Five Things Still Missing In Madden's Connected Franchise

Over the past couple years EA Tiburon has gotten its franchise mode on the right track with Connected Franchise. With an informative news hub, social media chatter, an RPG-style upgrade system, and improved scouting, Connected Franchise is a great foundation for the series. That said, it still has some areas that could use improvement. Here are five changes we'd love to see come to future Maddens.

1. Dynamic Free Agency

Three days during the NFL year stick out to every fan regardless of their team's quality. The first is the NFL draft, where a franchise can turn its fortunes around in short order by making savvy selections. The second is the opening of free agency, where star players take control of their own fates as teams line up for their services. The third, of course, is week one of the NFL season, where every fan hopes their team's decisions in the previous two events can propel them to a winning season. Given the parity between franchises across the league from year to year, this is often a realistic expectation (unless you are the Raiders). 

In Madden, the opening of free agency has none of the pageantry or clandestine maneuvers that make the day the number one traffic day for news sites like Pro Football Talk. As the general manager of your franchise, you don't interact with agents to line up visits, coordinate visits and dinners with team captains to woo potential acquisitions, or face the penalty of missing out on a run of players at a position because you spent too much time courting a particular player who ultimately chose another team over yours.

This year Madden took steps toward giving players testing the market more control over their fates, but we'd love to see more factors come into play. Maybe your team features one of their college teammates, or they want to play for their hometown. Many veterans with stellar resumes are only interested in playing with potential title contenders. Some purely care about getting the biggest payday. These predispositions should be factored when weighting a player's decision.

In addition, users should be given more options for tweaking contract offers. Being able to front-load or back-load is a start, but slotting in elite performance bonuses would also be a great tool for landing a potential franchise player while protecting the solvency of your team as well.

2. Better Draft Day Tools

Draft days have a lot of moving parts for a general manager. You need to keep track of your target players, work the phones to find trade partners, and react to situations where all your target players are off the board by the time you're on the clock. This isn't easy in real life, but it's even harder in Madden.

Finding trade partners is tricky because there is no back and forth between you and the rival general manager. You can offer a trade, but if they reject it they just make their selection instead of offering a counterproposal. 

When it's your time to pick, all of the information you cultivated is buried. Relevant scouting information should be surfaced so you can compare players quickly. It would be great if you could set up a shortlist for each round to surface players you've already tabbed as potential targets and receive notifications if they come off the board. Adding college stats to the scouting profiles would also be a welcome addition. 

3. Formation Management Outside Of Games

Succeeding in the NFL is all about creating mismatches and smartly managing your roster. You can currently make changes to who lines up where in certain formations, but only under the pressure of a play clock during a game. 

Several years ago, Madden offered the option to tweak your formation to your heart's desire outside of the game setting. I want this to return so I can create persistent nickel sub packages, move receivers around for particular plays, and determine who lines up where on special teams. This would also be a great addition for online matchups.

4. Practice Squads

Given the player progression and new game-planning system, there's never been a better time to bring the eight-man practice squads into the fold in Connected Franchise. When you're not trying to raise the confidence level of your squad, you are devoting time to nurture player development up and down your roster. This is a great opportunity for taking that raw, unproven talent and honing him into an everyday player. 

In real life, practice squad players are frequently promoted to 53-man rosters and poached by other teams throughout the NFL season, often due to injuries. This should be reflected by Madden, which brings us to our next topic... 

5. Revamped Injury System

An NFL season is truly a war of attrition; a pro player emerging from a 16-game regular season unscathed is extremely rare. Injuries pile up over the course of the season, with many players playing through conditions that will need to be addressed in the offseason. Currently, Madden shelves players with minor and major injuries, but there is so much more that could be done.

NBA 2K15 is introducing an intriguing new system that tracks durability ratings for 16 body parts and creates degradation scenarios over time. If a player tears an ACL, they will return to the court with a knee brace, and that knee may be more likely to get re-injured depending on what treatment option you chose. This would be a great way for Madden to manifest the true risk of signing a player to a key position who has a past of getting hurt frequently. 

We would also like to see more nagging injuries that may not shelve a player for an extended period, but slightly knocks their ratings if they aren't given the proper opportunity to heal. Add player motivations for either trying to get back on the field too soon or not being willing to step on the field until they feel 100 percent, and this could amp up the locker room drama.

What changes would you like to be made to Madden's Connected Franchise mode? Add your thoughts in the comments below.