Madden NFL 2003 Franchise Mode FAQ V1.0 By Joe Stock (maddenfaq@hotmail.com) Table of Contents 1. Version History 2. Overview & Legal Stuff 3. Starting a Franchise 4. Fantasy Draft 5. Franchise Menus 6. Preseason 7. Regular Season 8. Playoffs & Pro Bowl 9. Off-Season 10. Trading 1. V E R S I O N H I S T O R Y ---------------------------------------------- V1.0 First Draft. 2. O V E R V I E W & L E G A L S T U F F ---------------------------------------------- This FAQ is dedicated to the amazing Franchise Mode in the Madden NFL 2003 games. While I own the Gamecube version, this FAQ can apply to any of the systems. This FAQ is only for franchise mode, you will not find anything on how to play the game itself. Please email any corrections, comments, or questions to me at maddenfaq@hotmail.com If a question is answered in the FAQ, I will not respond. Its author, Joseph Stock, copyrights this FAQ. You may save and print this document for your own personal use. You CANNOT post this on a Website without the author's permission. These websites are the only places with permission to post this FAQ. If you are reading it on another site, please contact the author. http://www.gamefaqs.com/ 3. S T A R T I N G A F R A N C H I S E ---------------------------------------------- Franchise mode is where you can control a NFL team for up to 30 seasons. You are the Head Coach, the Quarterback and all the player positions and the General Manager. Franchise mode is under Game Modes in the main menu. It's right under Mini-Camps. From there you can either start a New Franchise or Load a saved one. The first screen is the Franchise Setup Menu. Here are the options. NUMBER OF USERS- Select how many teams you want controlled by humans. You can control anywhere from 1 team or all 32 NFL teams. COACHING CHANGES- Each Coach has Coaching Points. If this reaches 0 after a season, they could resign. You can have this on or off. TRADE DEADLINE- This is an On or Off option. With it on, you cannot made trades after Week 6. SALARY CAP- On or Off option. With it on, each team has a salary cap of $71.7 Million. You cannot go over this cap. This goes up as the years go on through salaries also rise. This FAQ assumes you have this option on for all advice given. CAP PENALTIES- On or Off option. With this on, when you release a player, you receive a cap penalty for the length of their contract. If another team signs him, the penalty ends. FANTASY DRAFT- On or Off. With this On, all current NFL players are thrown into a pool and a giant draft occurs, where all the teams select players to fill their roster. This Draft takes 47 rounds. With this option off, you start with the current rosters as of about Early Summer 2002. Once you've set these options, you than select the User Teams. You can only select one of the 32 NFL teams or you can import a Created Team and have it replace a team. Your created team will have that team's roster. Next, you chose your coach. You can use the real life coach of that team or you can create a new coach. Once you've selected your coach, you go to the Franchise Main Menu and start in Week 1 of the Preseason. 4. F A N T A S Y D R A F T ---------------------------------------------- In 47 rounds, you're looking to build the best team in the NFL. In this section, I'll breakdown what you need to have a legal team, what makes a good player in a certain position, my personal draft picks, and the top three players in each position. Of course the best players I'm rating by their scores in Madden, not their real life talent. Let's start by going over each position in order the game lists them. Let me note that for nearly every position, the AWR (Awareness) and INJ (Injury) scores are important. Awareness decides how smart the player is when the CPU controls him. Injury is obvious, the lower the score, the more likely you could lose him. QUARTERBACK (QB)- The star of the team. You must sign at least three of them, but the starter is maybe the most important player you will have. You're looking for good scores in these traits. THA- This is accuracy for throwing and is vital, since you have to get that pass exactly where you want it. THP- Throwing power matters, since the more power, the farther you can throw. CAR- Your QB will be sacked and if he fumbles, that can be deadly for a team. INJ- Nothing is worse than a star QB on the bench. SPD- If you got a really fast QB, he can run the ball if needed. HALFBACK (HB)- The main rusher of your offense. You need at least two. These guy will normally take hand-offs from the QB, but he also sometimes will act as a wide receiver and take passes. Here are the important traits. SPD- This is the runner and should be the fastest man you have. ACC- The faster he can make it to his top speed, the better. AGI- He's got to do some fancy moves out there. CAR- A HB who has trouble holding the ball will kill your running game. BTK- Breaking tackles well will help get that extra yardage you'll need. CTH- For when he does need to go out there and catch a pass. THA- There is plays where the HB throws a pass instead of the QB. A good score here just adds more plays to your offense. FULLBACK (FB)- This guy mainly blocks for the QB and the HB. You only need one. He will also run plays of his own, just to keep the defense guessing. Here are his traits. RBK- His number one job is to block for the HB in running plays. STR- A good blocker needs to be strong to win engaged blocks. SPD- He's got to keep up with that HB to block for him. Plus when he runs himself. PBK- Not quite as vital as running, but he does help protect the QB. BTK- When he runs, he usually runs right up the middle. CAR- Fumbles are not good. WIDE RECEIVER (WR)- These are the guys who run out looking for the passes. You need five. Their main job is to outwit the secondary and than catch the game winning pass. Here are the traits. CTH- I don't care how fast they are, they have to catch balls to be useful. JMP- Used for jumping over the cornerbacks and catching the impossible catch. AGI- Used for fancy moves like the juke to lose defenders. SPD- Just fly past those defenders. ACC- See above. BTK- Fight for those extra yards. CAR- Why run for 75 yards when you drop the ball 5 yards from the end zone? TIGHT END (TE)- These guys are a mix of wide receivers and Offensive Linemen. You need two. They mostly block, but do run out into the middle of the field for passes. It's up to your style whether or not these guys catch a lot of balls. PBK- Protect the QB is important. RBK- TEs help the FB protect the HB on the run. STR- Good blocking requires strength. CTH- If you're going to use him for passes, you need this. CAR- Again, if this guy gets balls. TACKLE (T)- These comes in right and left versions. You need three. These guys are the two outside men on the O-Line. The player on the side opposite side that the QB throws with should be more talented than the other one. Their main job is blocking the DEs and the OLBs. GUARD (G)- These come in right and left versions. You need three. These are the monsters that make holes for runners and battle with the DTs. CENTER (C)- A blocker and the snapper. You need two. These guy should be the smartest man on the O-Line (Have the best AWR score). In real life, he calls plays for the line. O-LINE TRAITS STR- Blocking requires it. RBK/PBK- The more important skill depends on which type you use more. AGI- It seems weird, but this is used for blocking. AWR- Most important for the Center, since this affects the snap. DEFENSIVE END (DE)- The QB sacker. Need two. These are the members of the Defensive Line who usually are quick enough to get by the O-Line and sack the QB or hit the runner. Important traits are: STR- They got to break blocking. AGI- Used for the Swim moves to get past blocking. ACC- Once they're free of blocking, they need to get to their target quickly. TAK- Tackle is obvious. DEFENSIVE TACKLE (DT)- The "Walls" of the defensive line. Need two. In a 4-3 defense, there is 2 of these guys on the field, in a 3-4 there is only one called the Nose Tackle. Their only job is to push the O-Line back. The only trait that really matters is STR. OUTSIDE LINEBACKER (OLB)- These guys come in right and left versions. You need three. There are not as interchangeable as you would think. Since plays that have one Tight End on offensive have him on the right side, it's up to the Left Linebacker (LOLB) to deal with him. The Right Linebacker on the other hand gets to fly around the O-Line and sack the QB. Thus they have different traits. But both need good STR scores since they both must deal with blocking. ROLB TAK- Obvious, you want to get the ball carrier, right? AGI- Need to get past the O-Line. SPD/ACC- I love sacking the QB just a few seconds after the snap. CAR- If the ball is fumbled, the ROLB will be in position to grab it. LOLB AGI- You can't afford to lose the TE. TAK- You need to tackle the TE too. MIDDLE LINEBACKER (MLB)- The star of the defense. You need two. In a 3-4 defense there is MLBs, while in 4-3 there is only one, who should be a superstar. He does everything from blocking to blitzing to covering zones. AGI- He's got to turn on a dime. TAK- He'll be stopping anyone in the middle. ACC/SPD- He's got to be very fast. STR- When he blitzes, he may need to get past the O-Line. CORNERBACK (CB)- The main players in the secondary, these guys deal with the wide receivers. You need four. You couldn't pay me enough for this job, keeping up with the fastest men in the NFL. Not just that, but while the receiver knows his route, the CB doesn't. They better have good scores in these areas. AGI- A juke by a receiver could throw a CB off and cost his team everything. ACC/SPD- They have to keep up with those speed demons. TAK- A missed tackle by a cornerback equals a touchdown. CTH- Can you say Interception? FREE SAFETY (FS)- The last line of defense. You need only one. His only real job is to stop the big play. He needs to be the farthest player back at all times. If a member of the offense gets past him, that's a touchdown. STRONG SAFETY (SS)- The linebackers' assistant. You need only one. His job is to cover the tight end or a zone. The FS and the SS have very similar jobs and thus similar traits. TAK- A missed tackle by these guys mean you'll be seeing the receiver in the end zone. SPD/ACC- The receivers cannot be allowed past these guys. AGI- See above. CTH- Interceptions can be very fun. KICKER (K)- The man who kicks field goals, extra points, and kickoffs. You need just one. Only KAC and KPW matter. PUNTER (P)- This guy only kicks punts. You need just one. He needs an amazing KPW and a decent KAC. So there you go. Everyone has their own theory for drafts, but here is the order I try and pick people in the top ten. 1. Quarterback- Every great team has a great QB. 2. Halfback- I love running plays, so a great QB needs a great HB. 3. Middle Linebacker- Make them fear the middle of the field. 4. Tackle- Your great QB needs good protection to be useful. 5. Tackle- See above. 6. Wide Receiver- You should have at least one amazing guy you can rely on for a pass. 7. Defensive End- Stop that run. 8. Cornerback- Someone to keep up with the great wide receivers out there. 9. Defensive Tackle- One half of the "Wall". 10. Kicker- It seems odd, but you'll be thankful to have a great field goal kicker. Other thoughts on the draft: -Don't go just for the best of the best. If you spend too much on early picks, you have less to spend on others. -Youth is good. Anyone over 30 or can retire anytime, so those 25 year olds can be quite an asset. -The computer seems to pick mostly based on their OVR scores. So you can still find diamonds in the rough on later picks. -Make sure you fill at least the requirements. After that I prefer to pick positions that can use extra guys for backup like: DE, FB, DT, TE, MLB, and the safeties. 5. F R A N C H I S E M E N U S ---------------------------------------------- Here are the various menus in the franchise mode. ~~PLAY WEEK~~ This is where you get down to it and play. It contains three options. WEEKLY SCHEDULE- Contains the entire schedule for the current season sorted by week. All games with User-Controlled Teams are checked marked. You can also check mark any game you wish to play. On the other hand, you can unmark games by your team you don't want to play. The game will simulate any games not marked up till the next game that is marked for play. TEAM SCHEDULE- Same as the Weekly, except the games are sorted by Teams instead of weeks. This is a good way to keep track of whom teams have beaten and lost to. STANDINGS- This is simply the current standings for the NFL in total, the AFC, NFC, and each of the divisions. ~~ROSTERS~~ Here's where you work on your team, from trades, to deciding who plays, to signing free agents. VIEW ROSTER- See your complete roster or for any other team. INJURY REPORT- See who's out and for how long here. DEPTH CHART- This is where you do most of the work. You set what string someone is, whether it be first, second, or third. SUBSTITUTIONS- This is a cool little section. You can set the exact players for any of the formations. If you want different tight ends for different formations, you do that here. FREE AGENTS- You can sign any of the free agents here. TRADE PLAYER- This is the trading section, see Chapter Ten. RELEASE PLAYER- If you just want to drop someone, you go here. This is a last resort, since you end up with a cap penalty for each player released for the length of their contract. RE-SIGN PLAYER- If you want to extend an amazing player's contract, do it here. BREAKDOWN- This tells you how many players you have in each position, along with NFL requirements for a legal roster. ~~COACH OPTIONS~~ GAMEPLAN- When you have the CPU play your games, it will the gameplam set here for the games. You just decide how many plays will be passing and how many for running on Offense and Defense. Also set the style of defense you will use: 4-3 or 3-4. MANAGEMENT- If you're going to let the CPU do some front office tasks, you tell it what to do here. Since the front office is the whole reason for Franchise Mode IMO, ignore this option. JOB OPENINGS- If you get sick of your current coach or he quits, you hire and fire coaches here. RATINGS- Just some details on the head coach. His record, his current streak, the results of the last game, what the next game will be, and thoughts from the coach on the last game. Pretty useless. ~~STAT BOOK~~ Here's where the stats are. INDIVIDUAL- How your players are each doing for various areas: Passing, Rushing, Receiving, Blocking, Defensive, Kicking, Punting, Kick Return, and Punt Return. TEAM- Stats on each team sorted like the standings, in these areas: Offense, Defense, Efficiency, and Turnovers. RANKINGS- Similar to Team stats, but just the rank of how good compared to all the other teams. COACH- Stats on the coaches of the NFL. ~~LEAGUE NEWS~~ More of a fun area, to see who really is the best. UPDATES- Just notes sort by week on Coach Changes, Signings, Re-Signings, Hold-Outs, Released Players, Trades (Only User Controlled teams do trades), and Players Put On the Injured Reserves. WEEKLY AWARDS- Each week 6 awards are given out: Best Offensive and Defensive Player for the NFL, the NFC, and the AFC. This only takes their performance for that week into account. YEARLY AWARDS- After Week 8, players are selected by their stats for awards in the NFL, the NFC, and the AFC in these areas: MVP, Offensive Player, Defensive Player, Offensive Rookie, Defensive Rookie, Coach, and each of the positions. This only counts the entire regular season. PRO BOWL- The fans votes on the best players in the AFC and the NFC. The players with the most votes get on their conference Pro Bowl team. Votes start to be tallied after Week 8 and keep coming in until the first round of the playoffs. Along with playing in what is basically the All-Star Game of the NFL, for the play-offs the players have "Pro Bowl" placed underneath their picture. ALL-MADDEN- Madden picks the best players for the year one week before the Super Bowl, this "team" never plays together, it's just a "Best of the Best" thing. You don't need to be named to the Pro Bowl to be on this team. ~~FEATURES~~ A few extras. MADDEN CARDS- Buy, trade, and sell Madden cards. EXPORT TEAM- Take your franchise team and use them in other modes like Practice, Play Now, and Two-Minute Drill. CREATE-A-PLAYER- Create the next Brett Favre. Just remember the better the stats, the higher their salary will be. ~~SETTINGS~~ Any changes made here will be only for Franchise mode, your general settings apply for all the other modes. GAMEPLAY- The same as the general one, except you can also change your Franchise options and set your Offensive and Defensive Audibles and Playbooks. SYSTEM- Adjust your audio and visual settings. SAVE- Memory Card Manager. 6. P R E S E A S O N ---------------------------------------------- The games may not matter, but the future of a team is on the line. These four games are the chance for youngsters and backups to prove themselves. All players age 25 and under can improve in the preseason. The CPU will automatically play your second-stringers for the first half of preseason games, and your first stringers in the second half. If some of your starters are too old to improve, place them on the third-string so they don't play, because all you're doing is risking losing them for the season to a stupid injury. Play these games, because when the CPU simulates games, injuries happen a lot more than when you play games. You're stuck with the four games your team picked for the first season, but after that, you get to select the four teams you face in the preseason for each season. I personally try and mix up the teams between passing and rushing teams. But I also try to pick teams with different defenses to see if I can find good strategies for them. Here's a list of teams with certain defenses. COVER 2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Indianapolis Colts New York Jets St. Louis Rams 3-4 Atlanta Falcons Baltimore Ravens Pittsburgh Steelers Houston Texans 4-3 The rest of the NFL 7. R E G U L A R S E A S O N ---------------------------------------------- 32 teams, 17 weeks, 16 games, 8 divisions, 2 conferences, and 1 really fun ride. That is the definition of the NFL Season. After it's all over, only 12 teams get to move on to the playoffs and fight for a chance to become NFL World Champions. Realignment has set in stone that all teams will face each other within 4 years. It also makes sure that teams go back and forth with home and away games. This makes sure stuff like this won't ever happen again... (Taken from NFL.Com) * Oakland did not play in Pittsburgh from 1981 through 1999. * Miami and Denver played once between 1983-1997 when Dan Marino and John Elway were in their primes. * Green Bay and Washington did not play from 1989-2000 and have not played in Washington since 1979. * Atlanta and the New York Giants did not play from 1989-1997. * Pittsburgh and Kansas City have played five consecutive times in Kansas City. * Green Bay played in Dallas four years in a row from 1993-96. * Tampa Bay has never played in Buffalo. Here's how the rotation works. I'll use the 49ers as my example. They are members of the NFC West. -3 home and 3 away games will be Vs division rivals. (49ers will face Seahawks, Cardinals, and Rams twice each.) -4 games against the teams in another same-conference division, 2 of the games away, 2 at home. (49ers will face Cowboys, Giants, Eagles, and Redskins from the NFC East. Next year they will face the teams of the NFC North) This has a three-year rotation. -4 games against the teams in a division from the other conference, 2 games away, 2 at home. (49ers will face Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders, and Chargers from AFC West. Next year they will face the teams of AFC North.) This has a four-year rotation.) -2 games from the teams in the two same-conference divisions that a team does not face this year, these teams will have finished in the same rank as the team. (This doesn't quite work this year because there were only 6 divisions last year and now there are 8. 49ers finished second in the NFC West last year. 49ers will face the Packers who ended up second in the NFC Central, which is now called the NFC North, and the Saints, which used to be part of NFC West, but are now NFC South, who finished third. Next year they will face the team from the NFC South and East who ranked in the same place in 2002 as the 49ers do.) I believe the rotation order differs from division to division. I plan to go through the game and plot the rotation for each division. Note: For some reason, Madden seems to ignore the first season for this rotation. Which means you'll face the same divisions in season two. But in season three, the rotation starts. ~~Overall Strategy~~ The key to the season is to win the 6 games against teams in your division. Win these and you are almost guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. Only 6 teams in each conference get to move on to the playoffs, out of 16 teams. Here's how it works. The team with the best record in each division is the division winners and these four teams move on to the playoffs. Out of the remaining 12 teams, the two with the best records get Wild Card spots in the playoffs. If two teams are tied record-wise for a spot in a division, here are the tie-breaking rules. 1. Head-to-Head. If the teams have faced each other, the one who won more matches is the winner. 2. Divisional games. Whomever has the better record in games against their division rivals win. 3. Common Games. The one with a better record in all the games against the same teams win. 4. Conference Games. The team with a better record in conference games wins. There are more, but they almost never go that far. For a wild card spot that the teams are not in the same division, here are the tie-breakers. 1. Head-to-Head 2. Conference Games 3. Common Games The team with the best record in their conference gets a special reward. They have Home Field Advantage for the entire play-offs. While not as big a deal in madden as in real life, it still is special. I believe the Packers would have been in the Super Bowl if they faced St. Louis in Green Bay in the middle of winter and not in a pussy dome. 8. P L A Y O F F S & S U P E R B O W L ---------------------------------------------- After the 17 weeks of the Regular Season, there are 4 weeks left in the season. These are the playoffs. Out of the 6 teams in a conference that make the playoffs, the two with the best records gets Byes and do not play in the first week. Not all these games are within a conference until the Super Bowl, when the NFC Champions face the AFC Champions. It's single elimination, so you lose and your season is over. The team with a better record in a game is home. Week 1: WILD CARD WEEKEND: The division winners with the best record (Excepting those that received byes) face the worse of the Wild Card Teams. The other division winner faces the better Wild Card winner. Week 2: DIVISION GAMES: The winner of Home Field Advantage faces the worst of the teams that won Wild Card Weekend. The other team with a Bye faces the better winner of Wild Card Weekend. Week 3: CONFERENCE FINALS: The winners of the division games face. The winners is their conference champions. Week 4: SUPER BOWL: The NFC Champions faces the AFC Champions. The "Home" team is rotated between the conferences. 9. O F F S E A S O N ---------------------------------------------- This is where you build your team for the next season or maybe for a few years in the future. Mistakes here can cost you throughout next year. There is eights steps to the Off-season. You can simulate past any of them, but they must be done in order and once you've gone past one, you can't go back. Also you cannot save while in Off-Season mode, so this must all be done in one play session. Give yourself about 30-45 minutes for the Off-Season. Bring pen and paper too. Don't forget you can back out to the Franchise main menu and check out your roster and other stuff. There are some changes to the menu for the Off-Season. ROSTERS: You can see how all the players in the NFL have progressed during the year. Mostly anyone under 27 will improve and anyone over that will lose some ability. But there are exceptions. Playing time seems to help, the more someone played, and the more likely they get better. You can release any player with a 0 in their YRL column without cap penalty. LEAGUE NEWS: It now has a NFL Draft Info option, when your picks will be and a listing of all the rookies that will be in the draft, with the rounds it's predicted they'll go in. ~~RETIRED PLAYERS~~ Maybe the saddest step. All the players in the NFL who are over 30 can retire. Many times this can be the best you have on your team. I did a study and found the average age in the game for retirement is 33.5. Most will retire at around 32-34. So even before you go into the preseason, look at your roster and see who is in that age area. ~~ROOKIE SCOUTING~~ Now you move onto the rookie combine. Since the game doesn't provide you with stats on the rookies until they are drafted, you have to do a little bit of investigation work, just like in the real NFL. You can scout 15 rookies a round. There are three rounds. After each round, you get notes. If this is the first time you've scouted someone, it'll be one note. After you've scouted someone twice, you get three notes. If you scout someone all three rounds, you get five notes. These notes are just clues as to how their stats are. You get some data on all the players. They are: POSITION- This is what position the player plays and what's he good at in it. A balanced player can do everything. COLLEGE: Where they went to school. Pretty useless except for trivia. AGE: Younger the better. PROJECTED ROUND: When the CPU thinks he will go. Not always accurate, I've seen second rounders in the final round. HEIGHT/WEIGHT: Not very helpful. ESTIMATED STATS: Here the scouts will report how good they think this guy is based on his play on college. They will only report on stats that matter for that position. These can be wrong and you can only find out through scouting. The notes will tell you how accurate these estimates are. COMBINE DATA: Available after round one, somewhat useless data on the players. The notes and estimates will give you all the data you really need to know. Here's the point where you have to spend some time viewing your roster and depth chart. You got to make a list of the areas your team needs work. Note where you have players who's contracts have ended and who's age is 29 or over. You'll be able to fill your holes with free agents or rookies in the draft. A free agent is good if you need someone good right away. A rookie is better for positions where the star player is getting older and will be retiring in a few years. Remembers a free agent will cost a lot more than a rookie. Make a list of the positions that will be picked up in the draft and the positions you want free agents for. If you have a normal amount of picks, you should scout about 2-3 for each position, based on their projected round, through don't be scared to gamble that a second rounder will still be around in the fourth. Scout once and look at the notes. If the note scared you (Like someone who gets injured a lot), don't be afraid to move on and scout someone else. This goes for each round. Once the scouting is done, write your wish list in order. You'll need this later. If you couldn't find a good enough player for a position, add it to your list for free agents. ~~RE-SIGN PLAYERS~~ Here is where the players with contracts that are up can be resigned before they get put in the free agency pool. Here's some tips for these and all other signings. Start with a low amount of years if you want a short-term player or a higher amount for a keeper. Put the money very low. Adjust the years until the player is happy, than slowly bring up the money. The agent never leaves the table, so you can make as many offers as you like. This way you get the player for the least amount of cash and the most or least amount of years you can get. This is a big chance to sign your great players, so screw it up. If you let them go onto the open market, their asking price will go way up. ~~FREE AGENT SIGNING~~ All the teams have their chance to let players go and now a huge auction takes place. For 30 days, bids are made on these men. Once you've reached this step, go to the Franchise Main Menu and pick rosters and than view roster. Change past the NFL teams and straight to the free agent list. This is the list of players who are up for bids in the auction. Make a wish list. Check your cap room and give yourself a spending limit on free agents. You want to save about 3-5 Million for your draft picks. Once you're ready, go into the free agent signing and start bidding. Older players seem to prefer longer contracts, while a young player in his prime wants a short one, because he thinks he can make more money at his re-signing. If no one counter bids, you usually get a player the next day or two. The game will inform you of another bid for a player. Once you have everyone you want, just advance past the rest of the days. ~~NFL DRAFT~~ Here's where all your work comes to fruition. There is no time clock in the draft (Unlike the real NFL), but you should know whom you want anyway, so not much time will be spent here. Once you've drafted everyone you can on your wish list, don't be scared to pick players you didn't scout. You don't have to sign them if you don't want. ~~SIGN DRAFT PICKS~~ Now you have to sign the draftees. Use the tips from the Re-sign players section. You also now can see the real stats of the players, so make sure you really want these guys. You do not need to sign ANY of your draftees, it's up to you. Remember the max amount of players you can have is 53. ~~RE-ORDER DEPTH CHART~~ Simple, you now get your team ready for the preseason. ~~START NEW SEASON~~ You advance on to the preseason for the next year and can now save. 10. T R A D I N G ---------------------------------------------- This section should be expanded upon more in the future, but I got some bare bones tips for now. -The CPU will not trade Kickers or Punters so don't bother. -It seems the only stat it really cares about is IMP (importance). The CPU is willing to give you a better player than what you're giving IF the player you're sending over has a higher importance than the CPU's player. -Draft picks are worth more very early. Once the season has gotten going, it drops very quickly once you start winning. So you can get some good players for your picks before the season starts. -You can tell before asking if a draft is acceptable by the bar on the side. If it's red, the CPU isn't buying. If it's green, the trade is okay. -Always see if you can add to a trade. You can usually get a draft pick also, around round 4 or 5.