What level of speed/strength should I consider the minimum for each position. Like should I not have any OL with less than 16 strength?

Divison V, you can certainly set the bar a lil lower though.

I only ever aim for 19/20 in the corrisponding fitness skill. But when I was a younger team, 16 seemed like a good aim.

yeah actually i aim for 18SPD/17STR for my outside LBs also. MLB is 17/18.

Still a young team at this stage, but I currently have a few different builds going on, trying to cover for what will work in the new engine. Sorry for the long response, but I felt like expressing some of my views on the matter given it's a topic I've given a lot of thought towards.

For LBs, I have two 17/18 guys who will reach 4.5* BPOS. Both have high int (20 and 19) so they can play OLB but also MLB. Flexibility is the name of the game here.

I also have a 15/19 guy (currently, unsure on speed cap) which I plan to play inside just to see if a Dlineman type can get reasonable sacks as an LB (seeing as currently DTs never do). I also have a 11/18 build both with ok intelligence for a similar reason. Perhaps this will change in the new engine. I would have loved to have had the time to test this type of build with my previous team when I first played many seasons ago.

Also have a 19/15 & 15/15, all in various states of development/caps. None of them particularly screams out OLB except for maybe the 19/15, which is why having a few 17/18 or 18/17 types for flexibility is nice. I'm of the opinion speed is nice here considering they're closer to receivers, but without having specific tackling information it's hard to tell how much they really have to do with defending the receiving game.

I, like the above posters, am pretty adamant on getting a solid Oline in place. I personally think it's a little underrated in the game currently. From the description of the new engine, keeping a pocket formed seems pretty vital, so I envisage it to be fairly important. All of my 'keepers' are 18-19 strength. Many talents have cycled through this position so far, and there are a few others at about 15-16 strength. Some uncapped, others not and to be sold or reassigned somewhere. A wide range of intel levels from 1 to 18 here but mostly midrange.

My Dline needs some work, but I'm of the belief that they need some speed (whilst also having high strength). Where some of my OL prospects dramatically lack some speed (interior linemen!), I try not to have that with Dlinemen. Out of the three 'keepers' I have so far, the lowest speed is 15. The others have 17 and 20 (16) speed. Strengths are 18,18,19 respectively. I highly doubt calculations for pocket collapses rely solely on strength and seeing as most OL players will have high strength, if you can gain any advantage that is likely to be significant it's through speed. Intel isn't a huge thing here, but two keepers have midrange. From the info given about the new engine about how a "successful defence knows what the offence is doing", I feel it doesn't hurt to have a little bit of intelligence all over the defence. That said, I have a strong feeling these decisions will probably be on the shoulders of the MLB or coaching orders.

CBs have high speed (20, 20, 18, 17), my Safeties both pretty balanced builds, WRs have balanced builds (three 18/17s, one 16capped/15). My reasoning behind the CB and WR difference is that everyone seems to be on board the whole "Speed, Speed, Speed" with WRs, hence I go with high speed CBs to match that. With my WRs, I have a reasoning similar to the reason behind wanting speed for DLs. I have huge doubt important calculations will rely solely on one physical attribute, so if I'm going to gain an easy advantage anywhere it's through the strength. I realise the new engine says you need fast receivers, but I'm unconvinced it'll become simpler than the current one and emphasise strength less. The current engine already has all big plays happening after breaking tackles! If all else fails, all three 18/17s are uncapped in speed as far as I know and I have a 20/10uncapped 4* youth I could turn into a WR if needed.


These are my thoughts and my thoughts only after observations. I've seen a couple of game changes in my different times in the game, but still think physicals are the key difference between good players and the best. All 5* talents can train their skills to 20, but not all of them can have prime physical attributes to back those skill combinations up. There's a reason that we can see/calculate all other skill/attribute caps (including ones we can't change like intel), but not physical caps. It makes finding true gems something that even the top teams don't always get. Though I suppose you could argue that's currently the case with the market cornering on 4.5*+ talents by top teams with excessively high fees regardless of low initial physical attributes (and the very real risk of capping too low) mixed with an abundance of 'trawlers' who simply strip the market of any hidden gems. Gone are the days where I could buy 5* talent with 15/18 for 9k and with my two 4.5* pulls capping incredibly low it's hard to see how I'll find that 'gem'.