Season 4 Offseason

After Ben Roethlisberger regressed beyond recognition, it was 2nd year QB Lawrence Robinson that made a miraculous run in the 2nd half of the season to steal the MVP award, yes STEAL it, from Mario "The Captain" Jeter. Robinson couldn't even win his own offensive player of the year award in the AFC (Jamaal Charles), nor was he listed as the best QB in the AFC (Joe Flacco).

I hope this season 3 sim was exciting for you. There was some surprises watching things unfold while simulating every week. There was a team that started 0-6 and went on a ridiculous 9 game win streak at one point.  The Chargers rookie QB was a pleasant surprise, taking AFC Offensive Rookie of the Year. It also showed how bad ESPN's simmed stats are, which very few sacks, and very few pancakes for offensive linemen. This offseason is going to be much more subdued, being spread out over several days, instead of crammed over 48 hours.

Player Resigning Stage
Runs until 10/11/15 at 7 pm EST.

Free Agency Wave 1
Runs 01/11 7 pm EST to 01/12 7 pm EST

Free Agency Wave 2
Runs 01/12 7 pm EST to 01/13 7 pm EST

Free Agency Wave 3
Runs 01/13 7 pm EST to 01/14 7 pm EST

Draft Prep
Runs 01/14 7 pm EST until we hit the Draft
Use the last of your scouting points before the fireworks begin.

Draft
TBD. Will schedule. Saturday or Sunday morning might be easiest. BUT, Thursday night is an option if everyone can be available that evening.

Wow Steelers go from worst to first. With my head coach. Godammit McCarthy

Skylar Murray sells tickets! Got me to $50 million in funds lol

Since there's such a gap between games, I edited an offline roster file and created my rookies to see what playing with a stud QB would be like and upgraded and regressed the real players to match where they are in the league. And the results... Practice mode lasted quite a while.

Also, Mr. Meh, he's been shipped out of town. If you're in need for immediate QB relief, you'll be able to bid on him tomorrow night.

Buccaneers QB Eli Manning
Buccaneers ROLB Dwight Freeney
Chargers RB Steven Jackson
Chargers DT Ryan Pickett
Jaguars RT Eric WInston
Jaguars RE Chris Clemons
Jaguars K SHayne Graham

QB Tom Brady
QB Michael Vick
RB Maurice Jones-Drew
RB Reggie Bush
RB Frank Gore
RB Darren Sproles
RB Knowshon Moreno
RB Larod Stephens-Howling
FB Le'Ron McClain
FB Lex Hilliard
WR Malcom Floyd
WR/QB Brad Smith
LT Levi Brown
LG Logan Mankins
C Dominic Raiola
C Chris Myers
C Robert Turner
RG Danny Watkins
RG Jahri Evans
RG Chris Chester
RT Zach Strief
RT Will Svitek
RT Erik Pears

RE Chris Canty
RE Johnny Jolly
RE Will Smith
DT Isaac Sopoaga
DT Vince Wilfork
DT Brodrick Bunkley
DT Dwan Edwards
DT C.J. Mosley
LOLB SHaun Phillips
MLB Larry Foote
ROLB Cory Greenwood
FS Ryan Clark
FS WIll Allen
FS George Wilson
SS Danieal Manning

K Sebastian Janikowski
P Donnie Jones

HC Pete Carroll
HC Chad Masters aka Bill Belicheat

Buccaneers ROLB Lavonte David
Chargers WR Keenan Allen
Chiefs RB Knile Davis
Colts FS Laron Landry
Jaguars SS Johnathan Cyprien
Lions MLB Stephen Tulloch
Packers LG Josh Sitton
Panthers DT Star Lotulelei

CPU:
LE Cameron Wake
LE Muhammad Wilkerson
WR Dez Bryant
FB Marcel Reece
LT Trent Williams


I've never seen a backup RB franchise tagged before. SMH

I'm pretty sure i'm either going to end up bailing or switching teams, i have $72 mil in available cap space and negative $1.69 mil in funds so I can't make a single fucking offer.  I have 9 starting positions to fill plus I lost 5 of the 6 DB's I had on my roster, so I have those to fill as well not to mention the backups I need also.  Such bullshit, that sim season couldn't have been any worse for me.  The negative funds thing is really starting to piss me off.

GoingCommandoAZ wrote:I'm pretty sure i'm either going to end up bailing or switching teams, i have $72 mil in available cap space and negative $1.69 mil in funds so I can't make a single fucking offer.  I have 9 starting positions to fill plus I lost 5 of the 6 DB's I had on my roster, so I have those to fill as well not to mention the backups I need also.  Such bullshit, that sim season couldn't have been any worse for me.  The negative funds thing is really starting to piss me off.

Welcome to my world. You're just gonna have to sign guys to one year deals later.

my suggestion would be for u to resign as owner and come in as a coach before 1st wave of free agency ends. that way u do not need funds to sign players....or move to afc its lonely over here

Or just tough it out like your good buddy Demon. He's had a pretty shitty life in Madden 15. Haha

Commando, you have your rookie reserve set aside for all your picks to fill holes. And while you can't bid on the current free agent class, all signings after the draft are one year deals which should allow you to sign them then. Ken would offer the best insight on that whole experience.

Team funds are expended on stadium upgrades/renovations, signing bonuses on player contracts, and weekly expenditures to run the stadium. During the offseason, I believe you will earn a little bit of money from merchandise sales at each advance. Maybe that will be your saving grace in free agency wave 2 to offer high salary, no bonus deals if you get 2 mill in funds to get in the black? 

Trades might be your next bet. Since the trading team absorbs the penalty from the signing bonus, you may be able to get a player with only their salary to pay.

Fund management is the hardest part of Madden franchises now in that they take "market size" into account. Buffalo can't outspend New York. Week 1 look at your merchandise sales and what your adviser says. Then try adjusting the prices up or down to see how it influences sales. Players with high personality ratings are likely to sell more jerseys and be less price sensitive, but low personality players won't be as in demand and prices have to be lower.

I want to sympathize, but I've never been through that issue since Chicago is a top 3 market by size and fan interest.   I've been lucky to let old players with expiring contracts go, like Briggs and DJ Williams, and focus on key rookies to make them viable starters, like my young OLine that is traditionally expensive as hell. Their Run Blocking is weaker, but I really focused on Pass Blocking.

10.) 49ers Patrick Willis (Personality 93)
09.) Saints Jimmy Graham (Personality 90)
08.) Patriots Darrelle Revis (Personality 90)
07.) Chiefs Jamaal Charles (Personality 90)
06.) Seahawks Richard Sherman (Personality 95)
05.) Lions Calvin Johnson (Personality 95)
04.) Seahawks Russell Wilson (Personality 99)
03.) Vikings Adrian peterson (Personality 99)
02.) Colts Andrew Luck (Personality 95)
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
01.) Packers Aaron Rodgers (Personality Discount Double Check 99)

the_EDJ wrote:

Top Jersey Sales in NFL

01.) Packers Aaron Rodgers (Personality Discount Double Check 99)

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Also, sim-season Aaron throwing 27 TDs & 29 INTS (!) is absurd. If I played all 16 then it'd be believable. Now I may need to send virtual Olivia Munn home with him for Game Prep to get his confidence back on track.

From negative 1.69 mil to positive 1.79 mil, don't look now but a shitstorm of money is about to be flying out of Minnesota....

Is everyone still alive? Drawn out process imo

Everything is going to seem drawn out compared to what we just did..... We just did a year in a day.... We can take a week for off season

To anyone looking to make an offer on the Number 2 pick in the draft, shoot me a PM. I'll be entertaining all offers but my deadline is 7am CST tomorrow(1/15/14).

Without a single need for a key starting player, the Bears were able to sit back, assess the free agent class, and bid on luxury while building for the future. To say they struck it big is an understatement. To anchor the LT position, Luke Joeckel moves to the Windy City via the sunny locales of Jacksonville. With Jermon Bushrod's contract, and skills expiring after this season, Joeckel can either start from day one, or develop further behind Bushrod. The Bears are now better prepped to handle injuries along their OLine than they've ever been.

Arguably an even bigger signing, WR Cordarrelle Patterson joins the Bears after wowing teams and fans alike with his speed and run after the catch ability in Minnesota. Already flush with WR talent in Alshon Jeffery, Brandon Marshall, Marquess Wilson, and Cameron Walden, Patterson will serve as the Bears slot target, before taking over for Marshall when his contract expires after the season. A very similar move to the Joeckel deal.

While not a ra ra signing, the Bears have a backup QB they're confident in should The Captain go down. Matt Scott can run the new scheme being installed in Chicago without having to scale it down.

What this does for the Bears offseason is more clear, they will target a FB and one or two more TEs in the draft or free agency. And when Marshall's and Bushrod's deals expire, the Bears can comfortably pay the increase in Patterson's and Joeckel's deals next season. Whether Marshall or Bushrod return really depends on how far their skills diminish, and if they're willing to take a pay cut to return as backups. RB J.T. Lofton, rumored to be dangled in front of Detroit for WR Jamel Coleman looks less and less likely to be dealt, and might serve as Forte's backup, or even challenge for a future starting spot.

Latest draft stories:

• xBigSteve187x is scouting OLine thoroughly it appears. LT Ezayi Umodu has been under close eye by Colts  scouts. Is this a media smoke move to hide their true intentions?
  
• RB Banks Hendrix's has terrible Stamina, not even finishing his own Pro Day. Can he be a feature back?
  
• Rasean Harmon looks to be very over-hyped as a first round pick. Bears scouts don't even list him as a top 5 LT, and he's barely sneaking in to the top 10 of LT prospects (Damn double Scouting Points perk helps a ton).
  

Wow. Were you guys anxious to get some games in or what? Every user game has already been played within hours of the draft ending. Bra-fucking-vo.

Week 2 of the preseason is open. I had planned on advancing in the afternoon during the playoff games. But, thanks for the hype entering the season fellas. The maximum 24 hour advance rule will continue.

While we're here. You've all met tamrael by now via the draft madness, aka grimmatlaw on PSN if you want to add him. Give him a warm welcome to the league as the Bills owner. Tamrael is a true Bills fan at that, who is excited to see what Rex Ryan can do in the neighborhood where it snows the most.

We also had a second sign-up that appears to be a Cowboys fan. They still need to read/sign the rules thread, and schedule two tryout games. One with myself, and one with Commando.

Remaining games for Week 2:
Squirrel vs CPU
GoingCommandoAZ vs BigSteve
Tamrael vs DemonX5136
Posky vs CPU

Sorry Tam. Saw that I got an invite from you yesterday. I was not home.

No worries Demon, was just checkin to see if you're on. How quickly are we advancing the pre-season games, and what happens if we aren't able to play the game before advancing a week?

Tamrael, preseason games are on 24 hour advances since they're not worth anything.

Under the Weekly Schedule section of the forum, read the example post. Basically, if users don't use that section to schedule their games, they don't get a chance at playing the CPU via auto-pilot if there's no response and we advance.  I won't hold up the league for a game. The weekly schedule thread is the only public form of communication that shows whether either owner is making an attempt to get their game played.

Does anyone feel like injuries should be on during the preseason? there aren't enough injuries as it is.

Personally with my luck, I'd rather have my season derailed in during the actual season instead of the preseason. Since preaseason games are on a 1 day advance more get simmed because of that and I'd hate for Teddy to go down for the season on a preseason sim. If that's the route we go we'd probably want to play out the preseason on a normal schedule imo.