Madden NFL 26 showcases new updates to Franchise Mode and Game Presentation in new Gridiron Notes!

We’ve already talked a lot about Madden NFL 26 here on GamingTrend, from the news about Data Tracking and the Cover Athlete, to the Gameplay Deep-Dive and my Personal Hands-On Preview! Now, my favorite time of the news-cycle, is when we get the new information about Franchise Mode and how the game is presented!

Let’s jump in with some highlights from the Grid-Iron Notes as well as see the interview I did with Josh Looman, who leads the Franchise Team.

Interview with Franchise Lead Josh Looman

Main Ideas for Franchise in Madden NFL 26

For Madden NFL 26, we focused on three major areas to bring you the most comprehensive improvements yet. Our goal was to make Franchise deeper, more dynamic and more true to the NFL experience:

First, we want you to Feel Like a Real NFL Head Coach every single week, all season long. Whether it’s building your staff, adjusting your strategy or preparing for your next opponent, your decisions will matter more than ever.

Second, we focused on making sure Every Game Feels Different. From AI behavior and player traits to weather effects and opponent tendencies, each matchup should feel unique and bring new challenges to the table.

And finally, we know you want Every Week to Feel Different. You want Monday Nights to feel special. You want to feel the shift in atmosphere when the calendar flips to December. You want to see what’s going on around the league via Halftime Shows and a Weekly Recap. We’re delivering ALL of that this year.

First of all, they heard us from the previous years! Fans of Franchise have been asking for more detail for a long time. Giving us the amount of control of the team that we want. These are great things to hear will be coming to Franchise Mode in M26.

Coaching Customization Updates

Custom coaches got a massive overhaul, with 200 new heads to choose from when creating your coach. … With more than 50new shirts, 15 pants and 40 shoes, you can make more than 30,000 combinations to wear on the sidelines.

As an Offensive Guru, the entire unlock path will consist of offensive-minded abilities and the same goes for the Defensive Genius where its unlock path will be centered around defensive-minded abilities. As a Development Wizard, the unlock path will primarily be a mix of off the field abilities and gameplay abilities. All existing coaches will also fall under one of these three archetypes and the abilities they possess will be tailored to match their real-life counterparts

I am always a fan of more control and more customization in simulation games such as M26. I play a LOT of this game mode and I am excited to not only have new heads for the coaches, but much more customization for the clothing options. I want my coach to look like I would look if I actually was the coach, so if I want to emulate Mike McDaniel’s style, for instance, I can more closely resemble that now.

Coaching Abilities

When it comes to Season Abilities, there will be 28 at launch and they are tailored to the off the field aspects of franchise mode and will be heavily based around player progression, scouting and building your staff. Looking to fast track the development of your players? Use one of the many Practician abilities to gain an increased amount of Training XP. Need a leg up on the upcoming draft? Equip the Scout’s Honorability to hire more Tier 3 scouts or the Stud Finder ability to gain scouting percentage boosts on all quarterback prospects.

Again, all about customization with these updates. These abilities will make it worth more to hit goals, but also the ability to try different abilities with different setups. Here’s to the level of detail for M26.

Coordinator Updates

If you’re an offensive guru, your only access to defensive abilities will come from your defensive coordinator, making them a key part of your weekly strategy. You can go all-in on offense and try to win every game in a shootout, but as the saying goes: defense wins championships. A strong defensive coordinator gives you more tools, better options, and greater impact. The same logic applies to defensive masterminds. Offense is still necessary to win games, and a skilled offensive coordinator could be what separates a good season from a deep playoff run.

I have been asking and begging for YEARS now for coordinators to matter in Madden Franchise Mode. In the past, no matter which coach was your OC or DC, nothing changed unless you manually changed them. From schemes to hiring established Head Coaches, it was all the same. I’m hoping, with these updates, that if you hire on a Pete Carroll or Mike Tomlin to your team, their traits transfer over and it’s not like they’re starting over from zero.

Playsheets

Think of Playsheets as mini playbooks you can bring into a game to expand your base offensive or defensive playbook. From the emergence of the Wildcat in 2008 to Andy Reid breaking out Rose Bowl Right Parade in Super Bowl 54, for years we’ve seen NFL Coaches bring unique concepts to gameday. That was a huge inspiration behind this feature

First of all, love the reference to the Wildcat Formation from my Dolphins in 2008 with Ricky Williams, Ronnie Brown, and Chad Pennington. This Playsheets idea seems so interesting in concept, but I can’t wait to start playing with it. Making playbooks to take on specific teams will be a lot of fun but also add to the chess match, especially in the Playoffs.

Wear and Tear in Madden NFL 26

Madden NFL 26 adds a new feature called Wear and Tear—a system that tracks every hit a player takes in a game and accumulates those impacts across the season. It’s designed to reflect real-life player health, forcing you to manage workloads realistically. Relying too heavily on a few players—like giving Derrick Henry 40 carries or running Lamar Jackson 30 times—will carry consequences. Inspired by ideas from the College Football team, Wear and Tear launches with Dynamic Subs, letting you make on-the-fly substitutions during pre-play, and full slider customization for Franchise mode.

I think we all knew that with the success of College Football 25, would come the wear and tear making its way to Madden. I didn’t think it would happen this year, but it’s amazing to see it will be included. This truly does change so much about how people will construct teams in Franchise Mode. No more snagging a first round rookie RB and running them to franchise records, most likely. I am excited to see how this truly changes the game.

There is simply so much to get through. There are new player traits, new draft logic, updated prospect generators, dynamic football weather, new halftime show (thank goodness), and new Monday, Thursday, and Sunday night game presentations! And so much more! Make sure to read the Grid-Iron Notes!

From Presentation (which is absolutely awesome, so make sure to read those Grid-Iron Notes) to all of the updates to Franchise Mode, this could be the biggest jump for Franchise Mode in a DECADE! I cannot wait to see it fully formed!

Stay tuned to GamingTrend for all your news, reviews, and interviews. By Humans, For Humans!

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