Rookie development

[Alf]

OK, IHOFers, bash me here.

I just drafted a QB in round 1 (Earnest Barlow) (hoping he doesn't bust).
I already have a starting caliber QB (Joe Johnson) , so this guy will likely not see many action during the course of the regular season.

I do have a mentor QB (Victor "cursed" Whyte).

How do I do to maximize his skills increase ?
1 - Is it tied to playing time (number of passes attempts) ?
2 - Is it tied to on field time (number of minutes on the field) ?
3 - Is it tied to the number of games played (even for 1 down) ?
4 - Do preseason games count as much as in season games ?
etc...

Thanks for sharing (/me hopefully will be listened )

[Cap Ologist]

This is my theory on qb development.

Season 1:
Play the rookie qb alot during the preseason.
Have a mentor.
Try to let him start one or two games during the season.

Season 2:
Play the rookie qb alot during the preseason.
Have a mentor.
Try to let him start at least three games.

Season 3:
Hopefully ready to start.

I usually pick qbs late in the draft. So I can kind of afford to let them sit right away. I try to make sure my OC is pretty good at developing qbs. And I always try to have a mentor at the qb position, no matter how bad their overall ranking is.

In my last extensive FOF career, I had two qb's, a fifth and seventh rounder, who really developed nicely. They both had good to great combine scores for a qb. My OC was rated Excellent, I had a QB mentor for their first three seasons, and my team was good enough that I could get them some playing time without losing my playoff seeding.

Hope that helps.

[Buzzbee]

Some general stuff:

QB's "learning period" is 5 years. This varies by individual, but is the general number listed in the help file. During this period the QB wil be increasing his current ratings at the fastest rate. After year 5, the QB will plateau in his development. Either he will develop more slowly, or not at all. Eventually, as he gets older his skills will begin to decline. This decline will often happen gradually, but it is not uncommon for the player's skills to simply fall off the cliff. This is true for all positions, but the point at which they plateau and decline is different by position (its in the help file).

Therefore, I would theorize that to maximize the QB's development you should play him as early and as often as you can in the first five years. After that you probably won't get as much bang for your playing time buck. In regard to pre-season vs. regular season, I'm not sure if there is a difference. My guess is that the rate would be the same, based on the number of plays. I don't think that a player playing one play will develop as much as if he played every down. However, that is just my belief and I don't have any concrete evidence.

[Subby]

Seeing other rookie QBs develop in IHOF it seems to me that Buzzbee is right on. You should absolutely start them from the get go and just take your lumps with them that first year. You are missing out on valuable dev time if you don't. At the very least, he should be starting by year two...otherwise you are really shortchanging his dev curve over the long run.

[Alf]

I'll be sure to start him against lousy teams

[MIJB#19]

I think the requirements to develop, in order of importance, are:
1. playing time (more = better, simple)
2. a mentor (I think the mentor doubles the weekly improvement)
3. the coordinator (positional and young talent skill bars count, no idea what the key factor is)

What having 2 mentors adds over 1 mentor, I have no idea.