Madden 26 Franchise Mode will aim to be even bigger and better than it has ever been. Between the new gameplay and presentational changes, Franchise aims to be bigger and better than ever. Without further ado, let’s dive right in!
Madden 26 Franchise Mode – Everything You Need To Know
Madden 26 aims to improve Franchise Mode in many ways on and off the field. Without further ado, let’s see what’s new in this year’s version of Franchise mode.
Coach Creation & Progression – Madden 26 Franchise
In Madden 26, players will have 200 new heads to choose from when creating their coach. Furthermore, they added over 50 new shirts, 15 pants, and 40 shoes for you to mix and match with. Overall, this means you can have a total of 30,000 different combinations on the sidelines.
Afterwards, you’ll be able to select your Coach Archetype, of which the game offers three:
- Offensive Guru (Similar to Andy Reid)
- (5/6) – Offensive Rating
- (0/6) – Defensive Rating
- (2/6) – Player Development
- (1/6) – Personnel Development
- Defensive Genius (Similar to Todd Bowles)
- (0/6) – Offensive Rating
- (5/6) – Defensive Rating
- (2/6) – Player Development
- (1/6) – Personnel Development
- Development Wizard (Similar to Dan Campbell)
- (2/6) – Offensive Rating
- (2/6) – Defensive Rating
- (4/6) – Player Development
- (0/6) – Personnel Development
The Archetype you chooses influences the abilities you begin with in your career. All Coaches in the game possess one of these three archetypes based on their real-life skillset.
Furthermore, each coach ha a level from 1 to 50. Created Coaches alway begin at level 1, allowing you to unlock many abilities and slots. Complete in-game, season, and milestone goals to Earn XP and upgrade your coach.
Coach Abilities Explained
Madden 26 introduces new Coach Abilities, which reflect the skills from real coaches in the NFL. Overall, there are two types of abilities; Gameday and Season Abilities.
Overall, EA Sports plans to release 46 Gameday Abilities at launch, along with 28 Season Abilities. Expect to see even more throughout the season, as we see coaches adapt and change the game over time.
Each ability possesses four tiers, which can be upgraded and become more powerful each time it moves to the next tier. Fortunately, you can upgrade tiers with either Upgrade Goals or Staff Points. For example, Gameday Abilities will have Upgrade Goals, which must be completed to unlock the next tier.
However, Each Gameday ability also possesses a Knockout Goal. This is the opposite of an Upgrade Goal, and if completed, your ability will actually drop to a lower tier. You could potentially lose your abilities altogether if you fail to complete your Upgrade Goals.
In addition, Madden 26 adds new Mastery Goals, which are essentially the ultimate versions of Upgrade Goals. When you reach the 4th tier of an ability, you can upgrade it via Mastery Goal. With Mastery Goals, each tier becomes permanent, meaning you’ll never lose its abilities.
There are two types of these goals — Game Goals and Cumulative Goals. The former are achievable in a single game, whereas the latter take time to complete. Progress on the Cumulative Goals carry across weeks & seasons, only resetting when you achieve an Upgrade or Knockout Goal.
The Weekly Strategy
Madden 26 completely changes The Weekly Strategy in Franchise mode, which is now broken up into three loadouts:
- Staff Loadout – Offers up to six available slots for you to fill with Gameday or Season Abilities.
- Playsheet Loadout
- Trainer Loadout
Overall, during the Weekly Strategy, you’ll be setting your Coach, Gameday, and Season Abilities while managing player Wear & Tear. When you first begin as a created coach, you’ll have access to just three slots in your Staff Loadout. But as you level up (or if you control a coach like Andy Reid), you’ll have more.
In the Weekly Strategy menu, you can also see how your team compares to theirs. This also includes information on injuries, and how your abilities may impact the game.
Updates to Coordinators
In Madden 26 Franchise, EA Sports put a greater emphasis on the importance of Coordinators.
For example, if you’re an Offensive Guru, the only defensive abilities you’ll have is from your DC. While you don’t technically need their abilities to win games, you can make use of their abilities to help you in key situations.
Furthermore, Coordinators possess their own in-game goals, earn XP, and can progress their abilities. However, their abilities may also regress, depending on your team’s performance. No Coach possesses every playsheet, making each one unique.
Staff Management
Throughout your career, you’ll need to manage your coaching staff. If a coordinator isn’t performing to your expectations, head into the Coaching Carousel. Here, you can find new coordinators.
Furthermore, each Coordinator comes with their own Job Security Meter. This provides you with better context how each coach is performing during their time with you. The CPU will also make use of this as they seek new members on their staff.
The Coach Central Hub + Approval Rating
Coach Central acts as the Overview for your Franchise experience. Here’s how it’s broken down:
- Overview Tab
- View & Edit Coach/Staff
- View Approval Rating/Job Security
- Abilities & Playsheets
- View unlocked items
- View previews of locked items
- Goals Tab
- Shows ways of earning XP required to improve the team.
- Head Coaches also receive an extra “Narrative Goals” tab, tracking the promises you’ve made in your “Coach Storylines”
What Are Coach Storylines in Madden 26 Franchise?
Madden 26 adds a deeper narrative experience that stays with you throughout your coaching journey. You’ll make decisions during your career which may impact your standing with the team, players, staff members, and more.
For example, a Coordinator may recommend a gameplan. But if you shut him own and play badly, they may lose respect for you. However, if you play well, people tend to have a more positive outlook on you. Completing these storylines and playing well yields higher XP Gains, and the chance to unlock and upgrade more abilities.
Player Traits
As mentioned in the Gameplay Deep Dive, Madden 26 features 50 unique player traits at launch. But how do they play a role in Franchise Mode?
Whether it’s current players or new Draft Prospects, these traits play a role in helping teams win games. However, you also need to look out for players with these traits, who can use them against you in big games.
Real Time Coaching AI & Coach DNA
EA Sports also mentioned Coach & QB DNA, both of which affect gameplay. Essentially, Coach DNA uses a coach’s real philosophy and play style to influence their decisions in-game.
For example, Lions’ HC Dan Campbell will often go for it on 4th & short. Eagles’ HC Nick Sirianni may want to use more RPOs, Zone Reads, and other run-oriented plays that better suits his offense.
On the Coach Suggestions Tab, you’ll see plays that the real coaches may use in real life in these situations. Pre-snap, you can also see AI coaches use different tactics such as delayed safety rotations, timed blitz packages, and more. A coach’s archetype also determines their strategy.
Wear & Tear in Madden 26 Franchise
Wear & Tear comes to Franchise Mode this year. If you’ve played College Football 26, you’re familiar with the system by now. But the developers want it to feel different than it has in previous years.
For newcomers, Wear & Tear works as it sounds. Each hit, each carry, each pass, each play impacts your player’s health. If Derrick Henry is running 30+ times a game, he won’t be healthy for the playoffs.
Players can recover health between weeks, but not completely. Therefore, you need to rotate between players and spread the ball around.
Furthermore, injuries now work differently. Instead of seeing a set amount of time for a player to recover, you’ll just see a range of weeks now. This adds more suspense to the experience as you wonder when your star player will come back.
Additionally, injuries are set to be more realistic this year, according to EA. Player injury conditions may actually worsen before getting better. You can keep them out of practice to prioritize recovery, but you won’t earn XP. Wear & Tear adds a new level of strategy to player management.
Thankfully, Madden provides you with Trainer Abilities to keep your players healthy. These abilities vary, but they can do things like:
- Boost weekly player recovery
- Lower in-game injuries
- Improve chances of cleared injuries
In the Weekly Strategy, you can choose which Trainer Abilities you’d like to use for each game.
Broadcast Packages & Halftime Report
Maden 26’s Franchise Mode also adds a long, awaited feature that improves the presentation of the game. EA Sports covered many of these new details in their Presentation Deep Dive.
Firstly, Madden 26 adds four different broadcast packages, representing the different kinds of games you’ll play. Whether it’s Thursday Night, Monday Night, or your typical Sunday afternoon game, you’ll see a different scoreboard and hear a different crew:
- Thursday Night – Brandon Gaudin and Charles Davis
- Sunday Night – Mike Tirico and Greg Olsen
- Monday Night – Kate Scott and Brock Huard
Non prime-time games will feature a random crew to keep things fresh. Each crew
As you make your way through a season, what you hear about a QB taking the field from Greg Olsen’s perspective will be different from the games assigned to Brock Huard or Charles Davis.
Lastly, Madden 26 is fully revamping the Halftime report, allowing you to see highlights from other. Whether it’s your friends or the CPU, Madden 26’s Halftime Report will show you highlights from around the league. And best of all, NFL Redzone host Scott Hanson will lead the charge in these reports.
You can also see CPU highlights in the Franchise hub menu via the Weekly Recap. Also hosted by Scott Hanson, this recap shows off different insights he’ll have about the league. Expect to hear a variety of things as the season unfolds.
Weather
In Franchise, you’ll feel the impacts of weather as you head to different areas. Essentially, “cold teams” (i.e. Buffalo, Green Bay), thrive in colder conditions. Meanwhile, “hot teams” (Miami, Tampa Bay) thrive in warmer conditions.
Learn about the several other ways Madden 26’s Weather really impacts gameplay.
Core Improvements to Franchise – Madden 26
There’s several other big improvements coming to Madden 26’s Franchise Mode. Many of them are general quality of life improvements. They include:
- Improved Draft Logic for AI teams
- New Draft Prospect Generators
- Tuned Retirement Logic to better reflect real-life decisions
- Player Regression changes – Now Follows real-life aging curves more closely
- Development Trait Regression:
- Players can now only drop by one tier per season
- Performance dictates development trait progression
- Improved Season Simulation Stats
- Improved Player Morale system that provides bigger boosts for low OVR players
- Revamped Player Tags Logic:
- QB Of the Future – Only assigned to players that deserve it in real life
- Day 1 Starter – Only assigned to early draft picks/ players with high enough OVRs that are expected to start
- Future Starter – Applied to non-QBs with four years or less of experience, currently not starting, but were a 1st or second round pick
- Mentor – Only assigned to older players with ‘Leader’ Personality type
- Bridge Player – Applied to non QB starters with an OVR of less than 80. Must also be 27 years old.
- Bridge QB – 4 years of experience + starter + bottom 10 starting QB in terms of OVR
- News Stories – Updates on the Weather Forecast, Draft Prospects, Draft Previews, & Combine Reports
Lastly, for more gaming and NFL news, visit ClutchPoints. Furthermore, subscribe to our gaming newsletter for more weekly info.
