12-14-2021, 12:52 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-17-2021, 04:47 PM by Pat. Edited 1 time in total.)
After the switch to DDSPF21, one of the most common questions the Sim Transfer Team received was about kick and punt returning, and why it seemed to be overall less effective than it was in the previous sim engine. @The_Kidd even posted a really well thought out article and suggestion for how to remedy it. While we did not ultimately follow his suggestion to the letter, it did spark in us the desire to create an archetype more centered around returning kicks and punts. So, beginning in Season 34, Wide Receivers will have a fourth archetype to choose from: the Return Specialist.
Part one: Design Intent
The idea behind the Return Specialist is that players of this archetype on average will be the most effective returners in the league on a yards per return basis. This does not mean that in order to be decent at returning you have to be this archetype, as we have seen multiple players have KR averaged over 30 yards per return since Season 27, but it does mean that if you really want your player to be focused on returning then you finally have an outlet to do so.
In addition to being strong in the return game, we wanted to make sure that the archetype would be effective at whichever role they play, but not the best choice. We wanted to make sure that users saw this archetype as another avenue to create a player they wanted and not one that they felt they had to choose because it was the best choice. If they were too strong in the other duties (catching, running, defense) then they would simply be too obvious of a choice, and that is the last thing we wanted to have happen.
An obvious follow-up question to all of this is, "why Wide Receivers instead of Running Back or a Defensive Back?" We originally had set out with the intent to have an offensive and a defensive version of this archetype, but what we found through our testing was that it was nearly impossible to create a defensive back that fit in the space of, "good but not the best" while also still being strong returners. The builds we tested out either teetered on too strong or laughably bad. This was true for not only Cornerback and Safety, but also for Running Back. We could not find a way to keep the design of being good returners while also decent every down players to work. We understand this might be disappointing for users that do not play Wide Receiver, and we apologize for the shortcoming. It is something we will continue to look into and see if we can get to a comfortable spot for the future.
Wide Receiver, however, is a position that has a lot of different factors that determine its effectiveness, which gave us a great amount of control to influence their overall production in the receiving game while still keeping them at a higher level of returning.
Part 2: The Build
Here is the attributes breakdown for the Return Specialist Archetype:
![[Image: unknown.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/760203295070486581/920328954978635816/unknown.png)
Height: 5'9
Weight: 175
Available Traits: Role Model
Cost to Max Attributes: 1,115
Cost to Max with Trait: 1,165
As you can see from the above build, the Return Specialist is most heavily focused on two areas - Speed and Agility. If a user wanted to simply rush to fill those out it would be a total investment of 720 TPE, a very reasonable amount of TPE for most users to achieve without heavy effort. One important thing to call out is their lack of traits. This design choice was made because we did not want them to be eating into the niches of the other WR archetypes. They are meant to be effective receivers, but not optimal.
Part 3: Does it Work?
To test out the effectiveness of the builds we first needed to set up a control test. To do that, we took the Season 32 Preseason file and compiled the league average performance for kick and punt returning. Once we had a large enough sample size, we then created a league in which every Wide Receiver was a maxed out version of the Return Specialist, and then made sure every returner slot was one of the Wide Receivers. Now, as with any of these tests, the numbers you will see are the averages. These are in no way meant to be taken as gospel, but are only meant to be used as a guide to show the potential performance of this archetype.
In the smart chart below you will see a comparison of the Control test and the Return Specialist test:
![[Image: unknown.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/860949205534507008/915360556683255828/unknown.png)
The first big takeaway from this is that simply using these archetypes contributes to about a 10% increase in average yards per return. The second is that for all of our attempts, return touchdowns seem to be something that we cannot fully influence, and could fluctuate a lot between tests. In some iterations of the tests we would see as many as 8 return touchdowns and then others we would see 1 or 2.
As mentioned numerous times, we wanted to make sure that users choosing this archetype would not be one trick ponies and would still be able to contribute to their team's offenses in the receiving game. While compiling the return numbers we also tracked the average receiving performance of the archetype. During this test, here is how the Wide Receivers fared in the passing game:
![[Image: unknown.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/760203295070486581/920337311215026186/unknown.png)
For reference, here are the average receiving numbers for Wide Receivers from Season 32:
![[Image: unknown.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/760203295070486581/920338144409313290/unknown.png)
Before putting too much stock into these numbers above, keep in mind these are only meant as a guide. As with anything, your mileage will vary. With that said, you can see that this archetype can still be an effective receiver, but will still be slightly a tier below the other archetypes. It, however, brings extra value with its returning performance, making it a viable option for users hoping to try out something new!
Other Miscellaneous Wide Receiver Changes
Speed Receiver
Attribute Changes
Competitiveness Min: 35 -> 30
Competitiveness Max: 75 -> 70
Size Changes
Height: 71 -> 70
Slot Receiver
Size Changes
Height: 75 -> 73
Why?
Height plays a role in impacting completion rate, and currently the Speed Receiver is taller than their one counter, the Coverage CB. The Slot Receiver is also taller than every CB archetype, meaning that they theoretically have the same advantages in catch rate that the Possession WR has, thus taking away the latter archetype’s unique strength.
Reducing the Speed Receiver’s Competitiveness also slightly impacts their catching ability and also makes them slightly more likely to fumble the ball. This change makes the Speed Receiver fill the niche of being the higher-risk/higher-reward archetype that can take the top off a defense on any given play, but might be a little less efficient at catching the ball.
Part one: Design Intent
The idea behind the Return Specialist is that players of this archetype on average will be the most effective returners in the league on a yards per return basis. This does not mean that in order to be decent at returning you have to be this archetype, as we have seen multiple players have KR averaged over 30 yards per return since Season 27, but it does mean that if you really want your player to be focused on returning then you finally have an outlet to do so.
In addition to being strong in the return game, we wanted to make sure that the archetype would be effective at whichever role they play, but not the best choice. We wanted to make sure that users saw this archetype as another avenue to create a player they wanted and not one that they felt they had to choose because it was the best choice. If they were too strong in the other duties (catching, running, defense) then they would simply be too obvious of a choice, and that is the last thing we wanted to have happen.
An obvious follow-up question to all of this is, "why Wide Receivers instead of Running Back or a Defensive Back?" We originally had set out with the intent to have an offensive and a defensive version of this archetype, but what we found through our testing was that it was nearly impossible to create a defensive back that fit in the space of, "good but not the best" while also still being strong returners. The builds we tested out either teetered on too strong or laughably bad. This was true for not only Cornerback and Safety, but also for Running Back. We could not find a way to keep the design of being good returners while also decent every down players to work. We understand this might be disappointing for users that do not play Wide Receiver, and we apologize for the shortcoming. It is something we will continue to look into and see if we can get to a comfortable spot for the future.
Wide Receiver, however, is a position that has a lot of different factors that determine its effectiveness, which gave us a great amount of control to influence their overall production in the receiving game while still keeping them at a higher level of returning.
Part 2: The Build
Here is the attributes breakdown for the Return Specialist Archetype:
Height: 5'9
Weight: 175
Available Traits: Role Model
Cost to Max Attributes: 1,115
Cost to Max with Trait: 1,165
As you can see from the above build, the Return Specialist is most heavily focused on two areas - Speed and Agility. If a user wanted to simply rush to fill those out it would be a total investment of 720 TPE, a very reasonable amount of TPE for most users to achieve without heavy effort. One important thing to call out is their lack of traits. This design choice was made because we did not want them to be eating into the niches of the other WR archetypes. They are meant to be effective receivers, but not optimal.
Part 3: Does it Work?
To test out the effectiveness of the builds we first needed to set up a control test. To do that, we took the Season 32 Preseason file and compiled the league average performance for kick and punt returning. Once we had a large enough sample size, we then created a league in which every Wide Receiver was a maxed out version of the Return Specialist, and then made sure every returner slot was one of the Wide Receivers. Now, as with any of these tests, the numbers you will see are the averages. These are in no way meant to be taken as gospel, but are only meant to be used as a guide to show the potential performance of this archetype.
In the smart chart below you will see a comparison of the Control test and the Return Specialist test:
The first big takeaway from this is that simply using these archetypes contributes to about a 10% increase in average yards per return. The second is that for all of our attempts, return touchdowns seem to be something that we cannot fully influence, and could fluctuate a lot between tests. In some iterations of the tests we would see as many as 8 return touchdowns and then others we would see 1 or 2.
As mentioned numerous times, we wanted to make sure that users choosing this archetype would not be one trick ponies and would still be able to contribute to their team's offenses in the receiving game. While compiling the return numbers we also tracked the average receiving performance of the archetype. During this test, here is how the Wide Receivers fared in the passing game:
For reference, here are the average receiving numbers for Wide Receivers from Season 32:
Before putting too much stock into these numbers above, keep in mind these are only meant as a guide. As with anything, your mileage will vary. With that said, you can see that this archetype can still be an effective receiver, but will still be slightly a tier below the other archetypes. It, however, brings extra value with its returning performance, making it a viable option for users hoping to try out something new!
Other Miscellaneous Wide Receiver Changes
Speed Receiver
Attribute Changes
Competitiveness Min: 35 -> 30
Competitiveness Max: 75 -> 70
Size Changes
Height: 71 -> 70
Slot Receiver
Size Changes
Height: 75 -> 73
Why?
Height plays a role in impacting completion rate, and currently the Speed Receiver is taller than their one counter, the Coverage CB. The Slot Receiver is also taller than every CB archetype, meaning that they theoretically have the same advantages in catch rate that the Possession WR has, thus taking away the latter archetype’s unique strength.
Reducing the Speed Receiver’s Competitiveness also slightly impacts their catching ability and also makes them slightly more likely to fumble the ball. This change makes the Speed Receiver fill the niche of being the higher-risk/higher-reward archetype that can take the top off a defense on any given play, but might be a little less efficient at catching the ball.
![[Image: lip-chap.jpg?width=383&height=468]](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/461498035348701185/777250920941223966/lip-chap.jpg?width=383&height=468)
![[Image: k4AYgU9.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/k4AYgU9.gif)
