When it comes to Franchise Mode in the Madden NFL series of games, there are as many ways to play as there are Madden Fans. Everyone has their own “perfect” way of playing and developing their favorite team, and I’m no exception.
My favorite way to play is Owner Mode. Owner Mode allows me to take control of any team in the NFL and live out my dream of running an NFL franchise. Staff decisions, player decisions, facility decisions, draft day decisions – you get the idea. When I play, I take this one step further and play each game in Coach Mode. I don’t control the players beyond snapping the ball, kicking, and going for the occasional pick or sack. I play for the simulation, the reward of making the best decisions based on the information available. When I do well, the franchise flourishes. When I don’t do well, the franchise struggles.
At the core of my franchise philosophy is treating year one as a rebuilding year regardless of the team I’m running. I look for the weak points and try to shore them up before I play down one, minute one, of the first preseason game.
The first year can be tricky. You have a lot of data for the team you run at your fingertips and working through each team’s unique quirks and peccadilloes can be time consuming. You may need to increase revenue but you don’t have the capital to invest in your stadium. Maybe you have a ton of cap space tied up in one or two mediocre, veteran players in the middle of their contracts. Every team is a riddle to be solved.
While I was looking for details on how contracts work in Madden and how to minimize cap penalties without resorting to toggling the “remove cap penalties” button in the settings menu like some players do (you know who you are), I found a couple of links to madden-school.com which you can find here (PAGE 1, PAGE 2).
Managing your salary cap in Madden NFL should be your number one priority for your franchise – beyond “win now”, beyond fan demands, beyond unhappy players. Why? If you fail to manage your cap, you will fail to remain competitive. Staying competitive keeps fans coming to the games and buying merch which in turn keeps the team competitive by having ready cash available for coaches salaries and player contracts (See what I did there? The Circle of Football Life my friends).
Yes, it is beyond tempting to sign or trade for Nick Chubb and Davante Adams, but doing so can damage the future of the franchise. Going for the top free agents or trading for the best players only works when, like some players, turn the salary cap off (again, you know who you are, STOP IT!).
So what is the solution? How do you stay cap friendly and competitive? My suggestion is look no further than the Green Bay Packers, the New England Patriots, and the Seattle Seahawks. Each of these teams use some form or variation of Draft and Development for their teams. Although this approach is far from fool proof, it is a good way to manage a salary cap and remain competitive. Look at the number of winning seasons over the last 15 years for each team:
– Packers: 10 winning seasons in the last 15 years and 12 with a winning percentage of at least .500
– Patriots: 15 WINNING SEASONS!*
– Seahawks: 11 winning seasons
*NOTE*: 2000 was the last season the Patriots had a losing season.
Right now you might be asking, “what is Draft and Development?” In the most simple form, teams draft or sign young players rather than spending money on big free agency acquisitions. Teams will protect the free agents they can such as a franchise quarterback, top tier wide receiver, and key offensive or defensive lineman, but they generally will not break the bank for one or two players. Remember, there are 53 players on a roster and there is only so much cap space to work with.
Looking to the draft and young, talented free agents, the Draft and Development approach allows team to build up financial strength so when an opportunity to acquire one or two top prospects presents itself, teams can pounce. Look at what Green Bay did in free agency last year signing Adrian Amos, Za’Darius Smith, and Preston Smith – three of the most coveted free agents available, and the Packers landed them all and a trip to the NFC Championship game!
How does it apply to Madden? The same way you apply it in the real NFL – you sign young, talented players to your roster through the draft and free agency, make sure you are carrying 75/75 players on the preseason roster, then play the hell out of them in each preseason game.
This serves a couple of different purposes. First, they will gain XP from training and playing in games which earns them development points. Development points are used to improve each players abilities, which in turn translates to on field performance, which in turn earns more XP…you know the drill. The second, and in my opinion more important purpose they serve is to protect your starters from injury! Injuries happen in the preseason and sometimes they can be devastating to a franchise, not just from a win/loss perspective, but also from the perspective of remaining competitive (yep, that NFL life circle thingy again).
At the end of preseason review the stats and development of your players from the preseason. Keep players that did well on the active roster, sign players with potential to the practice squad (where they will continue to develop week to week), and cut the rest. You’ll know who were the standout players in the preseason, they’ll be the players that improve week in week out, game in game out, and they will have the stats to back them up.
This is by no means a complete guide, but it will at least get you pointed in the right direction. In Part II of this series I’ll go into how to find offensive players with a lot of potential by looking past the OVR rating and signing players that fit your team/scheme rather than broad score overall.
Regards,
Johncow
2cowsgaming.com 