/Lights- 4 Lights, 6 Lights, 8 Lights, Roof 1(Canopy Dome), Roof 2(Steel Truss with open middle), Roof 3(Steel Canopy Dome), Roof 4(Half canopy with connection to seats to open), Roof 5(Spider Web Canopy Dome). My Opinion- I went with the 8 Lights setup because I thought I might try some different than the 4. The only benefit to having a roof is that you stadium becomes weather controlled and you won't have to worry about playing in adverse weather(though this might backfire if you have to go to a cold weather stadium or play in snow or torrential rains. EE2.SECURE FUNDS Before you can get started on your stadium you need to have the funds approved. You can choose how much you want the team to contribute or you can sell Personal Seat Licenses. I Would recommend you put up at least 80% of the money required or at least enough until the bar is dark green. If your proposal gets rejected you have to try over next year to build your stadium. EE3.SUBMIT PROPOSAL You need to submit your proposal next and make sure that it dosen't get rejected by following my advice above. E3.UPGRADES There are a multitude of upgrades that you can make to your stadium to give your fans more to do or to make you luxury suites better. They even go so far as to have a heated field to avoid an icy field. Most of these upgrades are cosmetic such as the Screens but some do make a difference in the game notably the Heated Grass and the Medical Facility which helps your players recover faster by having a medical staff on the stadium. Team Theater Screen- Cosmetic change for your fans. Cost=$1.5 million Gourmet Coffe Shop-Cosmetic change for your fans.Cost=$1.5 million Global Village Eatery-Cosmetic change for your fans.Cost=$1.5 million Personal Video Game Consoles-Cosmetic change for your fans.Cost=$1.5 million Fan Wall-Cosmetic change for your fans.Cost=$1.5 million Interactive Kiosks-Cosmetic change for your fans.Cost=$1.5 million EA Arcade-Cosmetic change for your fans.Cost=$2 million Cup Holders-Cosmetic change for your fans.Cost=$2 million Internet Cafe-Cosmetic change for your fans.Cost=$2.1 million Super Suites-Cosmetic change for your luxury boxes.Cost=$2.3 million Gourmet Chefs for Luxury Boxes-Cosmetic change for your luxury boxes. Cost=$2.4 million Mega Suites-Cosmetic change for your luxury boxes.Cost=$2.55 million Luxury Box Masseuse-Cosmetic change for your luxury boxes.Cost=$4.55 million Retractable Glass Windows-Cosmetic change for your luxury boxes.Cost=$6.1 million Light Projection System-Cosmetic change for your fans.Cost=$6.6 million Medical Facility-Reduces amount of time players are hurt during game. Cost=$8.15 million High Tech Playground-Cosmetic change for your fans.Cost=$8.15 million High Fidelity Audio System-Cosmetic change for your fans.Cost=$9.15 million Five-Star Restaurant-Cosmetic change for your fans.Cost=$10.2 million Super Screen-Cosmetic change for your fans.Cost=$10.2 million Personal Audio Systems-Cosmetic change for your fans.Cost=$12.2 million Heated Grass-Prevents your field from freezing if you play in a cold weather city.Cost=$13.25 million LED Video Screen-Cosmetic change for your fans.Cost=$15.3 million Massage Seats-Cosmetic change for your fans.Cost=$15.3 million Rainwater Collection-Saves you money every year by collecting rainwater for irrigation and cleaning.Cost=17.85 Reduces Maintenance costs by $1.4 million each year. HDTV Replay System-Cosmetic change for your fans.Cost=$20.4 million Retractable Field-Adds versatility to your field by adding mobility if rains or snows when a game isn't being played.Cost=$25.5 million IMPORTANT!!! I should note that each upgrade with the exception of the rainwater collection adds a certain amount to your stadium maintenance per year. Since most of the upgrades don't actually do anything I would recommend you only get the medical facility and Rainwater collection. Everything else can be added as you like though it's all cosmetic E4.PRICING These are the prices of your tickets, parking, merchandise and your consessions. TICKETS Here is where you set the prices for your admission tickets. Depending on popular your team is I normally recommend that you raise the ticket price for everything until the price is $3 in the white. This will give you a small boost in revenue while not pissing away your fan support. CONSESSIONS Here is where you set the prices for the various foods that you sell at your stadium. Every team(and stadium) has it's own area specific food(for my team it's the San Fran Super Dog). Whatever your specific food is you should raise the price on this at least until the the white arrow appears next to the price MERCHANDISE Here is where you set the prices for the souveniers that you sell at your stadium. Jersey's, Programs, Hats, Bobble Heads, Foam Fingers are what I sell at my stadium. PARKING Here is where you can adjust the prices for the 5 types of parking tickets. I normally leave them right on the border of green and white since the fans don't complain that much. ADVERTISING This is where you choose how much money you spend to get your fans to the games. The most effective is Television and if your fan support is high then you'll only need to spend about 750K on that for you home games to bring you to 100% attendance. E5.INFORMATION This is the breakdown of just about everything you could want to know about your franchise. Everythign from how much your coaches are making to how much you made for the year. TEAM INFO This basically gives a synopsis of you trades and signing while also showing your coach/team prestige. FAN SUPPORT This shows the level of support that your fans have for your team on a yearly basis. It is shown by a bar graph representing the years. The more you win the more the your fans will support the team and come out to the games which in turn will make you more money from your attendance. ATTENDANCE This one is pretty self explanatory. It shows the level of your attendance for the season. The more fanse you bring in the higher the bar graph will be. EXPECTATIONS This bar graph shows what the owner and fans expect of the team in the next year and the years in the future. If you win the Super Bowl then your expectations will be to repeat but if you finish in the bottom of the league then your fans will expect a minor improvement next season which will be reflected in the bar graph. INCOME This shows in both a bar graph and pie chart how much money your team made last year and also per game. The bar graph is used to show how much money you made in your home games and the pie chart is used to sow how much you made for the last home game and also the for the total year. A very useful tool if you care about how much money you make and also your owner rating. EXPENSES Like the income section this shows your teams total expenses for the year in a pie chart. It shows the total breakdown of where the money went. If you want to find a way to save some money then look no further than this expense chart to find out where most of your money is going and where you can trim it. FRANCHISE/TEAM This shows the avergae ratings of every position on your team. It also shows which 3 players have the most expensive contract on your team and the length of said contract. Also included in this menu are the coaches salaries and their base rating(not player ratings) and how much they make and stack up a gainst the league in terms of how much they get paid. STADIUM INFO This menu displays all the information onn your stadium including it's name, age and condition amongst other things. It also displays all the upgrades you have bought for the stadium. Not very useful except for when you want a synopsis of your stadium. CITY INFO This displays the inforamtion about the area city your team is in. It shows the average temperature at the beginning and end of the season(Sept-Dec), and also the avg. income of the area. It also shows how many teams are in the same state as your team. OWNER RATINGS This shows what your rating is as an owner. This is compiled by whether you were in the red for the year and also if your team won the super bowl. Not really important but you can see how other owners are stacking up against you. E6.RELOCATION If you feel the need to you can move your team to another city or even another country. There are alot of different choices for you to pick from but more often than not the most attractive site will be Los Angeles. Once you pick your city you will have a process to complete you relocation which I will detail. EE1.SELECT LOCATION You're automatically taken here when you press relocate so you should choose where you want to go. The higher the desire of the city the more funding you will get to build your team. Recommendation-Los Angeles, California(Why not bring football back there) EE2.DESIGN STADIUM Here is where you will build your new stadium. It's the same process as in the Stadium so feel free to look back there for my recommendations on how to build your stadium. EE3.SECURE FUNDS This menu also remains the same as when you are building a new stadium but now you get a relocation package which is money to help you finance your stadium. EE4.SUBMIT PROPOSAL Same as before if your application is rejected you will have to start over again next year. EE5.CHANGE NICKNAME Here you can change the name of your team and also you primary and secondary colors. You can pretty much let your creativity fly here in designing your colors and team name. EE6.CHANGE UNIFORM Similiar to change nickname only your dealing with your jersey design. There are a multitude of colors available for you to choose from and like your team name you can pick whatever makes you happy... after all it is your team. EE7.FINALIZE Here you will submit your total application and will be warned that your fans won't be pleased with your moving and for to expect a rough year financially. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ F.Regular Off-Season Schedule ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is the meat of your team building and the part of the game responsible for keeping your franchise dominant or getting it there. I will outline each option and give my recommendations for what you should do. I should note that the outline for this year's game hasn't changed. F1.RETIRED PLAYERS I normally skip right through this section because I keep my team young and seldom have any retirements on my team. If you want to see who retired for the year then look no further than this screen. If breaks it up by position and can be sorted from top to bottom in whatever rating you want. F2.ROSTER MANAGEMENT In this screen you will see the player whose contract is up. The players that you see are the ones that the game thinks you should cut. Often I don't follow this but to each his own. F3.RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS These are the players who have been with your team for 3 years and are set to become free agents. You can a make an offer to them and depending on how much offer another team must meet you demands to sign the player. So if you offer the max they will have to give up a first round pick to get your player (depending on how good he is). F4.RE-SIGN PLAYERS This section of the offseason is crucial because you have to choose who to resign and who to release. Also adding to the frustration is that some of your player will holdout if they feel they aren't being paid enough. I would recommend that you resign your higher rated players that are hard to replace at least until you can get a rookie or younger player to take their place. IMPORTANT!!! When signing contracts for players you know you aren't going to trade give them the MAXIMUM SIGNING BONUS but reduce their total salary until the bar turns yellow or red. The point of this is to minimize the damage to your team salary eveyr year. I have seen contract where players earn 6 million this year then the next year earn 9 or 10 million. These kind of jumps are unhealthy for the long term position of your team. I REPEAT only do this with players you aren't going to trade. If you trade them you will take a heavy penalty and will have to play that bonus for the length of the contract. Also avoid the franchise tag. It will take a chunk of you cap this year l imiting what you can do with rookie contracts and free agency. F5.FREE AGENT SIGNING If your team struggled last year then this would be the ideal place for you to improve your team. Just be wary of player over 33. At this age their stats will start to decline at the end of the year. If your team is relatively young and good then you really won't need to sign a free agent unless you want to make a strong case for repeating. IMPORTANT!!!My contract guidelines apply with free agents too. Give them a high bonus but low salary so their salary doesn't jump an astronomical amount over the length of the contract. F6.THE DRAFT I'm pretty sure some of you have skipped to this section to see what I have to say about the draft and my recommendations well look no further I will outline everything about the draft especially how to interpret the scouting times into ratings for your players. FF1.COLLEGE ALL-STAR GAME I've only done this once. While I had fun playing the game I really wouldn't recommend it because it wastes alot of time and you can just as easily see the players that you want by running them through the combine. I do like the idea of playing with the teams to get a feel for how they would play on team and getting a first hand look at their talents. FF2.ROOKIE SCOUTING This is the most important part of the draft because it will give you a barometer of how the player will be in the NFL. Once you select a player there a couple of mini-camp drills that you can do gauge the players talents. I'll break these down also. IMPORTANT!!!!Yous hsould always look to see what the player got on their interview. It determines their Awareness which is important at every single position. IF the interview is anything below Great Tread lightly. I would recommend picking players who got average or below on their interview only if they are physically gifted for their position and their stupidity can be overlooked(A LB who runs the 40 in 4.3-4.40) QUARTERBACKS Pocket Presence/Precision Passing mini game- Needless to say you wold want to get a gold because it will give you the only insight into how strong the QB's arm is. You will also know by the how hard he throws the ball during the drill so pay attention to how fast the ball is moving. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Pass Accuracy Gold-Pass Accuracy, Scouting Report RUNNING BACKS Catch Ball/Route Running mini game- As usual you should try to get gold on these drills but I would recommend that you do the catch ball drill as it's easier to get a gold. You also get a preview of how fast you back will be. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Hands Gold-Hands, Scouting Report Ground Attack mini game- Depending on how many holes you need to fill I would recommend only doing this drill as it's put all aspects of your RB on display and should be pretty easy to get a gold. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Run Power Gold-Run Power, Scouting Report Kickoff/Punt Return mini game- This is exactly as it sounds. It's a test to see how many yards you can get from a kickoff/punt. Not worth using a workout though. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Kick Return Gold-Kick Return, Scouting Report FULLBACKS Catch Ball mini game- As usual you should try to get gold on these drills but I would recommend that you do the catch ball drill as it's easier to get a gold. You also get a preview of how fast you back will be. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Hands Gold-Hands, Scouting Report Ground Attack mini game- Depending on how many holes you need to fill I would recommend only doing this drill as it's put all aspects of your FB on display and should be pretty easy to get a gold. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Run Power Gold-Run Power, Scouting Report QB Protection mini game- This will reveal how well your FB blocks pass rushers Again not worth using a workout. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Pass Blocking Gold-Pass Blocking, Scouting Report WIDE RECIEVERS Catch Ball/Route Running mini game- As usual you should try to get gold on these drills but I would recommend that you do the catch ball drill as it's easier to get a gold. You also get a preview of how fast you WR will be. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Hands Gold-Hands, Scouting Report Kickoff/Punt Return mini game- This is exactly as it sounds. It's a test to see how many yards you can get from a kickoff/punt. Not worth using a workout though. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Kick Return Gold-Kick Return, Scouting Report TIGHT ENDS Catch Ball mini game- As usual you should try to get gold on these drills but I would recommend that you do the catch ball drill as it's easier to get a gold. You also get a preview of how fast you TE will be. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Hands Gold-Hands, Scouting Report QB Protection mini game- This will reveal how well your TE blocks pass rushers Again not worth using a workout. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Pass Blocking Gold-Pass Blocking, Scouting Report OFFENSIVE LINEMAN QB Protection mini game- This will reveal how well your OL blocks pass rushers If you are considering taking an OL in the first round then do this workout if you don't have alot of targets to scout. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Pass Blocking Gold-Pass Blocking, Scouting Report Trench Fight mini game- This will reveal how well you OL blocks when running the ball. Like OB Protection only do this if you have the workouts to waste. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Run Blocking Gold-Run Blocking, Scouting Report DEFENSIVE LINEMAN Chase and Tackle mini game- I would recommend this workout if your end has a 40 time of at 4.45. This would put his speed in the low to mid 80's suitable for chasing down the RB. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Tackling Gold-Tackling, Scouting Report Trench Fight/Rush QB mini game- The Rush QB mini game is the most accurate indicator of how he will perform in a game situation. Trench Fight will basically showcase his speed, strength and agiliy also. I would recommend the Rush QB if your DE or DT has a 40 lower than 4.5 and a bench or at 28 placing his strength around the mid 80's. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Tackling Gold-Tackling, Scouting Report LINE BACKERS Chase and Tackle/Rush QB/Trench Fight mini game- I would recommend the Chase and Tackle workout if your serious about drafting a LB because it shows you his agility, speed, acceleration and tackling all the tools he needs to be effective. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Tackling Gold-Tackling, Scouting Report DB Cover- I can't recommend that you waste a workout on this game because hands aren't a vital stat for your LB, at least not enough to warrant wasting a workout on a fairly hard mini game. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Hands Gold-Hands, Scouting Report CORNERBACKS AND STRONG SAFETIES Chase and Tackle/Rush QB/Trench Fight mini game- I can't recommend the Chase and Tackle workout for your corners of Strong Safety because you can get all the info you need from the DB cover mini game. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Tackling Gold-Tackling, Scouting Report DB Cover/Swat Ball mini game- If you are going to draft a corner or safety then I would recommend you do the Swat Ball workout because it shows you everything that's important at the position Speed, Acceleration, Agility, and Catching and it's easier to get a gold in. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Hands Gold-Hands, Scouting Report Kickoff/Punt Return mini game- This is exactly as it sounds. It's a test to see how many yards you can get from a kickoff/punt. Not worth using a workout though. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Kick Return Gold-Kick Return, Scouting Report FREE SAFETIES DB Cover/Swat Ball mini game- If you are going to draft a corner or safety then I would recommend you do the Swat Ball workout because it shows you everything that's important at the position Speed, Acceleration, Agility, and Catching and it's easier to get a gold in. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Hands Gold-Hands, Scouting Report Kickoff/Punt Return mini game- This is exactly as it sounds. It's a test to see how many yards you can get from a kickoff/punt. Not worth using a workout though. Bronze-Nothing Silver-Kick Return Gold-Kick Return, Scouting Report FFF1.Draft Time and Ratings COnversion In this section I will display the time or unit of measure for the player then convert it into what their rating should be. IMPORTANT!!!These ranges are from the highest that I have seen the rating matched with what the scout said(I saw a LB who had amazing Tackling and had a rating of 93). So these aren't perfect but they should be really accurate and let you know what you are getting. 40 Yard Dash This is responsible for your speed rating. Be careful though. I drafted a HB who ran a 4.27 40 but whose speed was only 90. This was because his Shuttle time was a ridiculous 3.68 which gave him great acceleration. Also it should be noted that speed is one of the Core stats that can't be trained or raised by workouts. IMPORTANT!!! These aren't perfect estimates only a blanket range. Since the speed is difficult to determine from the 40. 4.2-4.29=95-99 4.3-4.39=89-94 4.4-4.49=82-88 4.5-4.59=75-81 4.6-4.69=68-74 4.7-4.79=61-67 4.8-4.89=53-60 4.9-4.99=Under 50 Shuttle Run 3.7-3.79=96-99 3.8-3.89=92-95 3.9-3.99=88-91 4-4.09=86-87 4.1-4.19=79-85 4.2-4.29=70-78 4.3-4.39=62-69 4.4-4.49=56-61 4.5-4.59=50-55 Below 4.6=Under 50 Cone Drill 6.6-6.69=96-99 6.7-6.79=88-95 6.8-6.89=85-87 6.9-6.99=82-84 7-7.09=78-81 7.1-7.19=74-77 7.2-7.29=66-73 7.3-7.39=57-65 Below 7.4=Under 50 Bench Reps 35-40=95-99 34-30=85-94 29-25=80-84 24-20=75-79 19-15=65-74 14-10=59-64 Under 10= Below 50 Vertical Above 40"=92-99 39-35=83-91 34-30=70-82 29-25=56-69 24-20=Below 50 IQ Test Amazing=74-81 Great=67-73 Above Average=60-66 Average=55-59 Below Average=50-54 Terrible= Below 50 Arm Accuracy Amazing=87-93 Great=80-86 Above Average=74-79 Average=66-73 Below Average=Don't bother Terrible=Don't Bother Run Power Amazing=88-95 Great=80-87 Above Average=73-79 Average=66-72 Below Average=58-65 Terrible=Don't Bother Hands Amazing=83-88 Great=76-82 Above Average=69-75 Average=61-68 Below Average=Don't Bother Terrible= Don't Bother Run Blocking Amazing=87-93 Great=80-86 Above Average=73-79 Average=66-72 Below Average=Don't Bother Terrible= Don't Bother Pass Blocking Amazing=87-93 Great=80-86 Above Average=73-79 Average=66-72 Below Average=Don't Bother Terrible=Don't Bother Tackling Amazing=85-92 Great=78-84 Above Average=71-77 Average=63-70 Below Average=55-62 Terrible= Don't Bother Kick Power Amazing=93-99 Great=86-92 Above Average=78-85 Average=71-77 Below Average=Don't Bother Terrible=Don't Bother Kick Accuracy Amazing=93-99 Great=86-92 Above Average=78-85 Average=71-77 Below Average=Don't Bother Terrible=Don't Bother F3.NFL Draft Here is where you will pick the future of your team!!!You can either draft your rookies and start them or draft and trade them for more experienced players(Which I wouldn't recommend becuas they will probably grow to better than the player you will replace them with). In this section I will suggest the best attributes that you should look or in your players at each position other than the numbered estimates(40 time, cone, shuttle etc.) IMPORTANT!!!If you want to render this whole FAQ useless you can just cheat and simulate the entire draft all the way to the free agent signing and see which rookies are the best and their actual ratings in the view rosters screen Though this will make you league unbalanced if you keep on picking the best talent each year. QUARTERBACK Since this player will be you firld general you should want his awareness to be as high as possible. Also his accuracy should, at the very least, be above average though I would recommend Great or Amazing. Also his scouting report should say he has an amazing arm because Throwing power is harder to raise than Accuracy(for me anyway). Arm Strength-Should have a scouting report stating he has a very good or amazing arm. Arm Accuracy-Should be either good, great or amazing. IQ Test-Should be amazing or at least great. HALFBACK The most important qualities in your HB should be speed(Since it can't be raised by training or games)and Running power which is his ability to break tackles. Run Power-Should at least be Above Average. Better if it's anything above Good Hands-Since this is his catching and carrying it should at least be Good FULLBACK I wouldn't suggest that you waste a workout on the fullback since you would probably have more pressing needs at other positions. But the stats would be the same for the Halfback with the exception of the blocking. WIDE RECIEVER The most important aspects of your WR should be speed and hands(alongside agility and acceleration). Hands-Should be Amazing or at least Great as you don't want to have to train this. TIGHT END Like the fullback you should only scout a TE if he runs the 40 with HB or WR speed. Other than this it's not worth the scout. Same stats as the WR. OFFENSIVE LINE If you are looking for the next great OL then you should scout some one who they project to go in the Top 5 or 10. Since this is a hard position to predict how good someone will be. Run Blocking-Should be no lower than Great Pass Blocking-Should also be no lower than Great. DEFENSIVE LINE Since the only thing you can go on is tackling make sure this is at least great along with a bench of at least 28-35. Tackling-Should be at least Great. LINEBACKER Since these will make or break your defense(most of the time) speed should be important as should tackling. Tackling-Should be at least Above Average but preferably Great or Amazing. Hands-Doesn't really matter but I guess at least Average depending on how much they will play the field. DEFENSIVE BACKS These guys should be fast and should have at least Above Average hands so they don't drop to many INT's. For the safeties tackling should be at least Above Average. Tackling-At least Above Average for safeties, Average for corners Hands-Should be at least above average. KICKERS If you want to scout a kicker or punter(which I only do if I'm looking for a career kicker for my team)then Power is more important because Accuracy will be raised as the season progresses. Kick Power-At least Great Kick Accuracy-At least Good F7.ROSTER MANAGEMENT Nothing has changed in this screen, as it's the same as before. F8.SIGN DRAFT PICKS Like your free agents the rookies who you know are going to be great you should sign to long term(6-7 years) deals with a large bonus, as this does 2 things: It keeps them happy and it reduces the amount that they gain every year of the contract which is better for your team. Just make sure that you reduce their salary if you raise their bonus. F9.FREE AGENT SIGNING Like before there are some players who didn't get signed(rookies too)and you can choose to sign them or let sit in free agency. I have gotten a couple of gems in this pool. They were rookies who didn't get drafted but had great potential. F10.RE-ORDER DEPTH CHARTS You can auto adjust your depth chart(to get rid of open backup positions)then just pick through and change whatever you don't like. This is the easy way as opposed to going through it from scratch. F11.START NEW SEASON Happy with the moves you made in the offseason?Well get ready to start training camp. Which is exactly what this option will do. Once you press this you will move on to training camp ending your offseason. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ G.My Franchise and Off-Season Moves ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ YEAR 1(19-0 Superbowl Champs) I started my franchise with the 49ers and immediately made trades for a younger set of CB's(Leon Hall;Bengals,Richard Marshall;Panthers both are 23). I Reggie Smith to SS and I picked up C.J Gaddis as FS since he's fast and hits hard. I also wanted to strengthen my front 4 so I went and Keith Rivers(Bengals LB and he's 22) and changed him to a LE which made his overall 93. I also wanted to get a good young WR so I went and got Devin Thomas(Redskins and he's 22). I also switched Delanie Walker to FB from TE caus he is fast and can catch. I traded my 1st, 2nd and 3rd round picks for the Bears 1st and 3rd round picks(since I know my picks are going to be last). Simply put I made my team younger and slightly worse for the interim because I know in a year or two my players overall will go up by at 6 or 7 in the first year(Which the players that I got have went up). Here is the lowdown on my moves by option. COACHING CHANGES-Hired Monte Kiffin as my Defensive Coordinator and F.Gransz Jr. as my Special teams Coordinator NEW STADIUM!!! I desgined my own stadium which is basic in design but will seat 81,000 people and bring me at least $9-10 million every home game. RETIREMENTS- Allen Rossum(CB), Issac Bruce(WR) ROSTER MANAGEMENT- Released Ashley Lelie(WR), J.T O'Sullivan(QB) RFA's-Got a 5th round pick for Parys Haralson(LB) RESIGN PLAYER-Eric Heitmann(C; OVR=92)Total=$7.86M/3yrs, $3.12M Bonus Shawntae Spencer(CB; OVR=83)Total=$8.71M/3yrs, $3.48M Bonus FREE AGENT SIGNINGS-None. I feel they are overpriced temporary fixes. DRAFT PICKS- Richard Thompson(LOLB;Age=21)=Not Signed Marcus Willis(MLB;Age=21)Total=$17.36M/7yrs, $6.93M Bonus Ovr=78 Tak=82 Awr=70 Str=84 Agi=70 Acc=86 Spd=85 Cth=75 P.Hall(WR;Age=21)Total=$17.85M/7yrs, $7.14M Bonus Ovr=76 Cth=79 Spd=98 Acc=85 Agi=90 Awr=44 Jmp=99 Btk=66 Str=61 T.Gaffen(LOLB;Age=23)Total=$6.25M/5yrs, $900K Bonus Ovr=74 Tak=71 Awr=61 Spd=84 Str=78 Agi=80 Acc=87 Cth=50 C.Mays(RT;Age=22)Total=$6.00M, $800K Bonus Ovr=71 Pbk=83 Rbk=66 Awr=70 Str=93 Spd=59 Acc=87 Agi=46 D.Poole(LT;Age=21)Total=$5.85M/5yrs, $800K Bonus Ovr=71 Pbk=85 Rbk=66 Awr=66 Str=95 Spd=49 Acc=83 Agi=55 C.Rose(K;Age=23)Total=$3.15M/7yrs, $1.05 Bonus Ovr=74 Kac=80 Kpw=90 Awr=87 FREE AGENT SIGNINGS-None REORDER DEPTH CHARTS-Not quite sure how to map this out.... START NEW SEASON-As you can see from my offseason work I choose to homegrow alot of my talent, as it's cheaper and the team has more chemistry as a result. YEAR 1 SCORECARD= 11672 Points ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ H.Credits ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - EA Sports for making another Madden game and satisfying the Football hunger - The NFL for having such a great sport - Gamefaqs for posting my FAQ -You the readers for motivating to write the FAQ Anything that you have to add or any comments please e-mail me at: Koolkid11434@yahoo.com