Each player has a rating called OVR, which stands for "overall" rating. A higher value means the player has more skill and ability on the football field. They also have a rating called "CON" for "consistency", which is a negative value. For each game, each player will have an "effective OVR" rating that falls somewhere in the range between the player's OVR and the difference after applying the CON. The simulation engine uses this value during its calculations to determine each play's outcome. Things like Team Culture, Player Attributes, Draft Boosts, and Coach Boosts also impact a player's OVR.

Players will automatically progress or regress during the offseason. There are many factors that contribute to a player's progression/regression chances, but the most relevant factor is the player's age. The PC (progression chance) rating represents a player's chance to progress. Managers can increase PC for players on their roster by using Team Points throughout the season to increase the chances for the players at a certain position to progress in the offseason.

Players earn points after playing in games, based on the DEV rating as well. Players will automatically upgrade their consistency when they earn enough points to do so. This mechanic is to represent players becoming more consistent due to game experience, but not allow them to become superstars simply by having them play more often.

All players' DEV values reset to 1.0 after each season.

Each team earns 1000 points after each week. The coach of each team can choose to spend Team Points to upgrade Development for all players on the team, increase the team's Rookie Scouting level, or purchase an OVR Coach Boost for a certain position. Progression Cap limits how much players on your team can progress this offseason. Scouting upgrade costs increase as the season progresses. Scouting and Progression Cap values reset to 1.0 after each season, but Coach Boosts are permanent.

The upcoming rookie draft class is created at the beginning of each season. Each undrafted rookie's OVR rating is hidden, and is instead represented by a range of possible values. Rookies will continue to have their OVR hidden (represented by a random value from the team's scouting window) until that player plays in 3 games.

Throughout the season, teams may choose to spend their points on Scouting. Increased rookie scouting ability will increase the accuracy of undrafted rookies' possible OVR rating range. The possible rookie scouting levels for a team can be anywhere from 0 to 7. At rookie scouting level 0, teams will have a difficult time determining which upcoming rookies will have high OVR ratings. At rookie scouting level 7, the range of OVR ratings is small, and that team will have a better chance to identify rookie talent. Visibility to other player abilities are unlocked as Scouting level increases.

The offseason consists of the following events: Retired Players, Re-Sign Players, Free Agent Bidding, and the Draft. Then, a new season schedule is created, and all teams' Scouting and Progression Cap values are reset to 0.

Each team has a contract limit (by default, $240M). Each player has a contract value which is calculated based on position and OVR. The sum of all player contracts on a team must be less than the contract limit. During the offseason, each contract will expire unless re-signed by the coach. If a player's contract expires, they will be Cut, and that player will become a Free Agent. Players can be re-signed to contracts of multiple years. This will incur a smaller salary. However, cutting or trading a player before their contract is expired will result in Cap Penalties (25% of the player's promised salary for each of the years in his contract).

Drafted players will demand a salary value equal to the OVR they were scouted at. This is to encourage managers to spend points on Scouting, otherwise their rookies will demand a high salary!

Players who have won a championship or earned a Yearly Award will demand a 20% higher salary.

Each season's schedule is pseudo-randomly generated based on NFL Schedule creation rules.

Injuries, fumbles, kickoffs, and custom team logos are also factored into the simulations!

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