For many people, the offseason can be almost as fun as the regular season. In the offseason, it’s all positive vibes. You’re thinking about what the team can become. Who can take the next step, who will start where, what will the scheme look like. The only problem is that you can think about that stuff all day and then still have 6 months until you actually get to see it happening. That’s where the Packers Madden franchise comes in. Every offseason I probably start and abandon 7 or 8 Packers franchises as moves are announced and strategy is leaked. Let’s go over how to do it.

Think About Authenticity

The first thing you want to think about is authenticity. Are you just going to download the rosters and let it run? Are you going to study Jeff Hafley, Xavier McKinney, Gute’s draft history and infinite other things and try to make it as perfect as possible?

I lean toward the latter, but over the years, I’ve come to accept that Madden is never going to come close to giving us ultimate authenticity. You just have to focus on the things you like and try to make it happen.

Get The Packers Madden Roster Right

  • My typical strategy is to download the updated roster from someone, simulate a season and then run a draft with downloaded draftable players. There are a few downsides to this, mainly that everyone’s contract will be one year off and many draft picks won’t be close to reality. I typically assume that I’m going to get two seasons max before something material happens in the real world to make me change it anyway.
  • The next step is filling holes. The Packers need some safeties and linebackers. In my current iteration, I signed old friend Krys Barnes and drafted Tyler Nubin. This was before Nubin’s horrific pro day, so I probably won’t draft him again. I usually only do one veteran free agent signing and then fill other holes with the draft.
  • The final step is attributes. A lot of Packers are undervalued. I almost always upgrade Jordan Love, Dontayvion Wicks, Karl Brooks, and Devonte Wyatt. I don’t view this as cheating – more like simulating what next season would be like if they all take a step forward.

Get the Packers Madden Playing Time Right

  • First step here is making some roster changes. All the defensive ends need to be moved to defensive tackle, all the outside linebackers need to be defensive ends and the inside linebackers become left, middle or right off-ball linebackers.
  • Madden is notoriously bad at subbing, so the next thing I do is use the depth chart to try to mimic some of what would happen in a real game. Rahsan Gary and Lucas Van Ness my pass rushing edges and Karl Brooks and Devonte Wyatt are my pass rushing tackles.  The other guys at those positions become base defense starters. I also make Christian Watson and Dontayvion Wicks starters at outside receiver and Jayden Reed starter at slot with Romeo Doubs first off the bench in both spots. Finally, Tucker Kraft becomes fullback and AJ Dillon is my power back.
  • If you want to get really into it, you can also use formation subs, just remember these will reset anytime you choose a different default scheme and Madden will have some sort of seizure if the player gets hurt and either end up putting a defensive tackle at wide receiver or putting just ten guys on the field.

Getting the Packers Madden Scheme Right

  • For offense, just switch between Green Bay, Miami, Rams, San Francisco, Houston, and Spread depending on how you feel that day.
  • Defense is new and exciting for the first time in quite a while. Hafley reportedly runs a lot of Cover-1, Cover-3, Quarters and pressure schemes. I’ve been doing just that using either the Jets, Texans, or Saints playbook. I also use more cover zero in the redzone (Hafley reportedly does that a third of the time) and have some formations where McKinney is in the slot.

Mike Price is a lifelong Packers fan currently living in Utah. You can follow him on twitter at @themikeprice.

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