my wife isn't very well. throw in the playoffs on TV and we've not moved from the couch all weekend.
i run 3-4 base because i play as the niners who have the best LBs in the game. i never switch from that although i did consider doing so once.
i run plenty of 3-4 under too. but let's be hones, in madden - just like in real life - you spend a lot of time in nickel & dime. my NT is a part time player which keeps costs down for the salary cap.
i'll answer the last question first. yes it can be cheaper to upgrade players like this but i generally don't do it. in fact, i'm unable to recall a time i did.
ok, next answer isn't so quick.
generally, each player is designated with a "player type" & "scheme". it is visible on the roster screen when you click on a player. for example: leon sandcastle is designated as a
man to man CB coming out of the draft. but look at his OVRs for the different schemes shown in lotus' guide:
89 balanced
90 protoype
88 zone
87 man to man
85 run support
this tells us that despite his designation being
man to man, he's actually better suited to
zone,
balanced &
prototype the best.
when you edit a player to a new position, the game will eval their abilities, ratings & traits to make a decision on their new player type for that new position.
move sandcastle to FS & the game evals his abilities & judges he's best for being a
playmaker FS. however, move him back to CB & the game re-evals him for the CB position and tags him as
prototype which is more in line with the ratings above, not as the original
man to man designation. it pushes his OVR from 87 to 90.
generally, most D positions have a player type that gives a consistently higher OVR. when it comes to MLB, CB, FS & SS, it's
prototype. i set my schemes to
prototype and then edit my players (flip-flop) them back & forth to get the player type listed for them. it bumps their OVR up.
for 3-4 DL guys,
run stopper is generally the highest designation, although sometimes you get
versatile for a DE.
we know in the whole scheme of things it doesn't help much but young players do earn more XP if they are playing in a scheme that matches them. also, i generally find that simmed games go more my way when my players arch my scheme.
man, i need the game to start.