Finished my first season with the Cowboys. I'm a little bummed there's less off-season options than there used to be. I still really liked the XP upgrades for coach and players and the improved scouting and free agency bidding. Those are all great features. But there's no options to manage your stadium, coaching staff, or ticket prices. None of those options had really been important factors in any of the previous franchise modes, but still. I'm just glad I picked my favorite team to play as instead of a crap team like the Browns like I used to... and rebuild every aspect of their franchise from the ground up and move them to another city. can't change jersey numbers either, and if you can, I haven't found the option.
Though it definitely puts more emphasis on the actual team this way. I wish there was an easier way to compare all the contracts of my players and re-sign them all on one screen. There is an area where you can view contracts, but you have to back out of that screen and go to another section to actually re-sign the players, which is a little weird. I'm also in the last year of Romo's contract and I just won a Super Bowl with him, so fuck... no idea how I'm going to sign him since I just re-signed Spencer to a large contract. Might have to deal Hatcher and Sean Lee for draft picks since they are both in the final year of their contracts as well. No good safeties in the draft or free agency either, so it looks like Dallas will suck there once again in my 2nd season. Already tried trading first round picks to other teams for a good FS, but no one's having any of that. Teams are a LOT more stubborn to trade their star players or even their young players with potential. Even in free agency, several teams would be bidding over a 22-year-old receiver with a 75ovr and NO ONE was bidding for the 32-year-old receivers with 82ovr. A lot more authentic.