Warning: Feature Geek Ahead, No Actual News at all
Okay so I've just been thinking and wishing for stuff in NCAA/Madden and thought about this.
So how about a
real scouting combine and pro days in Madden where you control absolutely nothing but can earmark a certain number of prospects and "zoom in" on things like their 40 yard dash, shuttle drills, benchpress, etc.
I hated how previous versions of the game you could control a player to unlock information about them, because a player's ability to master certain drills made it pointless, not to mention that there wasn't a very robust bust/gem system in place.
So say you target players at certain positions and then you
watch the actual AI running the workouts completely separate from your influence. Things like benchpressing would be tedious because you would just want to know the end result, but I would include a "simulate to end of drill" feature as an option.
As you watch or view the results of drills, you can place a grade on the prospect so that when you actually enter the draft you have a ready to go "big board" that you can pull up reminding you of how you have players graded.
Maybe they could even incorporate player personalities into things. For example, you could have a very talented but cocky WR running lazy routes or see a smallish 5'11 linebacker just being very tenacious in all his drills because he's trying very hard to impress. You could have players who were physical or scrambling QB's (Tebow) in college warn you that if you draft them that they only want to play QB, and if you changed their position his morale would be affected. You could have players not work out in the combine but have the game generate its own "Kiper-esque analysis" which could be all over the map in projecting a player's real ability.
And regardless of how they workout at the combine, there should still be a risk involved so that it remains fun to do throughout your franchise so that you don't always want to simulate it. Even if he never fumbled during drills at the combine, maybe that RB who ran a 4.3 and looked great in the shuttle drill as well all of a sudden comes down with a huge case of fumble-itis after you draft him. Maybe that QB who hit every dummy dead on in drills starts sailing passes right into the safety's hands once he feels a pass rush or faces NFL coverages. Maybe that guy you drafted just because he stood out for doing one thing really well at the combine and performed very lackluster in everything else suddenly becomes a guy you can't keep out of the Pro Bowl.
Ah...I'm likely just dreaming out loud I think, lol.