Basically a guide for any new owners and those who are struggling.

1. QB's can and will scramble, you need to consider this when drafting/trading or signing for a QB. Slow immobile QB's will get sacked (a lot). Also consider things like Ball Carry, Avoid Fumble and Scrambling.

The other thing I think has increased in value for a QB is passing release - slow developing pass plays (long pass) have a low % completion so ideally you want a QB who can get rid of the ball quickly when under pressure.

2. Passing, you need to have a varied attack that utilises several different routes (and several different runs). You'll also need to run to both sides to keep a defense 'honest', if not a team will load up with coverage to stop the left runs and the bullet throw to the outside (FL Hitch etc).

If your used to running an Offense with 10-15 total plays, expect to get lots of play overuse warnings, penalties and turnovers in the latter part of the game. The same applies to Defense, if your gameplan lacks variety your opponents coaches/players will eventually work out how to beat it.

3. RB's have increased value in BETA as rush average is around a yard more per carry than 0.4.5. The 'better' teams are generally getting more rushing yards than passing. This is due to a few factors. Offensive Line players are therefore more important than in 0.4.5, they have to be able to run block and pass block, speed and acceleration are important for that initial burst or 'twitch' to get off the line. Strength remains a key factor for OL as they have to be able to hold the block.

4. DL are also now worth their trade value and I would recommend loading up on fast, strong players with high acceleration. Pass Rush is more important for DE's and Run block for DT's but, they'll need to be able to do both. In 4.5 (as with the OL) you could get by with specialists who had good strength - not any more. Plus you can't just load up with quality on one side of the line and cheap squad fillers on the other as the better teams will come at you from all angles.

5. OL and DL depth is vital. Teams tend to have longer sustained drives in BETA, this will result in OL and more importantly DL needing to be rotated more to keep them fresh. With less big passing plays and more rushing games tend to have less drives, which in turn leads to less chances to put points on the board. That means, closer games with (I think) the fresher teams with a more varied approach playing better in the 4th quarter.

6. With restrictions on numbers at WR and DB, the majority of teams have fast Corners with high acceleration and good Man to Man coverage, making big chunk plays very tough. With more speed in the Linebacker group as well technique (player positional skills) are now almost as important as the fundamentals (speed, acceleration, strength, intelligence and discipline).

7. Games tend to be much more of a 'Chess match' and not a question of who hits the big plays most often. BETA is not the finished article, much remains to be done (particularly with passing) but it's more challenging (my opinion), roster building and gameplanning play a more significant role as players need to be well rounded and not just one trick pony specialists.

There are many who aren't keen on BETA and run back to the security blanket of 0.4.5, they are generally the same people who have been moaning about .4.5 for the last two years. I wouldn't say either version is better than the other (they both have flaws) but they are different versions of the same game.

If your struggling to make sense of the differences, I'm happy to help with advice, either on the forum or via private message.


I'm sure there will be plenty who have their own ideas about what works and that's the beauty of this game. What works for me, may be disastrous for you and vice versa.

Good luck to all

Looking back at this season, the gap between 'worst' and 'first' is no longer monumental. There are very few 'easy' weeks (if any) and turning around a franchise in one or two seasons is plausable [sp]

In the previous version of the game, it was possible to dominate with one strategy to the point where everyone who played long enough looked to do the same thing. In this version, you can combat an opponent with the right play(s)/players and gameplan. You can win with a variety of different styles and approaches.

For me, it's the best version of the game. Part of that is because it is frustratingly difficult - if it was easy, it would be no fun. Over the last three seasons, the owners in this League have learnt (through trial and error) and have gone in different directions in order to attain success. Be that smothering D, efficient passing, power running, balanced game planning or just plain good fortune.

The League has had strong and deep free agency pools in recent seasons as the League reaches maturity, this has helped spread quality throughout the League and (largely) evened out the teams around the League (with one or two notable exceptions). Few Leagues make it this far without falling by the wayside. So thanks for being here and helping make this one of the better Leagues in MFN.

Time to give this another bump, the only advice I would add to the above is the importance of 'managing' injuries. Your team needs to have depth across the roster and rotate more than in previous versions of the game - to do this effectively, means fine tuning the fatigue settings and resting injured players where and when possible - it's better to lose a game or two mid-season and have your key players available for the big games, than try to play them through the pain and risk losing them for 6-8 weeks.

IF you haven't done so already, review your player and coach contracts - extend your key players, IF you can afford to and if it's prudent to do so. Once players turn 30 there effectiveness plummets (some much quicker than others). Reember signing a 10 year veteran to a six year contract is going to cost you a fortune in dead cap somewhere down the line, sometimes it's better to cut ties and look to free agency and/or the draft to get a replacement.

When free agency rolls around, there are bargains to be had if you dig deep enough. I will once again make a 'cheat sheet' available for both the free agent pool and the draft class. This should be a help to everyone and I advise everyone to take a look as it makes it much easier to find the type of player you are looking for, for your team. It also allows you to make a more informed decision as to whether to target free agency or load up on picks (if you can and you feel the draft is deep enough in the areas you are looking to improve).

In my opinion, free agency and trading are the quickest ways to make improvements to a team. Building through the draft alone takes patience but sometimes it's necessary to make your team younger. Don't be afraid to trade, and if you're unsure of whether an offer is 'good' for you, feel free to ask for the opinions of other coaches you trust.

I've been asked about what attibutes I think are key when making player weights. I'll let you make your own determinations on how much stock you put in each.

For clarity, when doing weights I put 50% of my stock into fundamentals (speed, acceleration, strength, intelligence and discipline) all 5 are important and you shouldn't skimp on any of them, whatever the position. You can maybe get by with a player who has low marks in one of those categories but anymore than that and I will generally pass over a player.

The remaining 50% i divide between the technique attributes. Dividing each into either VITAL for the position - a grading of 80 and above, IMPORTANT for the position - a grading of 70 and above, PREFER for the position - a grading of 60+ and BONUS for the position, ie something that is an added extra for instance short and long snapping for Tackles and Guards. I like players (in particular back-ups and depth players) to be versatile and able to fill a number of positions


QB: The toughest position to fill in MFN, arguably even tougher now in BETA - Older QB's are generally better. Intelligence is the primary fundamental. QB's need to have more mobility in BETA and need strong protection from the OL, TE, FB and wherever possible RB. At present there are no designed QB runs but unlike the previous version your QB will on occasion try to scramble away from the pressure

VITAL: Pass Accuracy
IMPORTANT: Field of Vision, Passing Release
PREFER: Scrambling, Avoid fumble, Ball carrying, Arm strength, Hard Count
BONUS: Kick holding, Break Tackle

Finding a player that ticks all the boxes at QB is near impossible, you'll (most likely) have to sacrifice something. My weights generally mark QB's very harshly with few graded above 75. The cheat sheets I post for Free Agency and Draft class are with my player rankings so they will generally differ from the standard default rank.

RB: Speed, acceleration and strength outweigh intelligence and discipline in the fundamentals in my opinion. Speed should be 85+ preferably and certainly above 80.

VITAL: Ball Carrying, Pass Catching*
IMPORTANT: Avoid Fumble, Break Tackle
PREFER: Pass Rec Courage, B&R Avoidance, Route-Running, Pass blocking
BONUS: Kick Catching, Run blocking

Ball carrying ties in with speed, if your ball carry is poor it will heavily impact top speed. *I like to have RB's that can catch the ball in the flats, not only to use on dump offs and swing routes but also to allow me to use as WR depth (preferably in the slot, which is generally WR3). Pass blocking is generally overlooked, but your QB needs all the help he can get in BETA. Run blocking allows you to use your guy at FB as well as RB but he'll also need good strength.

FB: FB is an under-rated position by many and often an afterthought. Ideally you want players here who can fill in at TE - Height at present is a non-factor in MFN so a versatile FB is worth his weight in gold. The key fundamental is strength, closely followed by speed as a bare minimum a Full back should have 60+ speed, especially important if you want to utilise him in the passing game. If your FB can block, he can be used on special teams and when his speed goes, you can convert him to an OL

VITAL: Run Blocking, Pass Blocking
IMPORTANT: Avoid fumble, Ball carrying
PREFER: Pass Catching, Pass Receiving courage
BONUS: Route-Running, B&R Avoidance

TE:

There are three types of TE, a pure blocker, a pass catching TE and an all rounder. I prefer the latter as it allows me to open up the playbook wider. However a TE will need a minimum of 70 speed to be viable in the passing game. If I can't get a player with that speed, then I would rather have a blocking TE with elite strength and take TE passes out of the equation. IF your going with a pure blocker, strength is the key fundamental, if you want a pass catching TE you need to focus more on speed and acceleration.

VITAL: Run blocking, Pass blocking
IMPORTANT: Pass Catching, Pass Rec courage, Ball carrying, Avoid fumble, Break Tackle
PREFER: Route running, B&R avoidance
BONUS: Long Snapping

A TE with high to elite speed can be converted to FB/RB or even WR, to give you a Derrick Henry type Power back or DK Metcalf type wide receiver. A TE that loses his pace can be converted to FB to extend his career by a season or two, or if he's a good blocker can become an OL.


To be continued....Feel free to chip in with your own thoughts on each position

....Right now where were we, ah yes Wide Receivers.

WR: In my opinion, there are three types of receiver, a possession guy, a speedster and a slot receiver. So with WR's I'm looking for different things depending on the playing position. To be honest I would prefer that you could set depth charts for WR1, WR2, WR3, WR4 and WR5 rather than have to just order them as a standard default WR.

WR1 for me is my possession guy - I want him to have great hands and enough muscle to win a jump ball
WR2 is my Speedster - I want this guy to be the fastest WR on the team, he also needs great ball carrying to ensure as little drop off in speed if he gets free
WR3 is my slot guy - I want him to have super quick acceleration, great hands and receiving courage, he needs to be able to work his way through traffic so break tackle is a big bonus. Speed is a good asset but for me acceleration for WR3 is more important. I also like a WR3 to be able to fill in as a back up RB when were in 1 or 2 WR sets.
WR4 and 5 and beyond are just the best you have left, sometimes I'll add in a RB or even a speedy TE to the depth chart as I'm generally light on Wideouts usually carrying just 4 or 5.

Fundamentals also differ depending on what you're looking for. A possession guy needs strength almost as much as speed, A speedster can get by without strength but needs high speed and acceleration. Whereas a Slot guy needs elite acceleration and strength over speed
(which still needs to be 75+ preferably 80+)

I tend to set my weights, like this and then make judgment calls on where they are likely to fit my schemes best. Sometimes I see a player as a WR1 but he performs better at either WR2 or WR3. It can be trial and error to get the right guy in the right spot.

VITAL: Pass Catching
IMPORTANT: Route-Running, Pass rec courage, Ball carrying, avoid fumble
PREFER: B&R avoidance, Break tackle
BONUS: Kick catching

Offensive Line is very much dependant on whether you want to be run dominant, pass dominant or balanced. With the fundamentals, don't sleep on speed and acceleration. Yes strength is key but if you want your guys to be blocking downfield, they have to be quick enough to get in position to make the block before the RB gets there. For LT and C I like to see high intelligence and discipline as the Center has to lead the line and the LT generally has to cover the QB's blind side.

With Tackles, I want pass blocking over run blocking - but they have to do both. With Guards, I flip it to have run blocking over pass blocking, again, I expect them to be able to do both. Center has to be able to do both.

Tackle:

VITAL: Pass blocking
IMPORTANT: Run blocking
PREFER: Short Snapping
BONUS: Long Snapping

Guard:

VITAL: Run blocking
IMPORTANT: Pass blocking
PREFER: Short snapping
BONUS: Long Snapping

Center:

VITAL: Short snapping
IMPORTANT: Run blocking, Pass blocking
PREFER:
BONUS: Long Snapping

Not really much to say on Punters and Kickers. Accuracy over strength for me with both. I like both to have some tackle ability (especially Kickers) to at least offer some resistance on kick returns.

Punter

VITAL: Punt timing
IMPORTANT: Punt accuracy
PREFER: Punt Strength
BONUS: Kick holding, Tackle ability

Kicker

VITAL: Kick Accuracy
IMPORTANT: Kick Strength
PREFER:
BONUS: Tackle Ability

Defensive Line:

When looking at the fundamentals Strength is a bigger factor for DT than DE. Acceleration is more important than top speed (but speed is still significant). If you play with a Nose Tackle (DT in a 3-4 set) you'll be looking for Intelligence and discipline. Discipline is key across the line to cut back on offsides penalties.

DE:

VITAL: Pass Rush
IMPORTANT: Run Defense
PREFER: Tackle ability, Strip ball
BONUS: M2M coverage, Zone Coverage, B&R Coverage, Punish receiver

I want my outside guys to pin their ears back and get after the QB, strength is not key as I don't want them getting in a push and shove with the OL - it helps (a lot) but it's not vital. The bonus categories allow me to assess who can make the switch to LB. I'm not looking for DL's that drop into coverage but the versatility to switch to LB or vice versa if I can't get the players I want/need.

VITAL: Run Defense
IMPORTANT: Tackle ability, Pass rush
PREFER: Strip ball
BONUS: M2M coverage, Zone coverage, B&R coverage

Primary objective for my DT's is to stop the run. If they have high speed and acceleration they can get into the backfield to stuff the run before it gets started.

Linebackers:

I feel that WLB should be your fastest LB with high pass rush and an MLB should be fast with high run stuffing. SLB's tend to be my 4th or 5th best LB as they tend to be the LB who makes way for a DB in Nickel and/or Dime sets.

For MLB, intelligence and discipline are massively important and he really should be the best defensive player on your team. Strength is important across the board for LB's or they will find themselves pushed around by OL/TE/FB and RB - if you see a fast LB with low strength and good coverage skills, switch him to CB regardless of the supposed drop in overall rating.

MLB:

VITAL: Run Defense, Tackle ability
IMPORTANT: Strip ball, Punish Receiver, Zone coverage
PREFER: Pass rush, M2M coverage
BONUS: B&R coverage, Pass catching

WLB:

VITAL: Pass Rush, Tackle ability
IMPORTANT: Strip ball, Punish receiver, Zone coverage, M2M coverage
PREFER: Run Defense, B&R coverage
BONUS: Pass Catching

SLB:

VITAL: Tackle ability
IMPORTANT: Pass rush, run defense, strip ball, punish receiver
PREFER: zone coverage, m2m coverage, b&r coverage
BONUS: Pass catching

Defensive Backs:

Speed and acceleration are absolutely vital for Corners and free safety. A Strong Safety needs strength and acceleration as he will generally be the 8th man in the box on obvious rushing downs

CB:

VITAL: M2M coverage,
IMPORTANT: B&R Coverage, Punish receiver
PREFER: Tackle ability, Pass rush, run defense, strip ball, Zone coverage
BONUS: Pass catching, Kick catching,

FS:

VITAL: Tackle ability, Punish receiver, Zone coverage
IMPORTANT: Pass rush, Run Defense, Strip ball
PREFER: M2M coverage
BONUS: Pass catching

SS:

VITAL: Tackle ability, Run defense
IMPORTANT: Zone coverage, Strip ball, punish receiver
PREFER: M2M coverage, B&R coverage, Pass rush
BONUS: Pass catching