Madden NFL 10: Mapping out your Drafts

This year Madden features 30 pre-made draft classes for franchise mode. The draft class that is assigned to your franchise is randomly generated when advancing from the preseason to the regular season. This means that you can map out your franchise and decide what draft classes you want simply by saving and re-loading before the regular season until you get the desired draft class. Most "sim" players may not prefer this method, but for those of us who pit our franchises against our friends’ franchises, it helps to map out and maximize your roster.

To provide an example, I will go over my preferred top two draft classes, which should really help set up the future of your own franchise. To make things easy, most people sort draft classes by the top-rated QB from each class. These two classes are known as the Cooper Reno draft and the Kris Steven-Baker draft. Complete lists of the best players in all 30 drafts have been made by a few dedicated people and can be found by via the all-powerful Google.

The Game Plan

Madden only allows a maximum of 10 draft picks per year in franchise mode. It is a good idea to make a few trades so you can bring up to 10 picks into the draft with you. Formulate a game plan for your 10 players you hope to acquire and plan to draft them a little bit before their projected round. Here is my game plan:

But first, here is the format for how the players below will be described:

Format
Position
Player
(Projected round)
Info about player
(OVR rating)

Note: (All players have “A” potential).

Cooper Reno Draft

All 10 players I hope to acquire in this draft are usually selected within the first four rounds. This means I have to stockpile high draft picks. The best way to usually do this is by trading away older players with high overall ratings (but be careful of cap penalties).

QB- Darius Pryor (2nd) 88 trucking and 85 speed as a QB. (77 OVR)

FB- J.R. Meyers (3rd) The next Mike Alstott, a monster. (81 OVR)

WR- Jamelle Lucas (2nd/3rd) Anquan Boldin trucking ability as a WR. (79 OVR)

TE- Karron Cousins (1st) WR speed from the TE position. (82 OVR)

LG- Trae Harris (3rd) Monster in the run game. (84 OVR)

C- Travis Adams (3rd/4th) All around center, think Kevin Mawae. (82 OVR)

MLB- Dexter Foley (2nd) In a Jon Beason mold. (83 OVR)

ROLB- Wendell Tarver (2nd) 90 speed, good coverage ratings. (78 OVR)

ROLB- Domisa Bomani (1st) May convert to DE, 86 speed. (79 OVR)

SS- J.J. Collins (1st) One of the next great safeties. (83 OVR)

Kris Steven-Baker Draft

This draft is very special and not a single player needs to be drafted in the first round. This means I do not have to trade away a lot of great talent to acquire high draft picks. Most importantly, these players will not be asking for a lot of money because they are mid- to late-round draft picks.

TE- Darius Davis (7th) All around TE, Tony Gonzalez like. (79 OVR)

LG- Mike Franklin (5th) Above average LG, will progress nicely. (77 OVR)

C- Charles McGriffin (6th) Great at everything, does it all. (84 OVR)

RG- Anderson Copper (4th) Another solid lineman. (81 OVR)

RT- Kameel Adams (4th) Run on great linemen continues. (81 OVR)

LE- Vonteego Cross (2nd) 82 speed, 87 strength. (84 OVR)

LOLB- Keron Drovin (4th) May be moved inside, 81 speed. (83 OVR)

MLB- Jahmar Sweeley (3rd) 90 speed, Patrick Willis 2.0. (79 OVR)

CB- Quan Henry (2nd) Key to this draft, lockdown corner. (85 OVR)

SS- Moe Biggers (Undrafted/7th) Big hitter, 24 years old. (82 OVR)

Recap

On the offensive side of the ball, I have a complete O-line, QB of the future, a monster FB, a great talent at WR and two solid TE prospects. On the defensive side of the ball, I have a complete linebacking core, three starters in the secondary (including one of the best lockdown corners the game has to offer) and at least one, maybe two, dominant defensive linemen. All of this is done in only two drafts. The future of this team looks bright!