it seems to me that more and more often recruits that i have on my watch list end up being considered by the sim during the 5 pm pre-recruiting cycle. is it possible that the engine is programmed for the sim to put effort into a recruit based on the number of watch lists the recruit is on? 

I would say that is unlikely.

Agree - highly doubtful.  Extra programming just to make stuff that has no value to players and can break.

It's just luck. Sometimes, almost none of my watched players are considering a Sim team. Other seasons, almost 1/2 are

My theory would be that there are probably more simmed teams creeping into worlds, so the number of recruits pre-considering Sims is on the rise increasing the odds that one of them is going to randomly light on one of your favorite local prospects.

the value would be 2 fold: 1st. it would increase the chances that sims recruit better. (a common complaint in the forums used to be that the sim teams are terrible); and 2nd it make it more expensive to recruit the better talent.

obviously it can be luck,  but its happened to a majority of my watched list recruits the past 4 recruiting cycles. i'm recruiting tonight and will see if the trend continues... 

Posted by alblack56 on 2/26/2014 12:09:00 PM (view original):
It's just luck. Sometimes, almost none of my watched players are considering a Sim team. Other seasons, almost 1/2 are

I once had a season where I had 18-20 guys on my watchlist, and only 4 of them WEREN'T considering a Sim after the 5 PM.

One possibility is that your team has evolved and you are now hunting in a range of recruit where those SIMs also hunt

fwiw, only 2 out of 9 recruits on my list were considering sims this recruiting cycle.