Alright, so I fired up Madden 24 the other day, wanting to start a new franchise but do something different this time. Regular teams felt a bit stale, you know? So, I decided a fantasy draft was the way to go. Get all the players in a pool and build from scratch.
Setting Up the League
First thing, I went into the Franchise mode. Clicked through the initial screens, ‘Create New League’, all that usual stuff. Then the important choice: Use Active Roster or start a Fantasy Draft. Obviously, I hit ‘Fantasy Draft’. This is where the fun starts, but also where you gotta make decisions.
The game asks you right away about the draft setup. One of the key things is the draft order. You can just let the game randomize it for all 32 teams, and honestly, that’s probably the quickest way. Click a button, done.
Deciding on the Order
But I felt like making it a bit more hands-on, even though I was just playing against the computer. Sometimes just letting the AI decide feels too… simple? I wanted to feel like I had some part in setting the stage, even if it was random anyway.
So, here’s what I did:
- I decided I wouldn’t pick my spot. I wanted to be randomly assigned a pick just like every other CPU team.
- I thought about using an online randomizer tool, but that felt a bit detached.
- Ended up going old school. Grabbed a notepad.
The Actual Process
I wrote down numbers 1 through 32 on small pieces of paper. Just ripped ’em up from the notepad. Then I folded each one up nice and small. Tossed them all into an old baseball cap I had lying around. Gave it a good shake, like I was drawing raffle tickets or something.
Then, I just closed my eyes and pulled one out. That number was gonna be my draft pick position. Got pick number 14. Okay, not bad, not amazing, right in the middle.
Now, for the rest of the order for the CPU teams, I just let the game handle that part. Once I knew my spot was 14th, I went back to the Madden screen. There’s an option to ‘Set Draft Order’. I scrolled down to the 14th slot and assigned it to my user profile/team. For all the other 31 slots, I just hit the ‘Randomize Remaining’ button or let the default randomization stick. It shuffles all the CPU teams instantly.
Finalizing and Moving On
Double-checked everything. My team was locked into the 14th pick, and all the other teams had their assigned slots from the game’s randomizer. Looked good. Hit confirm.
And that was it, really. Took maybe 10 extra minutes compared to just hitting ‘Randomize All’, but it felt a bit more like my league setup. Felt more invested pulling that number out of a hat. Now the actual drafting could begin, which is a whole other story!
