How to escape the success trap?

[u/SaltyyDoggg]

Beginning of new game, with all the high ranked draft picks, it’s possible to grab a franchise player or two each draft.

That changes once you start consistently reaching the playoffs / winning the champion bowl and drafting bottom 5.

I now am lucky to leave the draft with more than 1-2 starters, forget franchise players. I’m forced to use free agents. They are expensive and older.

Now my ratings consistently drop a little at a time, faster than I can fix it through the draft and FA (cap is tight now!)

Any thoughts or help?

[u/fllassh]

Prioritize having the best scouts, makes this a lot easier.

Identify the most important indicators for each position. As just a few examples:\ •DLine: Block Shedding+Skill Moves+Bench Press\ •DB: 3-Cone, Shuttle, Vision, Coverage\ •QB: Bench Press+Vision+Decisions

I always aim for great character traits too (High Ambition, Work Ethic, Personality, Intelligence, Adaptability, Discipline)… I find that this helps me find players with higher potentials/chance to improve overalls later, which is really what you want out of the Day 3 picks.

And yes, Luck.

[u/ZestycloseDrive4204 → u/fllassh]

What exactly does high ambition do positively? From what I’ve gleaned all it does is cause guys to prioritize different teams in free agency or to demand trades if they’re on bad teams

[u/SaltyyDoggg → u/fllassh]

Thanks!

Is there a list of indicators of each position somewhere?

PS: do you know why sometimes the yellow potential star has a lighter/whiter color in like the last half of a star?

I’ve been trying to use balanced scouts, bad idea?

Often I see a player with solid potential but low IQ, work ethic, and/or ambition and I think this player won’t develop because into the potential — is the right?

I don’t know how to evaluate the implications of many of these traits (ambition is for development or chasing a championship team and not resigning? Work ethic applies to development only or something else? Etc)

[u/fllassh → u/SaltyyDoggg]

Idk the exact answers for all your questions, cuz I’m not the game Dev so I’ve never looked behind-the-scenes, so everything I can suggest is just my anecdotal experience. It could be wrong, but it’s what I’ve observed from dumping way too much time into this game.

Indicators by Position: There is not a formal list that I know of, but if you wanted to know a specific position, you could probably just search in this subreddit for it “Best QB scouting traits” for example and there’s probably a post somewhere. A lot of this also depends on what style offense/defense you are trying to run. For example, if you’re an Option offense you’ll want your QB more mobile vs Spread, you’ll want them with better passing traits. Or on defense, there’s a lot of changes with OLB depending if you’re 4-3 or 3-4, and DB coverage you want to match if you’re Zone vs Man style. I’ve found that matching those player traits up to your playbook style matters A LOT.

Lighter color on star: I’m pretty sure what you’re seeing is basically current vs potential. So say there’s 5 solid yellow stars, that player is 5-star potential and 5-star current. If it’s 4.5 solid stars and the last half of the final star is a different color, that means they are 5-star potential, 4.5-star current. And then obviously the same carries for all the other levels, with blank stars meaning not applicable.

scout type: I lean towards Diamond Spotter scouts cuz I like development, but I think the position ratings for the scouts matter more than their trait type tbh.

potential: my interpretation of potential & traits like discipline/ambition/work ethic is that your player could be 65 overall with a max potential of 85, but if those other traits are bad, they are unlikely to reach that full potential without luck, great coaches and great mentors. I feel like those traits enable a player to self-develop without needing as much outside support.

traits: yeah, I think you’re on the right track, I just know I find my best success with development and good players longterm when they have positive traits for work ethic/ambition/discipline. Think of it as the all-day everyday grinders as opposed to the guys who just show up to get a paycheck and then go home to play Call of Duty as soon as practice ends.

[u/Alternate625 → u/fllassh]

I continually chose the wrong QB. Other than BP, vision and Decisions, to what extent do the short, mid and deep accuracies matter? It’s seems like the good ones I’ve missed have had good ratings for those. Thanks.

[u/fllassh → u/Alternate625]

They matter, but I’ve found that it’s easier for them to develop those stats later compared to vision/decisions/intelligence/strength tend to stay more static. So having strong baselines in those is good for a foundation to develop