Turning Salary Cap Off For Franchise Helps

[APD0290]

With all this talk about the franchise mode being broken I decided to try and test a logical explanation to all this by just turning off salary cap, and I really like what I am seeing. Granted, you still will be seeing a decent amount of UDFA's in the league, but nothing that will directly impact the games or take a veterens back up position. The CPU logic as far as resigning and signing free agents seems MUCH better, and teams actually have a decent amount of depth as some positions.

As far as free agents goes, yes there are still a decent amount of players between 70-79 overall. But nothing that I can't actually believe happening. I'm occasionally seeing a couple players 80+ but they're all fullbacks which is by all means still a little ridiculous, but let's be honest...they're fullbacks. You aren't going to win a super bowl through simmed games just from a 80 overall fullback.

One thing I did still notice that is out of whack is the abundance of DT's in the FA pool. For whatever reason DT's evolve into a VERY deep position leading to a surplus of them in the FA pool. So you'll be seeing a decent amount of teams with 3 or more 75+ DT's, which is a great sign. Now as far as other positions go, you will not be seeing above average players in the FA pool. It's simply not possible to find a a good postion player in the FA pool after the actual off season FA signings, which is a great sign. Yes, some do still slip, but they do eventually get signed. So as far as house rules, some may need to be set, but nothing to major.

The league seems to be evolving which is a great thing to see. Some teams have 80+ QB's as their back ups, which is an excellent sign to see. And it made me real excited when I saw that. Granted again, some teams still do have less than 70 overall backups at QB AND RB, but that's just something we're going to have to swallow and accept as that team using a 1RB system or something, who knows. I've seen weirder things happen in my day. I'm sure Tom Brady was a 62 overall backup...you just never know.

Personally, I think this is a decent fix. Please try it out and let me know what you think. You may not be 100% satisfied with the UDFA's, which I expect, but it certainly seems a lot better. Hopefully this helps out a little, as I'm a huge realism junkie when it comes to franchise, so I know how you guys feel.

Try it out...

[mavfan21]

Who is saying Franchise Mode is broken?

I am loving it just the way it is.

[APD0290]

I am just saying that this helps out the CPU logic at the expense of the user not knowing how much cap room he has. It's playable, just slightly ridiculous at times.

[Armor and Sword]

Has anyone else tried this. I would be very curious if this actually is a viable workaround.

[ATLDirty]

Quote: Originally Posted by Armor & Sword

Has anyone else tried this. I would be very curious if this actually is a viable workaround.

I'm curious too. Anyone else do this?

[therockstar2005]

Trying this now, only simming games, but just simmed the whole season, and at least at first glance, I can say that teams are signing guys during the actual season (not during preseason) - this is something that I just flat out haven't seen during my main franchise w/ salary cap on. By the end of the year, the highest free agent in the pool was rated 77.

The teams were also signing relatively intelligently. Ex - in week 3, the Bills lost Terrence McGee for the year, and then signed Kelvin Hayden. Not always seeing this, but it is there. Teams are also releasing players and picking up new ones. Also, some of the bigger name free agents are signing deals worth more than 850k (Bryant McKinnie went in week 6 to the Steelers for $7.19 Mil).

Will post more shortly after offseason is complete.

[therockstar2005]

Ok, just got through simming the whole offseason (which may or may not effect your results) - Top rated free agent is Colin Cole (76). I'm seeing a lot of what APD is talking about. Again, only went through one season, so no promises, and the preseason ratings are all out of whack b/c of the rookies (which I do like, btw), but I'm not seeing free agency filled with a bunch of 80s and high 70s. Teams are keeping their backups, and even signing veteran help (poor Lions, for whatever reason Stafford didn't progress and they brought in Hasselbeck).

I'll sim to the beginning of the regular season and see what happens when the cuts are made.

[therockstar2005]

Ok, last post on this for a while. In looking at it, (and keep in mind I haven't gotten a franchise with the salary cap to year 2 yet), it looks "normal" to me - in that there are some undrafted rookies, but it's not uniform for all of the teams. There are still teams that carry 3 QBs with over 70 ovr, and the same goes for running backs. It does seem like without the salary cap, teams aren't afraid to sign players to longer term deals and to keep veterans on the team. There are still undrafted free agents on there, but it doesn't seem as prevalent so as there isn't depth to the teams.

Initial verdict: possible work around. Obviously, if "realism" is your goal, you'll have to exercise self-restraint, but you would anyway if you find a bunch of 80-something free agents left sitting around. Definitely seems better than what supposedly happened before.