Winning Tradition: Pro Football Coach 27

Your First Season

A career starts with an interview, a starting point and a team. Then the Season Hub is home: get the team ready during the week, then press Continue to play.

Starting a career

1. Select League: pick the league you want to play in.
2. Coach Interview: choose your name and face, your offensive and defensive philosophies, and your edge. Your philosophies never change, so pick the football you want to coach.
3. Starting Point: Preseason is the classic start, before week 1, and the only one that counts for the Leaderboard. Offseason starts after a simmed season. Fantasy Draft empties every roster so you draft yours. Shuffle mixes every roster at random.
4. Select a Team: pick a team and tap Take the Job.

The Season Hub

The hub has five tabs: Home, Roster, Stats, Coaching and Career. On Home, the left side lists what you can do this week. Rows like Phone and In-Season Training show up only when they need you. The right side shows your next game, standings, the schedule and league news.

The weekly loop

1. Get ready: check the depth chart, the Game Plan and anything the hub flags.
2. Press Continue to open Game Day.
3. Tap Play Game to coach it yourself, or Sim Game to watch it unfold. Pause a simmed game to Jump In.
4. At the final, check the Box Score, then press Continue. The week finishes and your career saves.

Every game pays XP and influence, win or lose. New coach levels give perk points. If something must come first, like a roster over the limit, Continue tells you.

Sim Ahead on the hub sims several regular-season weeks at once while your staff runs the team. It spends no influence and leaves your phone calls unanswered.

The year, in order

Pro: Preseason, the regular season and the playoffs, then Retirements, Re-Signing, Free Agency, the Combine, the Draft and Training Camp.

College: Preseason, the regular season, conference championships, bowl games and the playoffs, then Graduates, Signing Day, the Transfer Portal and Fall Camp.

On each offseason screen, press Continue at the top when you are done.

What to do first

• Fill your Coaching Staff before you tap Start Season. Auto-Fill works if you are in a hurry.
• Pro: Set up your trade block.
• College: Build your Recruiting Board and pick your redshirts.
• Check the Report Card on the Coaching tab for your season goal.
• Answer your calls. A call you ignore plays out without you.

Influence

Influence is your coach's time and pull with people outside your locker room: agents, recruits, other front offices, and players who want something from you. Your balance shows at the top of the Season Hub with the influence icon.

Earning influence

• Every game you play pays influence, win or lose.
• A rivalry win pays extra.
• The Media Darling perk adds more after every game.
• When a star calls in trouble, you can tap Suspend Him. The front office backs you with influence. A longer suspension earns more, but it hurts his morale more.

Spending influence

The rule of thumb: contact you start costs influence, and contact they start costs nothing to answer. Work on your own team costs nothing, such as the depth chart, the Game Plan, cuts and draft picks.

In both editions, influence pays for:

• Bids in market auctions. Each new bid costs again.
• Scouting a prospect with the SCOUT chip.
• Phone replies like Talk Him Down, Stay, or covering for a star in trouble.
• Keeping a coordinator or scout another team wants.
• Rushing a player back from injury.
• Extra Game Prep before a game.
• Hiring coordinators and scouts. Better ones cost more.
• Extending your own contract when your team does not offer one.

Pro: Also contract offers and counters, opening talks with a free agent who is not interested, sending trades, the franchise tag, and signing another team's practice squad player.

College: Also recruit visits, your main weekly use of influence.

Small costs go through on one tap. Bigger ones ask once, with the cost on the button.

Tips

• Small costs add up. In an auction, a strong bid that ends it sooner costs less influence than many small ones.
• Save up for big moves. A strong coordinator or a contract extension takes many games of pay.
• Coach Perks like Film Room, Campus Tour, Smooth Talker and Negotiator cut the cost of the things you do most.
• Keep a little in the bank late in the season. Calls and injuries do not wait for a good time.

Coach Perks

Coach Perks make your coach better at running a program. Each perk raises a limit you hit every season, or lowers a cost, and the perk screen shows the exact change before you take it.

Perk points

Every game pays your coach XP. Each new coach level gives you a perk point, and the level-up banner tells you how many you got. Your points show at the top of the Season Hub.

Picking perks

Open Coaching, then Coach Perks. Each perk has three tiers: tier I takes 1 point, tier II takes 2 and tier III takes 3. Tap a perk to see its value now and after the next tier. Perks belong to your coach, so they stay with you if you take a new job. They only change your team.

Your edge

The last question of the Coach Interview is your edge. It starts you with one perk at tier II. Motivator starts with Media Darling and Developer with Player Development.

Pro: Tactician starts with Scout Network, Recruiter with Closer.

College: Tactician starts with Big Board, Recruiter with Recruiter.

The perks

• Media Darling: extra influence after every game, win or lose.
• Player Development: a bigger top boost on the camp rep board.
• Extra Training: more In-Season Training sessions.
• Medic: rush players back from longer injuries.
• Long Leash: more seasons judged on a Rebuild goal before you must compete.
• Closer: more auctions open each round of the market.
• Players' Coach: players take it better when you move them out of the lineup.
• Smooth Talker: Talk Him Down and Stay cost less influence.
• Film Room: Game Prep costs less influence. All-Out stays the same.

Pro: Destination (more free agents interested in you), Extension Talks (open talks with a player in his last contract year), Negotiator (cheaper talks with an uninterested free agent) and Scout Network (more spots on each scout call).

College: Recruiter (more recruiting hours), Scholarships, Big Board (more recruits on your board), Campus Tour (cheaper visits), Commitment (more instant signings when you offer), and Recruiting Boosters and Portal Boosters (more NIL).

Tips

• Pick perks for the limits you hit most. If you always run out of recruiting hours or auctions, start there.
• Media Darling pays back every game for the rest of your career, so it is strong early.
• Taking over a weak team? Long Leash gives a rebuild more time.

Saving Your Career

Your career saves on its own as you play. You can keep up to five careers, go back to an older copy and take a career to another phone.

When the game saves

The game saves when each week ends, at each offseason step and after changes like your depth chart or Game Plan. A small Saving Data note shows, then Saved. To save at any time, go to Career > Save Career.

When you leave a career from the Season Hub, the game asks if you want to Save & Exit. Exit without saving takes you back to your last save.

When you can't save

• While an auction is live. Pro: in Free Agency. College: in the Transfer Portal.
• While a sim runs.
• During a Fantasy Draft. Pro: also during the draft each year.

If you leave during a draft, you go back to your last save from before it.

Career Saves

Main Menu > Career Mode opens your five save slots. Each card shows the team, the year and when you last played. The Continue card on the Main Menu loads your newest career. Tap an empty slot to start a new one. With all five full, delete one first.

Tap the three dots on a card for:

• Backups: older copies of that career. Tap Load to go back to one.
• Export Save: send the career as a file, for example to another phone.
• Import Save: put a career file in this slot. The career already there moves to its backups.
• Upload to Cloud: keep a copy on your account.
• Delete: remove the career and its backups for good.

If a career won't load, the game tries its backups on its own.

Cloud save

Sign in first, from Options > Settings > Account. You keep one cloud save for this game, so a new upload asks to replace the old one. To get it back, tap Restore cloud save on an empty slot.

Moving to the other game

Pro careers play in Pro Football Coach 27, and College careers in College Football Coach 27. A career from the other game shows faded, with that game's tag. Tap it and pick Move Save to export it. Then open the other game and tap Import save on an empty slot.

Tips

• Upload to the cloud before you change or reset your phone.
• A deleted career can't come back.

Philosophy, Play Styles and Scheme Fit

Your coach's two philosophies decide what kind of players your team wants. Every player has a play style, and players whose style fits your scheme play better and grow faster.

Your philosophies

You pick one offensive and one defensive philosophy in the Coach Interview. They never change after that, so build your roster around them. Each one also sets your playbook.

• Offense: Pro Style, Ground & Pound, Air Raid, Spread, Zone Read, Triple Option or West Coast.
• Defense: Balanced, Bend But Don't Break, Speed, Run Stop or Pass Coverage.

The Coaching tab shows your Offensive Philosophy and Defensive Philosophy. Each lists the play styles it Fits and the ones it Clashes with.

Play styles

A play style says how a player plays his position: a Deep Threat or a Possession receiver, a Speed Rusher or a Run Stopper, a Press or a Zone corner. It shows next to his position in every player table.

Two players with the same OVR can play very differently. The style shapes the ratings outside OVR, like speed, agility, catching or run stopping, and those ratings decide what he does on the field.

Scheme fit

• Fits: he plays sharper in games and grows faster.
• Clashes: he plays worse in games and grows slower.
• Every other style is neutral. Kickers and punters are always neutral.

His player card shows Scheme Fit as Good, Neutral or Poor, and tables show a fit arrow next to his play style. Fit is always read against your coach's scheme, even on another team's roster.

For example, Ground & Pound fits Power Backs, Run Blocker linemen and a Game Manager quarterback. It clashes with a Gunslinger quarterback and a Speed Back.

Building around it

• Open the player filter on any board and use SCHEME FIT: FITS SCHEME shows only fits, NO CLASH hides clashes.
• Pro: On your scout's calls, you can send him to one play style at a time, like Slot WRs or Press CBs.
• College: The Recruiting Board's auto-fill can put Scheme Fit recruits first.
• A clash does not make a star a bad player. Fit matters most between players close in talent.
• Fit speeds up growth, so young players who fit are the best long-term bets.
• Look for fits at the spots your scheme leans on most, like the line in Ground & Pound or the receivers in Air Raid.

Coaching Staff

Your staff has four seats: the Offensive, Defensive and Special Teams Coordinators, and the Scout. Coordinators change what happens on the field. Your scout changes how well you know prospects. Find them under Coaching, then Coaching Staff.

Coordinators

Each coordinator has a level from 1 to 10, a style like Blitz Heavy or Quick Pass, and traits. A trait is a game-day edge in one kind of play or moment: Red Zone Finisher inside the 20, Blitz Package on the pass rush, Big Leg on long field goals, and more. His card lists each trait, what it moves and when.

• A higher level makes every trait stronger.
• He starts with one trait, gets a second at level 5 and a third at level 9. When a new slot opens, he calls you with two traits and you pick one.
• His style shapes which traits he tends to have.
• After each season, a coordinator can move up or down a level, by how his unit ranked in the league. You get an email when one of yours does.

Coordinators work on game day only. Growth, recruiting and contracts come from you and your perks.

Your scout

Your scout's level sets how many prospects each report covers and how close his reads are. His specialty is a position group: one scouting step on a prospect there finishes him at once. His level never changes, so a better scout means a new hire. The Scouting topic covers his reports.

Hiring

Tap a seat, then Hire or Replace to choose from the free agent pool. Hires cost influence, more for higher levels. Every seat must be filled before the season starts; Auto-Fill puts a level 1 coach in any empty seat at no cost. A new job comes with that team's staff.

Other teams want your staff

After the season, another team can try to hire away a coordinator or your scout. He calls you first: Keep Him costs influence and ends the offer, Let Him Go sends him to the new team. Answer before you continue, then fill any open seat. Older coaches also retire, and you get an email when one of yours does.

Staff Moves

Once teams make their offseason hires, Staff Moves lists every coach who left a seat or took one, and why.

Pro: Find it on the Re-Signing screen.

College: Find it on the Signing Day screen.

Tips

• Match traits to your scheme. Ground Game helps a run-first offense on every run.
• Keeping a good coordinator usually costs less than hiring one at his level.

Job Security and Expectations

Every program expects something from its head coach each season. Meet that goal and you keep your job. Beat it and your seat gets safer. Miss it too often and you are fired.

Your goal

Each team has a Goal. You see it on the team picker, on every job offer and on your Report Card. The goal belongs to the program, not to you, so a coach who takes over a champion takes on a title goal.

Pro: Rebuild, Be Competitive, Make Playoffs, Win Playoff Game, Make Championship Game, Win A Championship.

College: Rebuild, Be Competitive, Make Bowl Game, Win Bowl Game, Make Playoffs, Win Playoff Game, Make Championship Game, Win A Championship.

Beat the goal and next year's goal jumps up to what you reached. Meet it and it stays. Miss it and it drops one step only. Expectations rise fast and fall slowly.

Job security

Coaching > Report Card shows your Job Security as a grade and a bar, with your contract year and your Goal. During the season it also shows what your team is On pace for.

Job security changes only when the season ends. A Job Security card then shows your goal and what you reached.

• Beat your goal and security goes up. Beat it by more and it goes up more.
• Meet your goal and security holds.
• Miss it and security drops. A big miss drops it a lot.

At a program that expects a title, winning it still builds security, and losing in the final holds it.

Hot Seat and getting fired

Low security puts a Hot Seat tag on your Report Card, and the next season opens with a Hot Seat email and news story. Another missed goal can cost you your job. If security falls too low at season end, you are fired.

Grace year and Rebuild

Your first season with a new team is a grace year. You can't be fired, and your security can only go up.

Rebuild is a fair goal only for your first three seasons with a team. After that, a Rebuild program judges you on Be Competitive. The Long Leash coach perk gives you more seasons.

Contracts and job offers

When your contract ends, the team offers a new deal if your security is solid. If not, you can spend influence to Extend Contract, or View Other Offers. If you are fired, your Job Offers come from smaller programs.

A season that beats your goal can bring offers from teams with an open job.

Tips

• Check the Goal before you take a job. A fallen giant with a weak roster still expects a lot.

Player Morale

Every player has a morale score from 0 to 100. It changes how he plays, how fast he grows and whether he wants to stay with you.

What moves morale

Once a week, each player's morale drifts toward where his situation says it should be. Two things set that.

• His role. Starters are happy. A backup who is good enough to start for other teams wants to start. A backup who isn't there yet doesn't mind sitting.
• Your record against your goal. Winning more than your program expects lifts the whole roster. Losing more than expected drags it down. A small program minds a losing record less than a big one.

Pro: a backup measures himself against starters across the league.

College: a backup measures himself against starters at programs as big as yours or bigger. Freshmen are happy to wait, sophomores get restless, and juniors and seniors want to play now. A backup behind a senior is more patient, because his turn comes next year.

Some events give a one-off bump that fades over a few weeks:

• In-Season Training sessions lift the players you pick.
• A depth chart promotion helps. A benching hurts.
• A rivalry win lifts your whole roster. A rivalry loss drops it.
• A suspension hurts the player who sits.
• New signings and transfers arrive happy.
• Pro: a franchise tag upsets the player you tag.

What morale does

• High morale lifts a player's ratings a little in games. Very low morale drags them down.
• Happy players grow faster. Unhappy players grow slower.
• A happy locker room plays better together.
• An unhappy star can call you on the Phone to say he wants out.
• College: unhappy players are much more likely to enter the transfer portal.
• Pro: a very unhappy player won't re-sign with you. A happy one is easier to keep.

Divas react harder: bad news hits them more, and their mood swings faster.

Reading it

Open Roster and switch the view to Morale. Your players show with the lowest morale first, in three columns:

• MOR: his morale now.
• TREND: where his morale is heading.
• WHY: the main reason. Starting, Backup, Waiting his turn, Wants to start, Out of the lineup, Team winning, Team on pace or Team losing.

Tips

• Watch for Wants to start. Play him, trade him, or keep winning.
• Use In-Season Training on the stars whose trend points down.

Phone Calls

The big decisions with your players and staff come to you as phone calls. They are rare, and each one matters.

Using the Phone

When someone calls, a Phone row shows on the Season Hub with the number of calls. In the offseason it shows on the end-of-season screen. Tap it and your phone slides up. A ringing call shows Answer and Not Now.

In a call, you pick your replies. Some cost influence and some earn it, and each reply shows the amount. If you Hang Up, the call stays open until its deadline, so you can make room and call back.

The calls

A player wants out

An unhappy star calls to say he's leaving. Talk Him Down (influence) opens talks, then you make a Small, Solid or Big Offer. His replies tell you how close you are. The unhappier he is, the more it takes.

Pro: only a player in the last year of his deal calls. A deal is an extension that must fit next season's cap.

College: any player but a senior can call. A deal is more NIL money from your budget. If he leaves, he enters the transfer portal.

A diva in trouble

A diva star got into trouble. Suspend Him and pick the length: a longer suspension earns more influence but costs him more morale. Or cover it up for influence, and hope the story doesn't leak.

Your coordinator is wanted

Another team wants your coordinator or scout. Keep Him (influence), or Let Him Go and hire a replacement. You must answer before you continue.

Trait picks and scouts

When a coordinator's level opens a new trait, he calls with two to pick from.

Pro: your scout calls in the preseason and at midseason to ask where he should scout next.

College: your scout calls in the preseason with a report on recruits who are interested in you.

Convince To Stay

You can call a leaving player from his row: one try, for influence, and he may still say no.

Pro: retiring players, on Retirements.

College: players leaving for the draft or the portal, on Players Leaving.

If you don't answer

• A player who wants out leaves when the offseason starts.
• A player in trouble sits the usual suspension, and you earn nothing.
• A coordinator takes the first trait.
• Your scout carries on with his own plan.

Divas

Most teams have a diva or two: stars, most often receivers and cornerbacks. A top prospect can arrive as a diva, and one of your stars can turn diva between seasons. Divas are the only players who get into trouble, and an unhappy diva is the first to call.

Keep your divas starting and your team winning, and the phone stays quiet.

Player Badges

Badges are a player's strengths and weaknesses beyond his ratings. Some change how he plays in certain moments. Others change how he grows, how often he gets hurt, or how he acts in the locker room.

Seeing badges

In player tables, small dots sit after a player's name: a filled dot is a strength, a ring is a weakness. Tap the dots to read each badge. His player card lists them on the Traits tab. You see a prospect's badges only once he is fully scouted.

Most badges come in opposite pairs, and a player never has both of a pair.

Game moments

• Clutch plays better in the 4th quarter and overtime. Choker plays worse.
• Road Warrior plays better in away games. Homebody plays worse.
• Big Game plays better in the playoffs and bowl games. Shrinks plays worse.
• Fast Starter plays better in the 1st quarter. Slow Starter plays worse.

Health

• Iron Man gets hurt less often.
• Injury Prone gets hurt more often. A season-ending injury gives it. An Iron Man never gets it.

Growth

• Hard Worker grows faster.
• Mentor helps teammates at his position grow faster. A player can earn it between seasons.

Locker room

• Diva is a weakness. Bad news hits him harder and his mood swings fast. A diva can get into trouble and call you about it, and he is the first to call when he wants out. A top prospect can arrive as a diva, and one of a team's stars can turn diva between seasons.

Scouting

• Gem marks a player who turned out better than he was projected.
• Bust marks a player who fell short of his projection.

How players get badges

Some players arrive with one badge. Mentor, Diva, Injury Prone, Gem and Bust are earned along the way. A badge stays with a player for the rest of his career. You get an email when one of your players becomes a Diva or Injury Prone.

In the Creation Suite editor you can set any player's badges yourself.

Tips

• Clutch matters most on your quarterback and your kicker.
• Big Game players are worth more to a team that plays deep into the postseason.
• Think twice before a long deal for an Injury Prone star.
• A Mentor in a young position room speeds up the whole room.

Player Growth and Potential

Your players change every season. Young players grow toward their ceiling, and older players slowly decline. Knowing who will grow, and giving them the chance, is how you build a team that lasts.

OVR and POT

• OVR is how good a player is right now.
• POT is his ceiling: how good he can get if his career goes normally. It shows as a grade. A is the highest ceiling, then B, then C.
• A player at or past his prime shows PAST for POT. He no longer grows, and age starts to take his ratings down.

Pro: The PRIME column shows the years left until his prime, PEAK in his prime year, or PAST after it.

College: Your players are young, so nearly all of them are still growing every season.

How players grow

Growth happens on its own. A player earns growth after every game and every week of camp, and his ratings rise as it builds up.

• Playing time matters. Starters grow faster than backups who sit. A young player on the field grows faster than the same player on the bench.
• Youth matters. The further a player is from his prime, the more he grows each season.
• Scheme fit matters. A player who fits your scheme (the arrow beside his position) grows faster. A player who clashes with it grows slower.
• Morale matters. A happy player grows faster than an unhappy one.
• Mentors help. A veteran with the Mentor badge helps the other players at his position grow.
• Every player grows at his own pace, so two players with the same POT can take different paths.

Training Camp and In-Season Training add more growth on top. See those topics.

Keep an eye on it

• On the Roster screen, switch the view to Progression. It shows each player's latest OVR change (+OVR), a bar to his next OVR point (NEXT), his POT, and the growth he earned last time out (LAST) and this year (YEAR).
• The Progression tab on the player card lists his rating changes and why they happened.
• Your inbox gets a Progression email when one of your players goes up in OVR.

Tips

• Get your best young prospects on the field. Snaps are the fastest way to grow them.
• In the Game Plan, the Blowouts row decides when your backups take over in a big fourth-quarter lead. Pull Early gives young players more snaps in games you have already won. Ride the Starters never pulls them.
• A veteran past his prime will not get better. Plan to replace him before his decline hurts you.

Training Camp

Training Camp is the last stop of the offseason. Over four weeks you decide who gets the practice reps, watch the position battles and set your lineup for the season. In College it is called Fall Camp.

How camp works

1. Open Manage Reps to set your rep boards.
2. Tap Continue, then Sim Week. Sim To End uses your current boards for every week left.
3. Each week, your offense plays your defense in practice games. Then the Camp Report plays.
4. After the fourth week, set your final depth chart and tap Start Next Year.

The rep board

• Each position room has its own board. Drag a player up or down to change his rank.
• The SCOUT TEAM line splits the first team from the scout team. Players above it get most of the work. Move the line with its arrow buttons.
• Each bar shows a player's share of the reps. The tick marks his normal share.
• The DEV column shows how much faster or slower he will grow than normal. More reps than his normal share means faster growth. Fewer means slower. An untouched board gives everyone his usual growth.
• Extra reps also slow an older player's decline.
• Auto resets every room. Pick Who First (Starters, Second Team, Depth or Youngest) and How Spread (Tight, Normal or Wide), then tap Apply.
• The Reps | Stats toggle shows camp stats.

The Camp Report

After each week, a short show plays in four acts: GROWTH (who improved), STANDOUTS (the best camp performers), BATTLES (close fights for a starting job) and COACH'S CALL. Tap to skip ahead.

In Coach's Call, a coordinator texts you about a position battle. Give the challenger MORE REPS, LESS REPS or tell him to STAY THE COURSE. After the last week, you pick who starts.

PERF

PERF is a letter grade from a player's camp stats. It shows how he produced, not how talented he is, so it can disagree with his OVR. It never changes his ratings or his growth. A dimmed grade means he had few chances. During camp, the Depth Chart shows it in a CAMP column.

Roster moves

Use Position Changes during camp to move players to new spots.

Pro: Your roster can carry extra bodies in camp. Sign young free agents and undrafted rookies to camp deals, or tap Auto Fill Roster. Camp deals cost nothing to cut. Before the season starts, cut down to the season limit or send young players to the practice squad.

Tips

• Give a young backup with a high POT more reps to speed up his growth. Your starters still start: the rep board does not set your depth chart.
• Players can get hurt in camp too.
• The Player Development coach perk raises how much extra growth extra reps can give.

In-Season Training

In-Season Training gives a few of your players a burst of growth during the season. You get two sessions a season, spread through the middle of the schedule. Each one is a chance to push a young player along or keep a veteran sharp.

When a session is ready

• When a session opens, the In-Season Training row shows on the Season Hub with a "Session ready" alert.
• Use it before the next session opens, or it is gone. Sessions do not stack up. The last one stays open through the postseason.
• The top bar shows whether the session is READY, USED or NOT YET, how many have opened this season, and the week of the next one.

Running a session

1. Pick up to three players. Tap the square at the start of a row, or tap Add To Session on the player card.
2. Check the SESSION column. It shows the bar to his next OVR point, with the session's growth shown as a ghost on top, and the gain you can expect.
3. Tap Run Session, check your picks, then tap Run Session again.
4. Watch the bars fill. The growth is yours at once.

What each pick gets

• A young player gets a quick jump of growth, as if he had played a stretch of extra games.
• A veteran at or past his prime gets his age decline slowed. The column shows SLOWS.
• Every pick gets a morale boost. Happier players grow faster, so the boost keeps paying off for a few weeks.
• A player who has reached his potential shows MAXED and gains nothing.
• An injured or suspended player shows OUT and can't practice.

Tips

• The table lists the biggest gains first. Young players far from their prime gain the most.
• Use the filter in the top bar and set SCHEME FIT to FITS SCHEME. Players who fit your scheme train faster.
• A young player who is close to his next OVR point can tick up right away. Check the bars before you pick.
• The Extra Training coach perk gives you more sessions each season, up to five.

Scouting

Prospects start as unknowns. Scouting shows you how good they are before you draft them (Pro) or offer them (College). The more you scout, the less you guess.

What you see

• ? means you have not scouted him yet. OVR, POT and GEM / BUST all show ?.
• Half scouted: OVR shows your scout's read with a range, like 74 ±3. His OVR is somewhere in that range. POT shows its grade.
• Fully scouted: OVR is exact, and the GEM / BUST odds appear.
• HYPE is the league's draft stock on a prospect: how highly everyone else rates him. Your scouting never changes it, and the league can be wrong.
• GEM / BUST shows his chance to turn out better (gem) or worse (bust) than he looks. Some prospects do, and nothing is certain.

Your scout

Every team has a scout. See yours on the Staff screen.

• A higher level means each report finishes more prospects, and his half-scouted range is tighter.
• His specialty (QB, CB and so on) finishes any prospect at those positions in one step.
• You can hire a better scout on the Staff screen. Other teams can try to hire yours away.

Pro: Your scout calls twice a year. In the preseason he asks where to look first. At midseason he calls with a report on each spot and asks where to go next. Answer Keep at it, Go with your picks, or I'll choose to pick the play styles yourself. His next reports come by email after the regular season, and one more after the combine. The Scout Network coach perk lets him cover more spots on each call.

College: Your scout calls once, in the preseason, before offers start. He reports on recruits who are interested in your program. There is nothing to pick. Open the call from the Scout's Report row on the Preseason screen. Tap a recruit's circle in the report to add him to your board.

Scouting on your own

• Tap the SCOUT chip on a prospect's row to scout him one step. Each tap costs influence. The line along the chip shows how far he is scouted.
• Scout Player on the player card does the same.
• Once he is fully scouted, the chip turns into VIEW. It opens his Scouting Report: a short note from your scout on his strengths and weak spots.

Pro: The chip is on the Draft Class tables.

College: Switch the Recruiting Board to Scouting to see the chip.

Tips

• A low-level scout's range is wide. Don't trust a half-scouted read on a key pick.
• Finish your top targets to see their GEM / BUST odds before you commit.
• In Career Settings, Show Prospect Ratings shows every prospect's ratings without scouting. GEM / BUST odds still need a full scout.

The Draft and Mock Drafts

The draft is where you add young talent each year. Next year's class is on the Draft Class screen all season, mock drafts show where prospects are headed, and the draft itself runs seven rounds after the Combine.

The Draft Class

Open Draft Class from the Roster tab. Its tabs:

• Draft Class: every prospect, in View or Scout mode.
• My Board: the prospects you marked with Big Board on their card.
• Mock Draft: round 1 as the league sees it.
• Draft Picks: the picks you own.
• Team Needs: where your roster is thin.

OVR and POT come from your own scouting. HYPE is the league's buzz about a prospect, and it moves as he plays during the season. PROJ shows where he is expected to go, such as Early 1st. The league can be wrong about a player, so HYPE and your scouting don't always agree.

Mock drafts

Three mocks come out each season, each with an email: the first at midseason, the next after the regular season, and the Final Mock at the Combine. The MOVE column shows who rose or fell since the last one. Your picks are lit, so you can see who the mock has you taking.

Draft day

Teams with the fewest wins pick first, and the order stays the same every round. Enter Draft to open the war room. The left card shows who is on the clock, your top needs and your next pick. The middle lists Best Available, your Needs and My Class. The Pick Ticker on the right shows every pick.

When you are on the clock, tap Make Selection, then Draft Player. Tap Sim for Sim Pick, Sim To You or Sim To End; simmed picks of yours go to the best available player. Teams may send offers for a pick during the draft. Prospects nobody drafts become free agents.

Draft History

Career > Draft History shows every past draft by round, or all your picks for a year. Each pick shows the OVR and POT your scout showed on draft day beside what the player is now. A player who has left the league shows OUT.

Tips

• Mark your targets with Big Board so they stand out in the war room.
• Draft picks can be traded, including your picks for the next few drafts.

Free Agency and Contracts

Contracts decide who stays and who you can afford. Each offseason you re-sign your own players first, then bid for free agents in live auctions. Every deal has to fit under the salary cap; your room shows as Cap in the top bar.

Re-signing

The Re-Signing stage comes after Retirements. Open Expiring Contracts and make an offer: pick the years and the salary, and watch his interest meter. Each offer costs a little influence.

• A strong enough offer signs him. A low one gets a request for more, and his patience runs out. A bad one ends talks.
• Money matters most. More years, a starting job and a good team help too, and a happy player likes to stay.
• Older players take shorter deals.
• Apply Franchise Tag keeps one expiring player for one year, paid like the top players at his position. It costs influence, you get one a season, and he won't like it.

Players you don't re-sign hit free agency when you continue. During the season, a player in his last year may become ready to extend. In-Season Resigning on the Season Hub lists them.

Extensions

When a player is ready to extend, you get an email. Open In-Season Resigning and tap Offer Contract. Talks work like re-signing, but the new deal starts next season, so it has to fit next year's cap room.

• The Extension Talks coach perk lets you tap Open Talks on any player in his last year, without waiting. TALKS on the Contracts screen shows how many you have left this season.
• A player who told you he's testing free agency won't extend.

Contract length

Deals run from 1 to 7 years. The years picker only shows the lengths a player will sign for. Each offseason his years count down, and when his last year ends he shows up in Expiring Contracts. A franchise tag is always one year, and a player can't be tagged twice.

Free agency auctions

Free Agency runs in four rounds. Each round you can open a set number of auctions.

1. Tap a player and Start Bidding. Your opening bid starts at his ask.
2. Rival teams raise or drop out. Raise to take the lead again, or Pass.
3. He signs with the leader once nobody beats the bid. Each bid costs a little influence.
4. Continue to the next round. Other teams sign players in between, and each ask drops.

A player who isn't interested in your team shows Negotiate: open talks with influence first. Locked Out means he won't talk to you, for example a star who wants a top team or a starting job you can't give him. Trade offers may arrive between rounds.

After the auctions, anyone left stays on Roster > Free Agents. Sign him there with Offer Contract.

The cap

• Every offer has to fit your cap room, and your open bids count against it.
• Cutting a player can leave a cap hit. Move Player shows it before you cut.
• From season end through camp you can carry up to 70 players. The season roster is 55.

Tips

• Re-sign your core before free agency. Keeping your own players means no bidding war.
• Check Roster Needs and spend your auctions on real holes.

Trades

Trades let you swap players and draft picks with any team in the league. Use them to fill a hole now, move a player who doesn't fit, or build up picks for later.

Making a trade

Open Make A Trade from the Season Hub, or Trade on the Roster tab. It has four tabs:

• Offer Trade: pick a team at the top, then tap their players or picks and yours. Both sides go on the Trade Ticket.
• Trade Finder: build a package of your own players and picks, and see what each team would give for it, best value first.
• Trade Block: players other teams want to move. Tap one to start an offer.
• Manage Block: put up to three of your players on the block so the league knows they are available.

The ticket tells you how the other team sees the deal: Build A Deal, No Deal, Close or They Accept. It also says what is missing, such as more value or cap room. Tap Submit Trade to send it.

Rules

• Up to three healthy players or picks on each side.
• Both teams must stay under the salary cap after the deal.
• Sending an offer costs a little influence. Accepting an offer a team sent you costs none.
• The trade deadline comes after Week 8. Trades open again once the playoffs end.
• Your picks for the next few drafts can be traded.

What teams look for

Every team wants to come out ahead. Like real front offices, they prize young starters, quarterbacks and early picks. They Accept means the deal works for them; whether it works for you is your call.

Trade offers

Teams also come to you, through the season and the offseason, between free agency rounds and during the draft. A popup lets you View Offers, decide Later or Decline. Offers you haven't answered wait under Trade Offers on the Roster tab. Once you make a deal with a team, its other offers end.

Tips

• Use Trade Finder to see what a player is worth before you put him on the block.
• Check the cap line on the ticket before you build a big deal.

Practice Squad

The practice squad holds up to 16 young players apart from your 55-man roster. They don't count against the cap, they keep growing after every game, and they cover for injuries on game day.

Who can go down

A player can move to the practice squad when he:

• has played 2 seasons or fewer,
• is paid the minimum,
• is healthy, and
• isn't needed to fill a position minimum.

The squad is open from training camp through the last game. Use Move Player on his card and pick Send to Practice Squad, or tap the PS circle on Player Cuts. If he can't go, the reason shows. Promote to Roster brings him back up on the same deal. Squad players can't be traded.

Protect your best

Order the squad on Roster > Practice Squad by dragging. The top 4 sit above the Protected line, and no other team can sign them. Anyone below it can be signed to another team's roster, and you get an email when it happens.

You can do the same. Free Agents > Practice Squads lists other teams' unprotected players. Sign to Roster gives him a one-year minimum deal that he always takes, for a little influence.

Game-day call-ups

When injuries leave a position short on game day, your best squad player at that spot is called up for the day. He plays, then goes back to his place on the squad.

Auto Manage Roster

Auto Manage Roster is on for a new career, and you can change it in Career > Settings. Before each game day, your team signs for short spots and cuts down to 55. Auto Cut Players sends eligible cuts to the squad instead of releasing them. With it off, a game day that is short or over 55 stops you until you fix the roster.

Camp and the cutdown

From season end through camp your roster can hold up to 70. In camp, free agents who ask the minimum sign with one tap (Sign Camp Deal), and you can cut them before the season with no cap hit. At the end of camp you cut down to 55, which is the time to fill your squad. When the season ends, every squad player joins your roster, and his one-year deal comes up in Expiring Contracts.

Tips

• A player moved down in camp gets no more camp reps, so wait on the ones you are still judging.

Player Tracker and Filters

Seasons go fast, and player lists get long. The Player Tracker follows the players you dealt with, and the player filter narrows any list to the players you want.

Player Tracker

Open it from the Roster tab: Player Tracker. It lists every player in the league you made a decision on, with a tag and the year it happened.

• BID: you bid on him in free agency (Pro) or the transfer portal (College).
• DRAFTED: you drafted him. Pro only.
• TRADED: you traded him away. Pro only.
• RELEASED: you cut him.
• LEFT: he left your team.
• TRACKED: you chose Track Player from the menu on his player card. Untrack Player takes it off. It is the only tag you can remove.

Pro: LEFT means his contract ran out and you did not re-sign him, or another team signed him off your practice squad.

College: LEFT means he entered the transfer portal. A player you cut leaves the league, so he soon drops off the list.

The table shows his team now, his OVR and his latest season's stats. Tabs split the list by tag. His tags also show on his player card. When a player retires or leaves the league, he drops off the list.

Player filter

Most player lists have a filter button in the top bar. It shows the position and how many filters are on, like "LOLB · 2", or ALL.

1. Tap the button to open the filter sheet.
2. Set any filter rows on the right first. The count of matching players updates as you go.
3. Tap a position tile to show only that position, or tap Show Players to keep every position.

The rows are:

• SCHEME FIT: FITS SCHEME, or NO CLASH to hide only players who clash with your scheme.
• TEAM NEEDS: NEEDS ONLY shows positions where you are short or that you marked on Team Needs.
• ASK: players whose ask fits your room. It reads FITS CAP in Pro and FITS NIL in College.

Not every list offers every row. Clear turns every filter off. The filter resets when you leave the screen.

Tips

• Track a player you passed on to see how he turns out somewhere else.
• In free agency or the portal, set ASK and TEAM NEEDS to see only the players you can sign who fill a hole.
• Use SCHEME FIT on the Draft Class (Pro) or Recruiting Board (College) to find prospects who suit how you play.

Depth Chart and Roster Moves

The depth chart decides who plays. Your roster moves decide who is on the team.

Depth Chart

Open it from the Roster tab. Each position has its own tab.

• Drag a player to move him, or tap him and use TOP or the arrows.
• Starters stand out and backups are dimmed. Your base offense and defense, in the top bar, set how many start at each spot.
• A player tagged INJ, SUSP or RS can't play. The next man up starts.
• Auto sorts every position by OVR. You review it before you confirm.
• Leaving with changes asks you to confirm or discard them.

A position you never set sorts itself by OVR. A position you set keeps your order until a new player joins it, so check it after a signing or a trade.

A backup you move into the lineup gets a morale lift. A starter you bench takes a bigger hit, and the news may report it. The Players' Coach perk softens a benching.

Change Position

During Training Camp (Fall Camp in College), Position Changes moves a player to a nearby spot, like guard to tackle or cornerback to safety. The list shows his OVR at each one. His play style resets to Balanced.

Redshirts

College: in the preseason, Redshirt Players sits a player all season to save a year of eligibility. He still practices and grows, but slower than a player who plays. Each player can redshirt once.

Cuts and roster limits

Every position needs a minimum number of players. You can't cut, redshirt or move a player if it leaves you short.

• Let a player go with Release Player (Pro) or Cut Player (College) on his card, or trim the roster on Roster > Player Cuts.
• Pro: a released player becomes a free agent. Years left on his deal leave a cap hit, shown before you confirm.
• Pro: the season roster is 55, and on game day only healthy players count.
• Pro: with Auto Manage Roster on, your team signs and cuts for you before each game day. With it off, a popup offers Auto Fill Roster or Auto Cut Players. The cutdown at the end of camp always asks.
• College: the roster holds 70. Short spots fill with walk-ons before each game.

Pro: in the preseason, Set Up Trade Block puts players on the block. Trades has more.

Tips

• Bench a starter only when the upgrade is worth the morale hit.
• College: redshirt young players who won't start this year.

Injuries

Players get hurt on the snaps they play, so depth matters. An injury can cost a player the rest of a game, a few weeks, or the season.

Who gets hurt

The play decides who takes the risk. The ball carrier, his tackler, a sacked quarterback and the targeted receiver take the most. Running backs and tight ends get hurt most often, quarterbacks least, and kickers and punters almost never. Older players get hurt a little more. Iron Man players get hurt less, and Injury Prone players more.

Players can also get hurt in Training Camp (Fall Camp in College). A player who takes more reps takes more risk.

What you see

When a player gets hurt on the field, the camera pans to him and his card shows the injury and how long he's out. In Sim Ahead and on Game Day, the injury shows under the play. You get an email when one of your players is hurt.

• Out for the game: a bruise or a stinger.
• Out for weeks: an ankle sprain, a concussion, a strained hamstring.
• Out for the season: an ACL tear, an Achilles tear, a broken leg.

Every injury heals by the next season.

Lasting effects

Some serious injuries leave a mark on the ratings tied to them. A knee can cost a player speed, and a shoulder can cost a quarterback throw power. Bigger injuries are more likely to leave a mark, and older players lose more. When an injury costs a player for good, your inbox tells you. His player card keeps his Injury History.

A season-ending injury also gives the player the Injury Prone badge.

Managing injuries

• Roster > Injuries shows the Injury Report: who is hurt and for how long.
• Rush Back spends influence to return a player early from a shorter injury. The Season Hub shows an Injuries row when someone can come back. The Medic coach perk lets you rush players back from longer injuries.
• Pro: if injuries leave you short at a spot, fix the roster before the game. With Auto Manage Roster on, your team signs or calls up cover for you.
• College: short spots are filled for you before each game.

Turning injuries off

Career Settings has an Injuries switch. With it off, no player in the league gets hurt in a game or in camp. Players who are hurt now heal as normal.

Tips

• Keep a solid backup at running back and receiver.
• Don't over-rep your stars in camp.

Game Plan

Your game plan tells your staff what to lean on. Each choice is a real football concept, and the plays your team calls follow it. Nothing is required: every row starts on Default, which plays your head coach's philosophy.

Where to set it

• Before the game: Game Plan on the Season Hub, when you have an opponent this week. Your plan carries from week to week until you change it. Reset puts every row back on Default.
• At a timeout: tap the TIMEOUT chip during a game. The plan opens over the field.
• At halftime: your game stops for Adjustments before the second half.

Changes at a timeout or halftime last for that game only. Simmed games use your pregame plan.

Your rows

• Lean: Run More or Pass More than your usual mix.
• Run Game: Downhill between the tackles, Perimeter to the edge, or a QB Run Game.
• Pass Game: Quick Game, Screens, Play-Action or Take Shots down the field.
• QB: Stay in the Pocket, His Style, or Extend Plays with his legs.
• Tempo: Slow It Down for fewer possessions, or Speed It Up for more.
• Blowouts: when your backups take over with a big lead. Ride the Starters keeps them in.
• Front: Stack the Box with a safety down, or a Light Box with two deep.
• Pressure: Blitz Heavy, Rush Four, Drop Eight or Contain.
• Coverage: Press Coverage, Keep It in Front or Disguise.

Open a row to see what each choice does, the players it leans on, what it beats and what it is weak against, with its play art.

Scouting the opponent

The left side of the screen shows what the other team did in its last games: how often their defense stacked the box, blitzed or pressed, and how their offense mixed runs, quick throws, screens, play-action and deep shots. At a timeout or halftime it shows this game, and your rows show how each one is going.

These are facts, not advice. What you do with them is up to you.

Extra Game Prep

Extra Game Prep on the Season Hub spends influence on a focus for this week's game, such as Establish the Run or Get After the Quarterback. You can pick one each for offense, defense and special teams.

Tips

• Every choice has a cost. A blitz that misses gives up big plays, and deep shots bring more sacks and picks.
• Fit the plan to your roster. Take Shots wants a quarterback with a deep arm and fast receivers.
• Ratings still matter more than the plan, but a good plan wins close games.

Playing and Simming Games

Each week, Continue on the Season Hub opens Game Day. You can coach the game yourself on the field, or sim it and watch the score build.

Game Day

• Play Game takes you to the field to call plays.
• Sim Game plays it out on Game Day. A timeline fills through the four quarters, with a mark for each score, turnover, missed field goal and injury.
• Pause shows the drive and the last few plays. Jump In takes you to the field from that moment.
• The final shows the top player, the team totals and the XP and influence the game earned. Box Score has the full stats. Continue finishes the week.

Back leaves Game Day with nothing played.

On the field

The CALLS chip sets how much you call:

• Key Downs: you call 3rd and 4th downs, the CPU the rest.
• Offense: you call every offensive snap.
• Full: you call offense and defense.
• Watch: the CPU calls every play.

When it is your call, the playbook opens with your plays and a tip from your coordinator. The speed chips set the pace or pause the game. Call a timeout to change your game plan. When a player gets hurt, the camera pans to him and his card shows the injury.

Sim Ahead in a game

The SIM AHEAD chip skips forward to the Next Possession, the End of Quarter, Halftime or the End of Game. The field pulls back to an overhead view and each play fills a list at the side, with any injury under its play. Stop it at any time. Resume to take over again, or sim ahead again.

Season Sim Ahead

Sim Ahead on the Season Hub sims the regular season to a week you pick, or to the End of Regular Season. Your staff keeps your game plan and depth chart, fills roster holes and turns down trade offers. It spends no influence and answers no phone calls. While You Were Away sums up what happened. The sim stops early if something needs you.

• College: your staff also fills your recruiting board and makes scholarship offers.

Rivalry games

The Season Hub marks a RIVALRY GAME. Rivalry games are often closer than the ratings say. A win lifts your locker room and earns extra influence. A loss hits morale. Career > Rivalries shows every series.

• Pro: the standard league has no rivalries.

Tips

• Key Downs keeps you in the big moments without calling every snap.
• Pause a sim to read the drive before you Jump In.

Schedule, Divisions and Playoffs

Your season is a run of weekly games, then the postseason. Where you finish decides your seed, your bowl or playoff path, and whether you meet your season Goal.

The regular season

• Pro: 32 teams play 17 games. Your record counts regular-season games only.
• College: teams play 12 games. The season opens with non-conference games, then conference play and rivalry games. Your record counts every game, bowls and playoff games too.

The Schedule screen has your Team Schedule and the League Schedule. The Season Hub shows Week Results, Conference Standings and Power Rankings (Top 25 in College). Playoff Picture shows the projected bracket, then the real one.

A league with an odd number of teams gives one team a Bye Week each week. The standard leagues have no byes. In the preseason, Edit Schedule lets you swap home and away or change an opponent.

Pro: divisions and playoffs

The league has two conferences, each with four divisions of four teams. You play each division rival twice, home and away. The rest of your games rotate against other divisions each year. Standings show your division record.

Seven teams from each conference make the playoffs. The four division winners take the top seeds, then the three best other records. The top seed gets a first-round bye, and the higher seed hosts. Ties go to head-to-head, then division or conference record, then Power Rankings. Each division winner's title goes into League History. The two conference winners meet in the Title Game.

College: conference titles, bowls and the playoff

• Conference Championship: the top two teams in each conference meet for the title.
• Playoff: the top 12 in the final rankings make it. The top four get a first-round bye. Later rounds are played as bowl games, and the last two teams meet in the Title Game.
• Bowl Games: teams outside the playoff that win at least half their games are bowl eligible.

All-star games

After the Title Game come the all-star weeks. You sim them without coaching, and they count only in the news, where your selected players show up.

• Pro: the Senior Bowl (draft prospects, East against West), then the Pro Bowl (the league's best, one conference against the other).
• College: the Senior Bowl, with seniors from across the country, East against West.

Custom leagues

A Custom league lets you pick the roster, the number of games and the playoff seeds. Pro: you can also seed per conference or across the whole league.

Tips

• Pro: win your division. It is the surest way to a top seed and a home playoff game.
• College: the final rankings pick the playoff field, so a late loss can cost you a spot.

Records and Milestones

Every great season leaves a mark. The game keeps league and team record books, tracks milestones, and honors the best careers in the Hall of Fame.

The Record Book

Career > Record Book. Switch between the League book and your Team book. Pro: the team book is your franchise record. College: it is your program record.

Each book has Game, Season and Career tabs, with nine stats: passing yards, rushing yards, receiving yards, receptions, passing touchdowns, rushing touchdowns, receiving touchdowns, sacks and interceptions.

Pick a record to see its holder, the year he set it and The Chase: the three active players closest to the mark, and how many more each one needs.

The books start full. Legends from before your league's first season hold the marks, so a new record means something from day one. League records are hard to reach. Team records fall more often. All-star games don't count.

Emails

Your inbox tells you when one of your players:

• breaks a league record,
• breaks his team's record,
• reaches a milestone, such as a 1,000-yard rushing season or a big career total.

A season or career record sends its email when it passes a mark from an earlier season. Teammates who trade a mark back and forth during the season don't flood your inbox.

Team honors

A championship sends you an honor email.

• College: a bowl win and a conference title do too.

Hall of Fame

Players with great careers go into the Hall of Fame when they retire. Career > Hall of Fame lists every inductee, newest class first. You get an email when a player who played for you goes in.

More history

The Career tab also has League History (past seasons), Award History (past winners) and Rivalries (series records, when your league has them).

• Pro: Draft History lists every past draft.

Tips

• Check The Chase late in the season to see who is close.
• Team career records count only a player's seasons with that team. Keep a star for years and he can climb your book.
• A team book stays with the team in roster files and mods, so a custom league can carry its own history.

Awards and the Leaderboard

Each season ends with awards for the league's best players and coaches. Your career can also go on the online Leaderboard.

Award races

The Award Watch panel on the Season Hub shows the top of the MVP race. College: it shows the Player Of The Year race. For every race, go to Stats > Awards and pick an award at the top.

Awards are given when the regular season ends, so playoff games don't count.

• Pro: MVP, Offensive and Defensive Player Of The Year, Offensive and Defensive Rookie Of The Year, Coach Of The Year and Best Coordinator.
• College: Player Of The Year, Offensive and Defensive Player Of The Year, Freshman Of The Year, a Best award at each position, Coach Of The Year and Best Coordinator.

All-Pros and All-Americans

The second tab of the Awards screen holds the First Team and Second Team, picked with the awards. Pro: these are the All-Pros. College: these are the All-Americans.

Your inbox tells you when one of your players wins an award or makes a team. Each honor goes on the player's Trophies tab.

Award History

Career > Award History lists every past winner, year by year.

Your coaching record

• Report Card (Coaching tab): this season's record beside your career record, winning seasons, playoff record and titles. College: it also shows your record against Top 25 teams and in bowls.
• Coach Stats: every head coach and coordinator in the league, with his level, team and record.
• Coach Profile: your season-by-season Career Stats and your Trophy Room, where each championship goes. College: bowl wins and conference titles go there too.

The Leaderboard

Career > Leaderboard shows the top coaches, with Pro Mode and College Mode tabs. Your rank also shows on your Report Card.

Your score grows with wins, playoff wins and titles. Winning with a team that starts near the bottom counts for more than winning with a team already on top.

Which careers count

1. You are signed in, from Options > Settings > Account.
2. You picked the league with the RANKED tag on Select League. Custom leagues don't count.
3. You picked Preseason on Starting Point. The other starts are unranked.
4. You never edit the league. Editing a player, team, coach or conference, changing the schedule, or loading a draft or recruiting class from a file takes the career off the board for good.

Career Settings and coach perks don't affect your place.

• A season counts once the playoffs end and you move to the offseason.
• Only your first 30 seasons count.
• A finished season stays. Loading an older save does not change it.
• The board shows the best career from each account.

News and Inbox

Two feeds keep you up to date. League News covers the whole league. Your inbox holds the messages meant for you.

League News

League News is on the Season Hub and on each offseason stage. It covers games, upsets, trades, signings, injuries, awards, coaching changes and more.

• Pro: re-signings, franchise tags, players hitting the market, free agency, combine rumors, the mock draft and the draft.
• College: recruit commitments, Signing Day, the top recruiting class and the transfer portal.

Stories are grouped by week in the season and by stage in the offseason. Each group keeps its biggest stories, so stars, top teams and your own team rise to the top. Tap a story to open that player or team.

Breaking news

The biggest stories show full screen when the stage changes: a star on the move, a big trade, a top pick or recruit, a major coaching change, a title or an award. You see a few at most, your team's first. The rest stay in the feed.

Your inbox

Coaching > Notifications. Emails cover your team's injuries, growth, morale, contracts, scouting, recruiting, honors and records.

• NEEDS YOU pins emails that still wait on you, such as a player ready to re-sign or a recruit ready to visit.
• Tabs sort the rest: All, Team, Recruiting and Records. A tab shows only when it has emails.
• Open an email for its details. Many have buttons that take you straight to the right screen, such as the player's card.

When you reach the hub, the day's most important new emails show in one card at the bottom left. Tap a row to read that email, or let the card fade. Everything stays in the inbox. Your inbox starts fresh each year.

Decisions don't come by email. When a player or coach needs an answer, he calls you on the Phone.

Tips

• Check NEEDS YOU before you Continue.
• Read League News through the offseason to see where the stars land.
• The email card shows only the top few. Open the inbox now and then for the rest.

Career Settings

Career Settings lets you shape how a career plays. Each setting is an on or off switch saved with that career, so every career can have its own.

Where to find it

Career > Settings. Each row shows what it does right now. Change a switch and it takes effect from then on.

The settings

Injuries

On by default. Any snap or camp week can hurt a player, and some injuries leave a lasting rating hit.

Turn it off and no player in the league gets hurt in a game or in camp. Players who are hurt now still heal as normal.

Auto Manage Roster

Pro only. On by default. Before each game day, your roster signs or calls up players for injured or short spots and cuts down to 55.

Turn it off to run the roster yourself. A game day with a spot under its minimum, or more than 55 players, stops you until you fix the roster. If you pick Always Auto Manage Roster on that roster popup, the setting goes back on.

Show Prospect Ratings

Off by default. A prospect you have not scouted shows ? until your scout reads him.

Turn it on and every prospect shows his ratings, scouted or not. GEM and BUST odds still need a full scout report.

• Pro: this covers your draft class.
• College: this covers recruits.

Good to know

• Settings change only your career. Your place on the Leaderboard stays the same.
• Turn Injuries off for a relaxed career where your stars always play.
• Leave Show Prospect Ratings off if you enjoy scouting. Your scout's work matters more that way.

Creation Suite and Mods

The Creation Suite lets you build your own football world. Edit any player, team, coach or conference, make your own draft and recruiting classes, and share it all as mods.

Opening it

Main Menu > Options > Creation Suite has three choices:

• Edit Roster: load a roster and change its teams and players.
• Edit Draft Class: build the prospects for an upcoming draft.
• Edit Recruiting Class: build a class of high school recruits.

Editing a roster

• Edit Teams: city or college, team name, abbreviation, prestige, conference, colors, logo, and offense and defense ratings. Pro: a team also has a division.
• Create A Player: name, college, body, position, number, age, face, play style, every rating, potential, development and badges. Pro: contract too.
• Create A Team, Create A Head Coach and Create A Coordinator add new people and programs.
• Edit Conferences: rename and reorganize. Pro: each conference holds its division names. College: Create A Conference adds a new one.

Save keeps your changes. Back throws them away. When you leave, the game asks you to save the roster as a file. To play it, pick Custom on the league screen, then choose your roster.

In a career

Edit Player on a player card's menu and Edit Team on a team card's menu open the same editor mid-career. A team's conference and division stay fixed during a career. In the preseason, Edit Schedule changes this season's games.

Draft and recruiting classes

Start a new class or load a saved one, then edit each player in it.

In a career's preseason, Import Draft Class (Pro) or Import Recruiting Class (College) loads a saved class or a zip file, or exports the one you have. A short class fills up to full size with new players.

• College: an imported recruiting class clears every recruiting board, so set yours again.
• College: the Graduates stage has Export Draft Class, to take your league's players into a Pro draft.

Sharing mods

In Files, pick any roster, draft class or recruiting class and choose Export to make a zip file to share. To add one, choose Import Mod in Files, or open the zip with the game from your files, a drive or an email.

Mods can carry their own team logos and player faces. A roster can also start in its own year and bring its own class for each season after, so you can build a historical league.

Tips

• Try an imported class in a test career before you use it in your main one.