As with every Madden release since ‘99, Franchise Mode features a unique way to enjoy some pigskin, with you taking control as either a Head Coach, a Star Player, or a Team Owner, and micromanaging decisions to get your team to the top. Madden 23 changed the formula a little bit with Franchise Mode, so we’ve got a few tips and tricks to get you settled in.
First off, the key differences between the game modes:
- Head Coach – The standard Franchise mode. Draft and call plays, make trades, conduct negotiations and scouting attempts, and more.
- Player – You only control one Player on one Team. This differs from Face of the Franchise a little bit, but the similarities are close enough.
- Owner – You manage and coach your team, as well as set prices and micromanage feedback. The key distinction is if you ever plan to relocate your team anywhere, you must be an Owner to do so. You will not be able to relocate if you are a Player or Head Coach.
Once you load in and select a team to represent, you choose either Staff Builder or Team Builder, which confer bonuses to either your Staff selection or your Team selection talent trees. You can choose whichever one you feel comfortable with.
Now that you’re in Franchise mode good and proper, here are some tips for getting the most out of your game:
Focus Players
You start off with three slots, and you need to make sure that the three in your slots are the top three players you want to work on. You will additionally be able to unlock three more slots when you choose the After School Tutoring HC Talent. You should prioritize unlocking these talents after “The Final Piece”, explained below.
Staff Management
These are your talent trees. Make sure you’re hitting your weekly and seasonal goals to get XP, which in turn unlocks staff points for you to spend on these talent trees. Here are some recommendations for you to choose:
Head Coach
- Player Growth – prioritize unlocking “The Final Piece”, which allows all of your players to count as “Scheme Fits” during training sessions. It does not matter which side of the talent tree you go down, but it is better to pick the path your team is strongest at, be it offense or defense.
- Staff Modifications – immediately spend the minimum amount of points to unlock the “After School Tutoring” talent, to unlock three more Focus Players slots. Do this after you’ve unlocked “The Final Piece” up above.
Offensive Coordinator
- On The Block – it’s recommended to unlock the “X-Factor On” talent immediately before proceeding with other talents.
- Practice Makes Perfect – the final priority talent is “Concentration”, which boosts your Catch stat for wide receivers and tight ends by 5. Once more, it does not matter which side of talents you take, but it’s better to maximize your team’s strengths.
After you’ve unlocked these priority talents, you are free to focus on whatever you are interested in. Player Personnel traits are mostly focused on single-player trades and Free Agency, so if you’re playing with a group online those talents may not serve you as well as others.
Scouting
Ensure that you have solid coverage for all of your scouts in terms of position expertise. You can always fire a scout that isn’t working out and hire a new one to fill out your roster. Eventually, you will be asked to set your “scouting focus.” Always try to set your scout to match up with the region you’re recruiting from.
For example, if you are looking for a solid Wide Receiver — even if the WR picks are not that good! — still set your National Focus to Wide Receiver, and you will get plenty of information to make more informed choices on recruiting to fill that slot. When you are ready to look at your Prospects, you can see their stats at a glance on the right, signified by letter grade, with A being really good and anything below A probably not being worth your time.
Free Agency
Free Agency received a large overhaul in Madden 23, mostly in part due to Motivation. Motivations are indicators of how likely a player is to join your team through Free Agency, with the top-most Motivation being what is called a “dealbreaker.” If you can’t meet a players Motivation requirement, you will be hard-pressed to recruit them — unless you plan to offer up more money, that is.
You can only have five active negotiations at any given time, so you’ll need to pick and choose your battles very carefully. If you see a player that is an absolute playmaker, scheme fit, and otherwise a must-grab for your team, you can offer them a “Very Player Friendly” contract to secure them for your team — but it will burn through your salary cap very quickly.
Written by Junior Miyai on behalf of GLHF.
