2012 Season Update

[Ben C.]

In the past we've only done that with the 1st rounders.

[Goodell]

Let's say practice squad will be available this Sunday morning to give everyone a little warning ahead of time if desired.

Rounds 3-7 signed (for those with room) but ran into a snag with 2nd rounders having escilating salaries after year one. Deciding if I'm going to adjust some formula for autosigning those as I have before or if I change it up and have teams click to sign their own 2nd rounders also in addition to the first rounders. Should figure out which is easier soon and finish that up tonight with teams able to sign their top pick(s) this weekend.

[Goodell]

Okay, teams are able to sign their own first AND second rounders now from the link on your team roster page next to the drafted player. Let me know if any problems. You must sign the lower drafted players first. There were many draftees unsigned due to salary cap reasons (we'll probably look at rule changes there next year for more realism). I'll attempt to re-sign those lower round draftees soon as mass cuts should start happening (practice squad will be activated tomorrow) as teams have to be down to 53 by the start of the NFL regular season.

I did 1st and 2nd rounders (we used to just do 1st rounders) because all the 3rd-7th round salaries are standard now and salaries start escilating in the 1st and 2nd for their future years. I used much more realistic contract structures than the past because found a site with good draft contract numbers for all slots and was easier and more real anyway. Usually we had roster bonuses for 1st rounders for example, but I just used the more real numbers found. I took real figures from a handful of ranges from the top to the bottom of the rounds and filled in the rest by averages between those. Let me know if any questions, but sign away! Football coming soon.

[Goodell]

Like last year, first rounders have a 5th year "team option". If a top 10 pick, we have that at franchise tag salary level and if an 11-32 overall pick we use transition tag level. I have them putting in 99,999,999 for that last year option for now (or 88,888,888) and will replace those with the franchise/transition tag amounts. For first rounders signed last year you might have seen those figures, but I've replaced those now with the tag amounts intended. I do it that way for now because that last year option figure is position specific and easier for me to replace now this way (plus we can swap out with the new tag amounts next off-season) but will try to have it recognize position and pop that tag amount in there in the future.

[Goodell]

I swapped in the new Madden overall grades tonight, paying more attention to the top of the grades than the very bottom. If you notice something with a higher graded player send me a PM. Grades will be updated frequently (last year weekly) so long as we continue to get new grade updates publically available.

Hoping the new grades help with teams making roster decisions. Remember to cut down to 53 by the start of the NFL season fast approaching.

I also added several retirements and IR. Remember that we keep it real and recognize all real injuries, retirements, and suspensions.

[Goodell]

2014 draft picks are now loaded into the system and available to trade.

[RebelFan]

Hey commish. Have you given any more thought to adjustments for standard stat line for non-starting QBs?

[Goodell]

Hey commish. Have you given any more thought to adjustments for standard stat line for non-starting QBs?

Yeah, likely going to add more ranges beyond just the two in the past. A-type players get X+ default update. B-type players get X. C-type players get X-. D-type and below get X--.

Don't think we'll ever have brilliant default updates because we have to guard against the max bonus given to a QB with much better grades than his opponent getting +15% to his completion percentage, so you can't start at 65% for a default for A type QBs or they'll be going over 80% completion while sitting on the bench in reality in the right sim situation.

I'll probably put some figures together (hoping to look into things more this weekend) and have a yea/nea poll next week making some last tweaks before the regular season. A graded QBs might have something like a 60% completion default down to 55% then 50%, 45%, etc. I could see us bumping up the yardage in the default updates in general, as it's a much stronger passing league than when we first programmed the defaults. Mostly we want the defaults to be somewhat vanilla and allow for the team grade comparison to push it one way or the other for a guy who isn't generating his own stats in reality. So a default QB on a strong team can keep winning (although unspectacularly), but a default QB on a bad team (sitting the bench in reality) isn't going to be superman. Any input into that before welcomed (either posted or PM'd), but am going to try to get to sim tweaks soon now that most of the other stuff (draft pick signings, 2014 selections, p-squads, etc.) are about done.

[RebelFan]

Sounds great. Keep up the good work commish!
It is very much appreciated!

[tino38]

Sounds great. Keep up the good work commish!
It is very much appreciated!

I agree commish, much much appreciated!