Madden NFL 23 is scheduled to launch on August 19th and if you are a fan of the series then you know the many issues that have plagued this game for years. Everyone loves Ultimate Team but fans of Franchise Mode have continued to feel left out when it comes to the progression of that mode year after year. If you’ve ever run a 32-man online league in Madden then I’m sure we have shared the same frustration when it comes to the off-season and how to navigate it as a commish. One of the biggest gripes has always been the way that the Free Agency Process has been done and this year EA takes a stab at fixing that.
Users have long known the best way to acquire a Free Agent in a Madden franchise was to wait until the last minute before the Commissioner advances to the next stage to put the bid in. You could easily see what the highest bid was and put it in and then the commish would advance and more than likely you got that player. It’s already hard enough to get 32 guys to be on at the same time as the Free Agency process but it made it even harder knowing that if you didn’t put your bid in near the end of the stage then it didn’t even matter. Madden NFL 23 looks to alleviate this issue by 1, not letting you see exactly what others bid on that player but also adding motivation tags and player tags that may help out some teams that may not have the money to pay big bucks for them.
Player Motivations
In previous years, players simply signed with the teams offering the most money. Now, every player has three Motivations describing the type of team they want to play for. These conditions can range from location, coach prestige, team composition and more. All players will begin with a set of 3 Motivations but with every year a player continues with a Franchise, these may update to better align with their current situation.
Player Tags
Many players have roles on a team that exceeds their direct positions and assignments. Tags add a new layer to how these players fit with their team, bringing unique effects that not only apply to the team but also to teammates and the player themselves. Player Tags are dynamic, updating weekly; how the players, teams, and league progress will all impact roles across your Franchise.
With just these two things added, it makes bidding on Free Agents not about who is offering a ton of money to the player but more about the impact of their motivation and player tags. Don’t get me wrong, money will still be an influencer but it might not have the impact that you think. Each Motivation and Player tag has an impact on how that player feels about that particular tag and whether it affects them positively or negatively.
One of the other things that is great in the Madden NFL 23 Free Agency process is the fact that you can’t just bid on unlimited guys. In the 1st stage of Free Agency, you can only bid on 5 players, in Stage 2, you are restricted to 10 players to bid on, and in the last and 3rd stage you can bid on unlimited. I believe this is where long-time players of Madden’s Franchise mode will see the difference. Before you had teams clear a bunch of salary cap and bid on all of the top 10 teams. You are not going to be able to do that in Madden NFL 23.
The last thing that I really like is the fact that you can go back and forth with Free Agents before the advance of the week. This means that a player can reject or even sign with you based on the offers that the player has received. No more waiting to see if someone signs with you before moving on to the next FA at that position and missing out. This is huge in my opinion. From the screenshot, it looks like each stage has 3 evaluation periods and I’m still not sure what that means but having the ability to sign before the next stage is a great way to regulate how things and as a commissioner that’s what you want.
These changes in the Free Agency alone make the off-season even more exciting and get us close to the immersion that we all want as fans. Now if they only allowed Commissioners to be able to lock and unlock FA.
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