Some general tips
Draft Picks- Many new players make the mistake of trading away high draft picks for players that are 7-8+ seasons of experience thinking they are one piece away (in this game you are very rarely 1-2 pieces away) all this will do is deplete what should be your young core in a couple seasons.
-The main take away here should be that 1st and 2nd round picks are vital to building your roster and should be treated as precious commodities.
Player Evaluation-Vital skills are much more important that overall rating
-The AI default ratings are often poor at determining the kind of player that will truly be effective in the sim
-The success of players at most positions will often correlate heavily to one or two key attributes
-Having players that fit into what you want to do is more important than having the highest rated guys, some times highly rated guys will perform worse than lower rated guys, this is especially true at the QB position. Do not be afraid to play the lower rated guy if he is clearly playing better.
Positional Importance-People may have different opinions on this, but this is my general opinions on it in order of importance with what I feel are the key attributes
SS - Speed, Tackling, Man Coverage, Zone Coverage, Punish Reciever
- This will typically be my very best defensive back, also in the current sim this will probably also be your leading tackler
DE - Speed, Pass Rush, Strength
- Strength could be somewhat questionable in how important it really is for an effective DE. Run Defense and Tackling is nice to have as well. Getting pressure on the QB is of vital importance
CB - Speed, Man Coverage, Punish Receiver, Tackling
- Even with elite CBs you're going to give up a lot of yards/catches in single coverage at times, there's really not much you can do about it in the current sim.
DT - Speed, Strength, Run Defense, Pass Rush
- The DTs that the AI generates are much too slow for my tastes, I prefer to move a DE to DT to get the high speed I prefer. Speed Rushing DTs really rack up the sacks in the Current sim. How well any Defensive linemen clogs up running lanes is questionable, and even mediocre DTs will randomly blow by the Center or Guard and tackle the HB in the backfield for a 2-3 yard loss.
QB - Speed, Scrambling, Pass Accuracy
- QB play tends to be pretty random, I could arguably put their importance near the top but it's just so hard to gauge how well one will actually play regardless of ratings that I often have a hard time justifying putting a great deal of resources into the position.
-On the other hand if you have a sack magnet statue of a QB then good luck moving the ball against any owner that knows what they're doing.
FS - Speed, Punish Receiver, Tackling, Zone Coverage, Man Coverage
- For me these guys play more zone than any other DB, I've gotten by with pretty mediocre players here before, in fact I could be totally off on their actual importance. I can usually hide my worst man coverage DB here if they play well in zone coverage. Just watch your play calling if your FS isn't good in man coverage.
HB - Speed, Avoid Fumble, Ball Carrying?
- HB success will usually be almost entirely based on how fast they are, fumbling tends to be pretty random at times so some backs get away with lower avoid fumble, while I've had guys with 80+ avoid fumble put the ball on the ground like it's their job. Ball Carrying helps a guy reach his maximum speed with the ball in his hands, I've had some guys be fairly successful with lower ball carrying though.
LBs - Speed, Punish Receiver, Man Coverage, Tackling, Run Defense
- WLB/MLB/SLB in that order is how I'd put my best LB to my worst, your WLB and MLB will see the field much more, and most running plays tend to go to the weak side so you'll want your best backer on that side. Also MLBs and WLBs are going to blitz much more than your SLB, infact the SLB is usually one of the worst players on my defenses and it doesn't really seem to matter much at all. LBs in this game are going to have far less tackles than what you'd expect in real football, they seem to be really poor at getting off of blocks in this game.
WRs - Pass Reception Courage, Pass Catching, Route Running, Speed
- I'm not really even sure that Speed is vital here, WRs do not really seem to create a lot of separation in this game and if you have a good QB you may not need very good WRs to be successful passing the ball.
Offensive Line - Pass Blocking, Run Blocking, Strength
- Speed and acceleration is nice to have but it seems to have little impact on how well an offensive linemen pass blocks, strength seems to be the most important attribute in the running game. Linemen seem to do a poor job getting outside to block on outside running plays, I avoid the vast majority of outside running plays because they simply do not work well. Pass protection seems to be all about the pass blocking rating.
TE/FB
- I've had several teams get by with complete duds here, additionally you really have to find a way to tweak your offense to get even elite TEs involved so I put little effort into these positions. Personally I like good run blocking TEs with good strength that are also solid route runners, but it is not a priority position.
K/P
- If possible I like Punters with high kick holding to save a roster spot if I have no QBs that are good kick holders.
- Kickers seems to miss more FGs and XPs than they should imo and at times seems completely random, Kickers in this game annoy me more than anything because they always seem to miss at the worst times.
Contracts- Players will have a bonus amount that they will expect in order to re-sign with your team
- You can set the length at a maximum of 6 years, the bonus at 75% and just give them enough to fulfill that bonus amount, that will allow you to sign them for the lowest possible cap hit.
- If you cut or trade a player, or they retire, the remaining bonus money will count against your dead cap and basically act as a penalty against your salary cap.
