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Madden NFL 26 Franchise Mode Breakdown

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On July 3, 2025

The development team for Madden NFL 26 has been listening and is bringing out the big guns for Franchise Mode. The idea for the mode for this year is to make it deeper and have every week feel important. The three main areas of focus include the idea of feeling like a real NFL head coach, making sure every game is different and making sure every week feels different. We’ve detailed the updates to the presentation elements and the incorporation of the Halftime Report and Weekly Recap here. This news is focusing on the Franchise Mode details for this year, and it goes deep.

Becoming or Selecting a NFL Coach

A lot of intricate details on the workings of being a NFL coach can be viewed on the Gridiron Notes here. For a more summarized version, Franchise Mode starts with two pillars: Creating a coach or being a coach. Madden NFL 26 has overhauled the visuals for the head coaches making them more realistic than ever, but also bringing in specific playstyles for each individual Head Coach. That’s just the Head Coach and doesn’t include coordinators, as Madden NFL 26 will include real NFL offensive and defensive coordinators for the first time.

Ben Johnson, now coach for the Chicago Bears and former offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions, is traditionally how the coaching latter works. Yes, some come from college, but many coaches that are put at the top of the sphere on a team are poached from individual systems that saw success in the league. Each coach in the game will have a specific archetype, whether it be Offensive Guru like Johnson, Defensive Genius or Development Wizard. The abilities the coaches will have will fall under one of these three categories and will be tailored to match their real-life counterparts.

Each coach in the game will have a specific archetype, whether it be Offensive Guru like Johnson, Defensive Genius or Development Wizard.

New coaches also means new playbooks and plays, and there are a wider variety of plays to try. Coaches will also have a metagame for the coach abilities. These are split into Gameday Abilities and Season Abilities. There will be 46 different abilities at launch, which hints that more abilities will come during the season. The NFL game evolves week to week so if something new happens, the devs will implement into the game. There will be 28 Season Abilities at launch, as well. All of these abilities apply varying buffs as no longer will there just be a skill tree.

Players have the option to create a coach, as well. There are more creation faces and more clothing options to choose from than in the past. This allows you to truly shape the type of coach you want to be. Tiers and Abilities can be upgraded during your career. The game will also feature a coaching carousel for the first time, as coordinators may not fit your scheme well. At certain times during the season, they can be fired and replacements will be available. A new metric called Job Security has been added for all coordinators. CPU teams will use these same mechanics to build their own teams, meaning your top coordinator can be pulled from you just like the NFL.

Madden NFL 26 Will Officially Introduce Halftime Highlights

This Halftime Report will be hosted by NFL Red Zone’s Scott Hanson, and it won’t be canned animations.

Coaches will have an Approval Rating and these affect how well the GM, Coaching Staff, Players, Fans and the Media feel about you. Coaches are judged with this at the end of the season. If the rating is too low and support is weak, you’re probably done. The CPU will do this, as well. You may be rebuilding but if the GM and players like you even though you go 5-12, you’ll have an opportunity to improve. Coach Storylines will provide an initial interview for coaches, then events will unfold from there that affect your staff and their abilities.

Opposing Coaches and Real Time Coach AI

The devs at Madden really have been focused on implementing what is seen on Sundays into the game. The look, feel and analytical side of the game continue to be added. Real Coach DNA brings distinct strategies and behaviors for every NFL head coach. Gone are the days of exploiting repetitive CPU playcalling. Real preparation will be required along with making adjustments during the game. Data-Driven Coaching is the new system built from a decade of real NFL data. Madden NFL 26 will feature machine-learning AI that will implement years of playcalling tendencies.

This AI will not only power the in-game decisions, but also has revamped the Coach Suggestion systems. This provides an analytics approach to play calling proving a success percentage for the best plays for that situation. It will dynamically adjust recommendations based on contextual factors like down and distance, score, time, field position, basically everything. This definitely changes the playcalling thought process and could flip how you call plays in a game. Defenses will also be able to disguise blitzes, run stunts, and delay safety rotations. You will see the AI do this.

Madden NFL 26 Gameplay Deep Dive Defines Deep

The team wants Madden to be the best sports simulation ever as the team incorporates more and more into the series that can be witnessed on Sundays.

Wear and Tear Gets the NFL Treatment

The Wear and Tear system will be making its debut in Madden NFL 26. The system tracks every hit a player takes in a game and accumulates these across an entire season. This is designed to reflect real-player health and managing workloads. The game will feature a quick sub feature during gameplay allowing for management of this system. Players will recover some health after each game but not always fully. Weather will affect player health even more and when a player gets injured now, there is an estimate for return rather than a set date.

Injuries now aren’t guaranteed to improve, and can get worse week to week. There are many times where you hear a player is making progress and that just stops. Trainer Abilities allow for a boost in recovery for players each week. They can also lower the chance of in-game injuries. You will be able to choose which ones to activate each week, much like the Coach Abilities. Wear and Tear adds more realism then ever before to Franchise Mode as the system was implemented into College Football 25. The development team could have left the updates to Franchise Mode to more core logic improvements, but this certainly seems to be the biggest overhaul the mode has seen in the past. There are core logic improvements involving the draft and offseason things, and this is all laid out on the Gridiron Notes.

Pre-order the MVP Bundle by August 14 and receive:

Madden NFL 26 Deluxe Edition
- Madden NFL 26 3 Day Early Access
- 4600 MUT points
- Bundle Exclusive MUT Item
- Early Access Solo Challenges
- MUT Season 1 Elite Player Item (choice of 1 player item from select list of player items)
- MUT Cover Athlete Elite Player Item
- Franchise Coach Ability Points
- Super Star Legendary XP Boost
- Player Card Exclusive Item
College Football 26 Deluxe Edition
- EA Sports College Football 26 3 Day Early Access
- 4600 CUT points
- Bundle Exclusive CUT Item
- Early Access Solo Challenges
- CUT Top Prospect Pack (choice of 1 player item from select list of player items)
- CUT All Hands Pack (choice of 1 out of 2 items)
- Dynasty Coach Points
- Road to Glory Skill Points

Pre-order the EA SPORTS Madden NFL 26 Deluxe Edition by July 24 and receive:

3 Day Early Access
4600 MUT points
Early Access Solo Challenges
Limited Time: Season 1 Elite Player Item (choice of 1 player item from select list of player items). Pre Order by July 24th.
MUT Cover Athlete Elite Player Item
Franchise Coach Ability Points
Super Star Legendary XP Boost
Player Card Exclusive Item

Pre-order EA SPORTS Madden NFL 26 today and receive: