Madden 21: Next Franchise update coming in January, here’s what’s planned

The second planned Madden 21 Franchise mode update is slated to arrive in mid-January. Here’s what’s planned for the next round.

As EA announced today, the first round of Madden 21 Franchise mode improvements will be arriving with a Title update on November 12. The first of three planned post-launch updates aimed at addressing community feedback features plenty of exciting improvements, including an accurate playoff bracket, player card career stats, dev trait regression tuning and X-Factor customization. But there’s still a lot of work left for EA to do.

The second round of Franchise mode updates is targeted to arrive in mid-January and it seems focused largely on providing commissioner controls for various settings. EA provided a sneak peek at what they are working on next for Franchise mode and it’s definitely some welcomed improvements and features.

Personnel Logic Improvements

The update will deliver new guidelines for CPU draft logic. This should hopefully result in smarter AI, especially when it comes to interest in drafting a first round quarterback.

It’s very rare for teams to draft quarterbacks at the top of the draft in consecutive years (unless you’re the Arizona Cardinals). This tweak will provide an authentic window to develop the first quarterback drafted , as well as roster-context considerations, before a team begins to consider a replacement in the draft.

Commissioner Controls

Undo FA Signings (Offseason Only)

This will allow the Commissioner to undo free agent signings in the offseason. They can access this through the transaction log by clicking on a signing and reverting it, which will send the player back to the free agent pool.

Team Override Settings

This is apparently a top-requested commissioner feature, this will provide a way to level the playing field for assist features by giving commissioners “the ability to turn on/off or allow users to keep individual settings for Heat Seeker tackling, Ball Hawk, and Switch assist.”

Draft Tools

The Draft is one of my favorite offseason events but it’s not ideal in Madden 21 right now. With this update, we’re finally getting pause/resume functionality as well as the ability for a commissioner to assign autopilot.

Play Cool-Down and Repeat Play Limits

House rules are coming to Franchise mode! Look, we all know there are some plays in Madden that are money. They just work every time.

These house rules can be turned on to prevent “cheese”plays from being spammed. Repeat Play Limits will limit how many times a single play can be called in a game while play cool-down determines how long a player must wait before calling the same play again.

True to their word, EA is working to implement many fan-requested features. Unfortunately, not every feature we desire can be implemented via a post-launch title update. Looking even further ahead, EA is exploring coaching and staff management, scouting improvements, new scenario engine enhancements, new team chemistry system, and additional commissioner tools improvements. Not all of these will make it into this year’s game, but it’s nice to see what’s on the roadmap for Franchise mode in future Madden games.