going into my 4th season now and was wondering if anyone is having this issue. After the rookie signing period I'm finding 2nd round and 1st round (Top 10!!) picks aren't signed to the teams that picked them and become available in the 2nd FA period. Last offseason I noticed a Rookie QB with a rating of 85 available, honestly just figured it was one of those undrafted surprises like Romo. This offseason I was shifting though and noticed a rookie SS with 84 rating, I signed him but noticed the contract was for about 3 mil a yr which I thought was crazy high. So I checked the player history and found the player was picked round 1.6 in that yrs drafted. I also went though a couple of my other WW signees and found that another 1 was a former 2nd round pick (but his rating was not very good) and the QB I mentioned above was also a former top 10 pick that the CPU decided not to sign. Pretty crazy that a team won't sign a 1st round QB.
I have been following NZA off-season guide; Do my coaching staff thing and re-sign players / FAs. Use NZA Rookie rating fix, sim the draft and save the file. Use Maddenamp for the draft (do not use Maddenamp's rookie fix) and then save the file when done. Re open the game in Madden and sign my rookies, however when I do this I notice that the OVR rating are way off... like my 1st round pick has a OVR of 6! But I dummy sign the them and proceed to the next stage. I then save the file, open up in NZA and perform the OVR rating fix, the QB function fix and rookie contract fix. Then proceed though out the rest of the off-season as normal.
To explain the first part... it's almost likely due to the salary cap. If a team can't afford to sign their rookies, they won't. It also might be because they have a full roster. Sometimes, if a player has a very low morale, the CPU will cut them on the spot. Either way, there's a simple fix. I take control of all of the teams using the NZA editor and I go in-game and sign these players to the teams that drafted them. This is much more realistic than letting them rot in FA or having your team claim them. Just solve the problem (raise morale, cut some vets for the CPU team to lower the salary cap) and sign the young player back to his original team.
To solve the second part... if your rookies' OVRs are around 50 to 5, all you need to do is use the NZA editor and find the "Recalculate OVR" function. When you click that, all rookies should return to their normal OVR.
What I do is go through each position quickly team by team and make sure the players are in their best positions. Example - a 83 OVR Rookie LT behind a 95 OVR veteran LT when the team has a gap at RT. By shifting him to RT using the in-game player edit screen, the team will have their best chance and the rookie will have his best shot for progression.
I don't quite understand this part. Can someone explain it more in depth? Thanks
This is a pretty simple concept. Say the Patriots have a hole at RT. They have a 71 OVR RT and that's it. However, they have a 95 OVR LT and a backup LT with a OVR of 83. This backup player should be starting at RT because his 83 is higher than 71. Go to this team's depth chart and put the better T at the RT spot.