OK, here we go. Most of these suggestions are not in-game related, just ways to enhance the (mostly) Franchise mode. Any opinions or comments would be welcome ...

1) One of the most ingenious things Madden ever did was to combine with NCAA so you can draft players from college into the pros. Now it's time to expland on that. Only about 225-250 players are transferred from NCAA to Madden, just enough to cover the draft. Why not double that amount (while decreasing the amount of P and K's) so each team could have the ability to sign undrafted free agents? Combine that with signing some low level veterans, and initially build your roster to ... say, 75. That would really enhance the pre-season, because every week you'd have to release players as the roster limit lowers a little at a time. Then, as the pre-season ends and you make your final cuts, allow five players or so to form your practice squad, just like the pros.

2) Put the free agent signings here they should be .... BEFORE the draft.

3) Completely scrap and re-do the free agent process. The interest level guide is completely useless, because all you have to do is lower your offer as little as possible while it still remains green, and you will be able to sign your choice player (The in-season interest level guide is even more ridiculous, because there's not even competition to worry about). Here's an idea: Give the user three chances to sign their player of choice, WITHOUT guidance from the interest level. If unable to sign after three chances, his interest level decreases, and you have to increase your offer.

4) Have an A and B announce team. I think we're all getting a little tired of the Madden/Michaels combination, but since this is HIS game, I doubt we're getting rid of him. But if you added an unknown announce team for the lower interest games, that might add some excitement.

5) Pre-game show. Half-time show. Post-game show. This request is not an uncommon one, so no need to expand on it.

6) Mid-week practices. Analyze every game and target a weakness with a new "area of improvement" feature. Then, use the mini-game feature to target that weakness for practices during the week, with the ability to increase a player's physical stats with great scores, and decrease stats with lousy scores. Add new mini-games for the offensive line, onside kicks, and ESPECIALLY punt and kickoff returns. Since injuries also happen at practice, allow a VERY small window of possibility for a player to be injured during these mid-week practices (VERY small).

7) Another thing I'd like to see scrapped and re-done is the injury process. Here's my idea: Instead of having a player out for 4 weeks, it's a little more realistic if he's out for 3-5 weeks. When a player gets upgraded to questionable (or even doubtful), give us the OPTION of playing him if he's able, but with decreased abilities and increased chance of re-injury.

8) Also, steal this idea from NCAA ... you know how each user gets 100 points after the season to spread out between recruiting, training, etc.? Do the same thing with Madden, and spread it out between injury repair and .. say, advance scouting and mid-week practice. So with this idea ...
a) the more you use for injury repair, the quicker and more often an injured player returns.
b) the more you use for advance scouting, it gives you the ability to scout more college players and in much greater detail.
c) the more you use for mid-week practice, the more an NFL player's abilities can be increased with mid-week practices.

You can even tie this in to the owner's mode. The more money you make, the more points you have to spread out between these three categories.

(Note: If there are any other things you could think of to add along with or instead of the three things I mentioned, I'd love to hear about them)

9) I'm glad kickoff returns have been tweaked where there's a chance of a return for a touchdown. Now do the same with punt returns, as it is almost impossible to return a punt for any distance in All-Pro mode or above. Guys like Dante Hall and Antwaan Randle-El are huge punt return weapons in the NFL, but are basically uselsss here. The (again, VERY small) window possibilty to block a FG or punt should also be prevalent.

10) Give yourself the ability to re-locate a team earlier. I like using the Create-A-Team option, but under the current system, that team won't see the light of day until year 3, unless you want to eliminate a team and its players, which I'd rather not do. There's no reason not to have the ability to IMMEDIATELY re-locate so you can have your team ready by year 2.

Just a few things off the top of my head. Let me know what you think.