I’d love any feedback on the Player Roles feature. When I looked at this tool previously, I couldn’t find an impressive use for it.

That all changed today! After I discovered my own system of what I like in each position, I see how useful and big this tool can be for team construction and recruiting.

If you guys want to shoot me a private message or comment here... share any secrets you have in using your Player Roles tool. I’m curious what you’ve found works best at each position.

Posted by craigaltonw on 10/16/2018 4:22:00 AM (view original):
I’d love any feedback on the Player Roles feature. When I looked at this tool previously, I couldn’t find an impressive use for it.

That all changed today! After I discovered my own system of what I like in each position, I see how useful and big this tool can be for team construction and recruiting.

If you guys want to shoot me a private message or comment here... share any secrets you have in using your Player Roles tool. I’m curious what you’ve found works best at each position.

Me too! I have no idea if it is useful or not, and I would just be happy to see how the group feels about this function! If I get a sitemail or two with advice, that is gravy to me. I just wonder who uses it?

I've been around since 2004 and still have no f****** idea what the hell you're supposed to do with it.

Honestly, the only time I found a practical use for it was in beta for 3.0 when I discovered you could use it to tell the exact ratings for players at less than Level 4. (ETA -- it doesn't any more...the exploit was plugged in beta)

Now if it took into account the effects of potential, then we'd be talking a different story, but at best now it gives you a snapshot of the strength of a specific player at a specific position as it exists right now, with no utility to showcase what the player will be by senior year.

I use it all the time as a means of estimating player quality. I experimented with it for quite awhile until I found a formula that I like for rating players at each position, and I use those ratings both for recruiting and for setting lineups. I also use it as a basis of predicting what the final standings will be in the league each season before the season starts, based on the ratings of the players on each team.

I use it as a sanity check for my depth chart. If Player Role tells me something different than what I was planning to do, then I'll take a closer look at the player in question to see what I might have been missing. Or just disregard what Player Role is saying.

i created a 'defender' player role, to better evaluate my team on defense..i don't know if it really helps, but i feel better!

Defender role! Great idea. Imma do that!

Recruiting this season: It helped me because I planned on cutting a Freshman I inherited who’s going into his sophomore season. I still might. But the player I was recruiting to take his place isn’t actually much better, which I found by my own Player Role formula at that position. True, the rating doesn’t account for potentials, but when I factored in WE and core potentials for each player... the dude I’m recruiting would be a bit of an improvement after 2 seasons. But if I’m thinking only next season, he’s actually not as good.

Point is, before my Player Roles formula, I thought the new recruit was way better. I still might do it, but having more info is great!

I find it most useful, though, for lineup choices. I have a bench player who is solid but during last season I struggled to know where he fit on the team. After creating my Player Role formulas, the dude comes in rated 5th or 6th on my team at every position from PF to PG. Made a hell a lot of sense to me. His cores are whacky, but he’s talented enough to keep on my roster.

Lastly, I don’t agree with the default values. But I’m feeling pleased with what I’ve created.