Madden 20 Franchise Mode: How to master the draft and rebuild your team

The most exciting part of Franchise Mode is always building a team through draft. Finding new names with unknown levels of upside that might take the league by storm is a sure-fire way to build a connection with your virtual side.

It can be tricky though, and from game to game, EA have added small tweaks to make it a little more stimulating.

You can't just sim ahead and remember the names to draft in a new save. With tens of thousands of random classes and variable traits, the draft in Madden 20 is a minefield that needs to be carefully navigated every season.

So how can you be the best GM in the next draft of your Franchise mode?

Expert Scouting Coach Package

First things first, if you are playing as a Coach then this package is a huge help. Over the course of the season, your Coach will get XP for achieving goals and this can be spent to learn more about players in the coming draft. The Expert Scouting coach package which will increase your scouting points from 175 per week to 200.

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This seems insignificant, but it adds up week to week and opens the door for around 12-15 more players to get visibility on.

Know your needs & use your points

You don't have unlimited scouting points so at the start of the season it is worth mapping out where you think you will focus on the draft.

Look at your roster for gaps, check the salaries page for who is leaving at the end of the season that you won't re-sign. Above, Humphries will be a free agent and wants insane money - therefore I know LT will be a focus position for me.

You get 175 points a week (without the upgrade), but anything you don't use up is halved week to week. So make sure you use them each week on the key positions.

Initial scouting, before deep scouting

There are 3 levels of scouting, that get progressively cheaper, before giving a full summary of what round talent your scouts think they are. The stats that show when scouted are the 3 best stats that player has.

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Initially, only scout the first stat. Over the weeks, this helps you to know where to scout further. On the above you can see the 2nd player has a C+ for impact block. This is not a good find as it means the other stats are only going to be worse, therefore I don't want to waste further points seeing more.

Sort your draft board

The draft board was only added in recent Maddens and allows you to highlight players you're interested in on their own table.

It pays to sort this out early. Before Free Agency is the last chance you get to do this so make sure it's done when the combine results come out. You can set an order of preference from best pick to least attractive option.

In the heat of the draft, when the clock is counting down, you don't want to waste time cycling through players. When players are drafted by other teams, they will come off your board. The CPU will go through your board if you set one up. This has saved many a franchise player in an organized league when they miss the draft at the last second.

Check the combine results

Once you get to the offseason, the combine results come out. These give each player a score, and if you click on them, you can see the detail by each drill. These correlate directly to stats in the game. So if a player is the 1st in their position for the 40-yard dash - they will be the quickest player in that position.

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Again, do all this research before the draft and use your draft board - you won't have time to look at this in the 90 seconds you get to make a choice.

Know your opponents

Trying to understand what other teams will do is an important skill in drafting. It's worth spending the time looking at other teams in and around your pick to work out what they might do. This can help you work out who might drop to future picks, or if anyone might trade.

If you are in a human league, remember that people don't act the same way as a computer. Expect players who are fast and strong to go a lot quicker, rather than just following the standard recommendation for who to take in each round.

So there you have it. All the tools you need to be a drafting genius and turn your franchise into the next dynasty.