To carry forward from my previous long post (sorry)
So, I'm a big believer in using the redshirt mechanic to help build a dynasty that seems to never waiver from its ability to reload with top talent every year and maximize my time to play certain players with stats I was thrilled to find while recruiting a top recruiting class. This strategy is especially helpful thanks to the ability to unlock coach skills that help prevent players from transferring or leaving early in the draft. Let's get to the mechanic and how I propose to improve it in offline dynasty.
From your actions tab, scroll right to "team" (using R1 or RB depending on platform)
The bottom option should be "Redshirts" and once selected should take you to your roster with "ALL" players showing, likely with best "OVR" player showing at the top and so on...
I personally prefer to work in individual positions, so sort to QB (or any position that shows players previously redshirted as well as players not currently redshirted)
How to know the difference: players previously redshirted will be "greyed-out" and under "YEAR" will show something like "SR(RS)" and furthermore when you highlight a player by moving your cursor/analog stick up/down, the profile at the right of your screen will show a logo of a redshirt with RS on it below his rating to the right of his image.
This image is one of the current issues that I'm talking about... we will get to that in a minute.
The players still available to redshirt will be in white lettering and you can select one by pressing X or A depending on your system. Once you do this, it places the shirt logo on the left side of the player's name in the column for "RS" as well as highlights the player's entire row in red when you scroll away. This highlighting I find particularly useful and will come back to it shortly. Note that the redshirt logo now also appears in the top right of their profile just like it does for previous redshirted players... this becomes a confusing issue in the next session.
If you back out and select "View Roster" and get back to the position group you tested with, (QB for me), you will see all players in white lettering (no more "greyed-out") and the player you just redshirted with the logo in both places, but the row is no longer highlighted red. Pay attention to what's missing from the previous redshirted players... the logo in both places. I believe the "RS" column was intended for currently redshirted (based on our previous step) but what is up with the logo next to the player's image on the right??? My thinking is it was somehow also intended for only current redshirts, but not previous ones, yet fails to follow that logic when using the "Redshirt" mechanic. Not major yet, but confusing so far.
Back out and select "Depth Chart", get to the player group used so far. You will see # column that allows players to be placed in order you want (#1 being the starter in that group). Once again, the previous redshirted players are missing both logos (making more sense that logos are only meant for current redshirts) while current redshirt players have both logos and are now in RED LETTERS (Seriously, thank you for this as it is useful). If you try to put a current redshirt player into your depth chart by selecting them, you even get a "Warning" message. These exact depth chart mechanics should be used in-game.
Last time, back out. Go to actions tab and play a game. At kickoff, press pause. Scroll down to "Coaching", select it to then select depth chart. Here's where things fall apart. Go to your player group for the last time. Scroll through, previous redshirt players have the logo back again, next to their image at the right. Same for the current redshirt players. This is the only designation for redshirt players in game!!! There is no red highlight or lettering for current redshirts. More importantly, when you select the current redshirt player there is no longer a warning message. You can place them without any idea that you are burning their redshirt status. As mentioned in my previous post, the auto-mass-sub also has nothing to prevent it from burning a current redshirt player's status. This definitely needs to be addressed at some point. Not game-breaking, but certainly an issue and bigger one depending on how you play your offline dynasty.
TL;DR:
Fix - previous redshirt players should not display "red t-shirt" logo
Improve - More safeguards to prevent current redshirt players being subbed in during played games.
