This could be a big year for Madden’s often-criticized, but potentially spectacular Connected Franchise mode. Based on the information delivered in a recent deep dive developer blog, there are a number of reasons for fans of the mode to be excited.
Positional Archetypes and Scheme Fits
Almost every sports game is adopting the archetype concept. Quite honestly, Madden is a little late to the party considering how scheme dependent the sport of football is, and how situational concepts are arguably more important on the gridiron than any other field of play.
Categorizing player types is an ideal fit for Madden and football and what's more important from a CFM standpoint, the training, development and team-building dynamic becomes all the relevant, and systematic. From a sports-gaming and franchise-mode standpoint, that's the sweet spot.
Here is a breakdown of all of the positional archetypes:
- QB: Strong Arm, Scrambler, West Coast, Field General
- HB: Power Back, Elusive Back, Receiving Back
- FB: Blocking, Utility
- WR: Deep Threat, Possession, Red Zone Threat, Slot Receiver
- TE: Vertical Threat, Possession, Blocking
- OL: Agile, Power, Pass Protector
- DL: Run Stopper, Speed Rusher, Power Rusher
- MLB: Field General, Pass Coverage, Run Stopper
- OLB: Pass Coverage, Run Stopper, Speed Rusher, Power Rusher
- CB: Man-to-Man, Zone Coverage, Slot Corner
- S: Zone Coverage, Run Support, Hybrid
- K/P: Accurate, Power
According to the blog, “Matt Ryan may be an 88 OVR West Coast, but only a 78 OVR Scrambler. On the other hand, Deshaun Watson may be an 82 OVR Scrambler but only a 79 OVR West Coast. These archetype OVRs make it easy to evaluate a player’s strengths and weaknesses.”
If I have an athletic QB who already has the legs to be a top-notch scrambler, I can coach him up to become a Field General and a player who excels in other archetypes as well, which would in turn make him a solid fit in multiple offensive schemes, while maintaining his physical talents for the scrambling arch.
If I'm understanding the information correctly, and the game functions as intended, this is the dynamic within every position. Obviously, I could draft, sign or trade for a player who is a more natural fit for my system on offense and defense, but that's my choice.
I hope player skills aren't overpowered in a way that circumvents the system. For example, a player who possesses only one particular skill can outperform their ratings or scheme fit because that aspect of the game is imbalanced. Vice versa, I hope players don't perform beneath their rating in one archetype because an attribute rating doesn't carry as much weight when playing the game as the number would indicate.
Coach Schemes Matter More This Year
The player archetypes tie in nicely to the coach schemes. We’ve had this in Madden for years, but the archetypes could make the impact more realistic. Because of the drastic differences that can be present between one player’s suitability from one scheme to the next, it seems more important to maintain scheme fits.
Here is a list of the offensive and defensive schemes:
Offensive Schemes
- West Coast Zone Run
- West Coast Power Run
- Vertical Zone Run
- Vertical Power Run
- Multiple Zone Run
- Multiple Power Run
- Spread
- Run and Shoot
Defensive Schemes
- Base 4-3
- Multiple 4-3
- Base 3-4
- Multiple 3-4
- Tampa 2
- 46 Defense
The new situational depth chart slots for positions like slot wide receiver and rushing left end and rushing defensive tackle also make the game more of a contemporary fit, and moldable for the user.
Player Ratings, Draft Class Creator, Regression, and Development Traits
With changes coming to player and coach designation and scheme fit, Madden 19 will also introduce 11 new player ratings. They are listed below.
New Player Ratings
- Break Tackle: Determines broken tackle success for ball carriers vs standard tackles (not Hit Sticks or Cut Sticks).
- Break Sack: Determines whether the QB will escape a sack inside the pocket.
- Throw Under Pressure: Determines passing accuracy when throwing under pressure.
- Run Block Power: Determines success chance for Drive, Down, and Power Double Team blocks on plays like Toss and Power O.
- Run Block Finesse: Determines success chance for Zone, Reach, and Zone-Double Team blocks on plays like Outside Zone and Stretch.
- Lead Block: Determines success chance for blockers leading from the backfield or pulling from the line.
- Pass Block Power: Used versus defensive power moves.
- Pass Block Finesse: Used versus defensive finesse moves.
- Short Route Running: Used when running short routes (Slant, Drag, etc.).
- Medium Route Running: used when running medium routes (Curl, Dig, etc.).
- Deep Route Running: Used when running deep routes (Corner, Streak, etc.).
These ratings seemingly help to further individualize players while catering or excluding them based on scheme fit, or a lack thereof.
The Draft Class creator is the other major addition to CFM. The community has been begging for this feature ever since the NCAA series was canceled in 2013.
In this year’s game, fans can create, edit and share 450-player draft classes. That’s enough for 7 full rounds and 226 undrafted free agents.
As long as there aren’t any unmentioned restrictions that unexpectedly hinder this process, it will draw Madden’s CFM even with MLB The Show’s outstanding franchise mode and that much closer to NBA 2K’s almighty MyLeague.
Player Regression and Dynamic Dev Traits are also interesting new or enhanced features in CFM. At the end of each season, player ratings change based on their age and their development trait.
The game will feature the following development traits:
Normal, Quick, Star, Superstar.
The higher a player sits on the development trait scale, the slower their skills will decline. As the title of the feature implies, the development trait is dynamic. A player can out or underperform their initial trait and regress down or ascend up a level affecting their decline or improvement.
If a player carries the Superstar trait, they must consistently rank amongst the leaders to maintain the benefits of that classification. If you go with the system-generated rookie classes, the player with the Superstar trait are few and far between and placed to be the “ultimate reward” for scouting.
My fingers are crossed for this feature to work exactly as it’s described.
With no mention of the prospect scouting system in this blog, it seems safe to assume that it will be the same as last year’s (which wouldn’t be bad).
There were some questions about whether or not players in CFM were still editable. I reached out to EA and it was confirmed, this feature is still in the game. In fact, a representative said, “no features were removed in this year’s game.”
Presentation And Cosmetics
A less notable, but still cool addition to CFM is the “immersive environment.” Essentially, this sounds like more lively menus that almost function like a trophy case to show off the championships and awards you’ve won in your career.
I like the idea and it seems like a good use of menu real estate.
The best use of on-screen property is the new Snapshots feature. Here is how it’s described in the blog:
We want you to live in your Franchise and want to help you tell the stories of each game. We’re doing this by displaying some of the top moments from each game as Snapshots. You can take snapshots from instant replay and in the highlight screen, and then the snapshots will be automatically recorded for you from key moments in the game. These Snapshots are integrated throughout Franchise as part of your immersive environments in the hub and in news stories. View full screen Snapshots from your games or from other users in your league by visiting the Snapshot Gallery. The Snapshot Gallery holds the last 100 snapshots from the league. As you load into game, see your very own snapshots in the background. Your snapshots are everywhere! Even the main menu of Madden shows your most recent snapshots.
I love the sound of that, but you wonder if this means we’re moving toward better presentation; Halftime shows that are more cohesive and perhaps show clips from other games.
It’s not coming this year, but perhaps it’s on the roadmap.
The addition of Team Captains doesn’t move me much at all. It’s purely cosmetic and frankly, I’m not sure why so many people in the community were asking for this feature. However, it’s good to see wishes being granted, even if wasn’t my request.
The additions of positional archetypes and the supporting system EA has added to it could wind up being one of the most impacting feature upgrades CFM has seen in a while.
I still long for the reintroduction of owner mode, and everything that was included in that feature but all of this sounds promising. If EA executes the plays they’ve designed for this year’s version of CFM, they are destined to reach the end zone with fans of the mode.
