Madden 23 Franchise Mode new features explained, major Free Agency upgrades

Madden 23 Franchise Mode will be a target of intense fan focus in the buildup to launch as dedicated players judge whether the new features are enough.

With a Deep Dive now here, we've got details on all the new features coming to Madden 23 Franchise Mode and how each will impact your dynasty.

Madden 23 Franchise Mode new features revealed in Deep Dive

Following an early look at Franchise Mode and some of the upgrades through the Madden 23 closed beta, we've finally got highlights from EA themselves.

Some of the Player Motivations and other details did show up in our brief beta experience, but there's a lot more depth at play which we've newly learned about.

Free Agency is a huge factor in many of the changes, but we've also got new details about upgrades for scouting, draft logic, Player Tags, and even Rollover Cap Space.

You can watch the Deep Dive in full above, but here we're gonna break down everything they've revealed and what it'll mean for players in Franchise Mode.

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Player Motivations, Player Tags, and Contract Offers

Two major factors in contract negotiations and the ways teams value players this year will be Player Motivations and Player Tags in Franchise Mode.

The first we learned about a bit during the beta, as these factors revive a feature last seen in Madden 15 with each affecting where players prefer to play and how much money it'll cost to get them to ignore certain motivations and choose your team instead.

Between those we saw in the beta and those confirmed in this Deep Dive, here are all the known Player Motivations in Madden 23 Franchise Mode:

• Super Bowl Chase
• Big Market
• Historic Championships
• Top The Depth Chart
• Head Coach Historic Record
• Mentor at Position
• Highest Offer
• Close To Home
• Scheme Fit
• Team Has Franchise QB
• No Income Tax
• Warm Weather State

We've also learned about Player Tags, and these will affect Free Agent Logic, Trade Logic, Draft Logic, Player Progression, and can influence how much other players want to play on your team.

The following Player Tags were revealed in the latest Deep Dive:

• Mentor
  • Teams are more interested in this player during Free Agency
  • Boosts Weekly Training XP for other players at their Position
• Bridge Player
  • If starting, the team will look to Draft their replacement
  • Future Starters will be placed ahead of this player on the Depth Chart
• Award Winner
  • Teams are more interested in this player during Free Agency
• Franchise QB
  • Franchise QB's will not be replaced by their team until later in their career
• Day 1 Starter
  • Will be placed above similarly rated players on the Depth Chart
  • Teams are unlikely to Draft a replacement for this player
• Trade Target
  • Player will be added to the trade block

All of these factors will affect your Contract Offers towards players in Free Agency or even when trying to re-sign your own players.

In order to help streamline that process for some players, they've introduced the following options for your Contract Offers:

• Player Friendly (Low Risk)
  • The player will like this offer
  • The player may accept less
• Team Friendly (High Risk)
  • Great for cap space
  • The player is unlikely to accept
• Neutral (Medium Risk)
  • Close to market value
  • The player may not accept
• Very Player Friendly (Very Low Risk)
  • Very high acceptance chance
  • Overpaying for player

On top of these which will create contract options while factoring in player value and other factors, you will still be able to customize any Contract Offer as desired.

Free Agency, Scouting, and Rollover Cap

Madden 23 Franchise Mode will also include a new Free Agency hub covering the three stages of that process between seasons.

This new hub shows the players that are up for grabs, their Motivations, Expected Value, and even has Market Watch with Contract Status (if an offer has been made) and total Teams Interested in that player.

In order to raise the pressure on being selective about targeting Free Agents, they've limited the amount of players you can be in active negotiations with during each Free Agency Stage.

Stage 1 only allows 5 Active Negotiations, Stage 2 only allows 10 Active Negotiations, and the final Stage 3 allows an Unlimited amount.

While progressing the week is one way to get a response on offers, Madden 23 Franchise Mode adds a new "EVAL OFFERS" option at the bottom of the Free Agency Hub which allows you to force players to evaluate existing offers without having to advance the week.

They didn't confirm how many times this will be available, but screenshots appear to indicate you can do it three times in Stage 1 and Stage 2 but only once in Stage 3, keeping in mind doing this has all Active Negotiations evaluated by those players.

Community Feedback played a big role in many of the Madden 23 Franchise Mode updates this year, as they've highlighted Rollover Cap from previous years in Franchise as a long requested feature that's now been added.

The same feedback informed Scouting and Draft Class improvements as this year there will be more scouts to choose from with additional position expertise, and you can scout multiple positions at each stage.

Weighted attribute reveals will fix an issue from last year where Scouting could reveal an attribute like Break Tackle for a QB, as this year the attributes most closely tied to the position will be revealed first when Scouting.

Draft Classes will also now include very rare Generational Prospects which come with a high overall rating and guaranteed X-Factor abilities.

Trade Logic gets a boost with the previously mentioned Trade Target Player Tag to help CPU teams put more players on the Trade Block, and you can now get immediate trade offers for your block without having to advance the week before you hear back from a team.

Draft Logic also got plenty of attention with EA specifically mentioning the often laughed at AI choice from the Jacksonville Jaguars to draft a QB in Madden 22 Franchise despite having just drafted Trevor Lawrence the year before.

Player Tags will inform these decisions as well, so Draft Logic for AI teams should be improved this year with more logical decisions.

With plenty more on the way, we've got our eyes on the Madden 23 Ratings Week Reveal Schedule as they partner with ESPN once again this year.