How and why improving player development/ratings will improve franchise

I think it is well known that there are a lot of issues within the Madden Franchise. I think it is easy to look at the current player rating/development system and think that it is actually pretty good in the grand scheme of all the problems, and the focus of improvement needs to be elsewhere. I am here to argue that point and I hope to convince you (preferably a Madden dev) otherwise.

When I start thinking about how I would improve franchise mode, I realize it is fundamentally important to have a robust player rating/development system. It is the building block upon which every other system operates on. If you want a good scouting system, coaching system, weekly practice system, free agency system, gameplay system, then you need a solid foundation on how players are set up in Madden. These other systems will only be as good as the foundational of a good player rating/development system. Here is how I would improve the current system.

Let’s start by examining the current Star, Superstar, and X Factor system. This system serves two purposes currently. How fast the player develops and their access to abilities. My first proposition is to is to keep these in the game, however separate them from how fast the player develops and gains experience. How do we do this? The solution is to move these into the Player Tag function rather than being its own thing. You could then use this to drive up their price in free agency like other player tags do. Essentially now X Factor is a player tag that controls a player’s access to abilities and how much money they will be looking for in a contract. I would even go further than this and add a Role Player player tag. It would give the player access to some basic abilities and could be determined if they have a specific attribute high enough (such as 90+ juke move or Deep route running). You could develop rules to where certain career milestones such as making the pro bowl or being top 5 in sacks gives lets you bump up to the next level.
Next let’s get to the fun part, how player development will work.

Now I’m going to introduce some new ratings. The goal of this is to make player development much more dynamic. It won’t be just a single development trait like the current system. I would use a 1-99 rating for each of these rather than a letter grade or tier system to make it even more dynamic. Also there should still be scenarios and events that can change these, just like there are in the current system, with sliders and options to turn them on or off.

Here are some of the new ratings:

Potential: This is a player’s ceiling. Think of it as like the max overall a player will reach. A player’s athletic profile would factor into this a lot. If a player is an average athlete, then he might not have as high of a potential. This would also cap certain attributes in some cases. Some players may never be able to gain more than +15 in finesse moves or other categories.

Development: This controls how fast a player will get to his ceiling. A higher development means players will earn experience faster.

Durability: This controls how long of a player will be in the league before he starts to regress. A lower rating means the player will regress at a younger age. Long term injuries could potentially affect this rating.

We can now start imagining the possibility of such a system. You can now have players with a huge amount of potential, but will the ever develop fast enough to reach that potential? See Jamarcus Russell. We now also can have players that improve quickly, but never become an NFL superstar. See Andy Dalton. We can now have players that have huge potential and development but won’t be in the NFL for as long as other players. See Myles Jack. This would make roster management way more fun and dynamic. This alone would be awesome, we now have dynamic players rather the predictable players we have under the current system, but again I want to argue how much this would improve other systems.

The real fun though comes through the drafting system. The scenarios are limitless. Let users choose 5 medical combine players to scout to unlock a durability letter grade. Let users choose 5 or 10 personal workouts that unlocks a potential letter grade. Let users choose 10 combine interviews that unlocks a players Development letter grade. You just found out that that surefire pick that you got really excited about because he has A development and potential has a D durability trait and now you wonder if you should draft him. The QB you want has an A development rating but his potential is only a B, should you pick him and settle for just a good QB? The draft just got way more fun.

This could also then improve things like coaching trees. Maybe you can get bonuses for position coaches or coordinators for certain ratings. Maybe it’s a decision tree to where your coach can only improve one of the three. Maybe you could invest a lot of money into a medical staff to improve player durability. By building this new system, you have a player baseline that can drastically improve the system.

I’m now going to add another layer to roster management and introduce you to another two ratings that would drastically improve the game. I don’t think this system is quite as important as the first system, but it would add even more layers to roster management and even gameplay.

Play Knowledge: This is a rating introduced to mimic the aspect of learning a playbook. Rookies would come in with a pretty low play knowledge. You gain play knowledge through snaps. Weekly game planning also awards these snaps. Play Knowledge would serve two functions:

• Act as a multiplier for the player’s rating: If a player has a low play knowledge, it lowers their intangible ratings such as block shedding, play recognition, etc. Hopefully in game it functions to effectively lower the player’s reaction time.

• Prevent the user from Audibling or flipping the play or hot routes. This player doesn’t know enough to flip the run or audible or run a hot route.

Consistency: This affects the rate in which a player gains play knowledge. High consistency means a player learns quickly.

Now a rookie QB better know the play if you want to run your entire playbook and have flexibility. You should only bring in that rookie receiver for specific packages if you want to utilize him. This system essentially makes getting a player adjusted to your team important. You could assign draft prospects a college scheme, and if they go to a pro team with a different scheme, then they come in with a lower play knowledge. Same with signing a free agent prospect from a different scheme. Also now consistency really matters in the draft. You might have an amazing prospect, but he is always going to struggle to learn your playbook and be able to do what you need him to do.

You can improve weekly game planning as well and add in training camps to the game. You can add a feature to where you choose if you want to focus on game planning for a practice, training for an XP boost, or focus on improving play knowledge for everyone. Coaching staffs can have modifiers for improving play knowledge or consistency. Players with Mentor tags can give bonuses to their position groups for play knowledge. I now have another layer of strategy I need to monitor.

In conclusion, I think the main takeaway from this is how important it is to build up a robust player rating/development system to improve the game. Not just to make building a roster more challenging, but how much it would indirectly improve all other aspects of the game. Improving the player development system may not sound like it should be high on the list of priorities because their current system is functional and simple, but I hope I managed to convince you otherwise here and I hope some Madden Devs end up reading this. I am trying my best to pull a Deuce Douglas here.