I really enjoyed the new scouting and draft system Madden put in a couple years ago. I realize that we still don’t get basic numbers on guys from the combine. But we do get generic player types. If a WR is a speed guy or a possession guy it’s pretty easy to guess one player will be faster than another. We get their height, weight, scheme and player type which does aid us immediately.

One change this year which I was quite bitter about initially was the new point system. Overall scouting points have been reduced a lot. So has the cost of individual ratings but the overall rating cost is enormous now. With a team builder coach and my upgraded scouting I could scout over 30 overall ratings for players in the past along with a handful of individual ratings and have a ton of information going in to the draft. Not this year as you were going to have to rely exclusively on individual ratings. Well I actually like this. If you spend your points wisely you can still scout a ton of players. In my first year I upgraded my scouting package late in the season but was still able to look at over 100 players! At least one rating was scouted!

I’ve read a lot of great advice on Operation Sport blogs. I followed a lot of it in my first draft and like some of it and will change other aspects. But the basic advice is this: only scout 3-5 ratings by position. Test the important ratings first and as soon as you see a bad one quit looking at him and go to the next prospect. You can’t look at every rating and some guys will turn out worse than you thought but that’s the beauty of the NFL draft and will mimic that scenario. At the same time you can make sure you find some gems and don’t draft a bum – especially a bum you drafted blind with no information on. I’m sure my views may change over time but this is a good base set of rules.

GENERAL RULES FOR SCOUTING


1. Stick to only scouting the top 3-5 attributes at a position. If the first or second attribute falls below the minimum standard (see link for scouting spreadsheet below) then move on to the next prospect when looking for good players. Don't waste time unlocking all the attributes when you find a bad one. I always swing for the fences and try to find studs and sleepers.

Example: QB has 4 main attributes in Throwing Power and the 4 Accuracies. If you test THP and you get anything less than an A quit and move on. Then test each accuracy which needs to be at least a B in everything. Don’t keep on unlocking traits when you get a unacceptable grade on something.

2. I don’t scout Awareness. Awareness actually matters a lot in the overall rating so some may disagree. But it is normally low for rookies, especially late picks and will improve the most over time unlike physical skills like speed. So focus on the physical stuff most. Furthermore it's useless for user controlled players like QB and HB so why bother with it. HB also has Ball Carry Vision which has a significant impact and should be ignored while scouting for the same reason. Note that for every 10 point increase in awareness a player's overall will increase by 2 to 4 points. Many rookies will start in the 40s and improving 30 points in awareness will see their OVR jump roughly 10 by that alone. Play Recognition is important for some defensive players so I will look at that (safeties and linebackers).

3. Understand the Letter Grades. A=88-99, B=77-87, C=65-76, D=50-64, F < 50. Most of the final scouting grades will end up in these ranges. Your requirements vary by position and your own personal desire.

4. I scout players all across every round and even some guys without a draft grade. I personally like finding sleepers, trading down for more picks like Jimmy Johnson, and then grabbing the guys I want. The cpu teams will never draft a player more than one round ahead so if you love a guy with an early 5th round grade then take him early in the fourth. I do tend to overdraft guys I like but its better than losing him. You are playing with fire if you wait until their exact draft position to take them. Make sure to track how many guys are available ahead of him at his position to know if you could lose him.

Scouting List Spreadsheet for Key Ratings and Minimum Standards: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...gid=1941225598