LETHALgames - Madden 25: Connected Franchise - New York Jets (Year 1 - 2024)

I’ve never been a big Madden guy.. I’d maybe pick it up once every 2 or 3 years on sale, getting the itch due to football season, then it dying quick. I also, admittedly, played the game like a moron to see some fun, big plays, constantly just firing bombs up field on easy difficulties. The itch hit again this year, only this time it hit the whole crew. The hype was high - we decided that we’d do a connected franchise and each take control of a random franchise and run a fantasy draft. In an effort to be competitive, this meant I had to actually learn to play the game: defense, running it, short passes, when to get rid of it.. more than the Hail Mary. Not likely to go well! We landed on Brock with the Commanders, Diggy with the Panthers, Big Cat with the Bengals and me? The New York Jets.

My priority was obviously the offense, but I did what I could to make sure my defense wasn’t a complete liability.

I also recapped the season in a twitter thread, if that’s more your speed!

me and the boys are doing a connected Madden 25 franchise with a fantasy draft and I want to do a dumb thread for it

— LETHAL 𝕏 (@JamesLethal) October 5, 2024

Draft Results:

Season Results:

RECORD: 12-5

1. Week 1: WIN / NYJ 28 - 24 SF
2. Week 2: LOSS / NYJ 21 - 24 TEN
3. Week 3: WIN / NE 21 - 24 NYJ
4. Week 4: LOSS / DEN 30 - 28 NYJ
5. Week 5: WIN / NYJ 38 - 24 MIN
6. Week 6: LOSS / BUF 22 - 19 NYJ
7. Week 7: WIN / NYJ 24 - 22 PIT
8. Week 8: WIN / NYJ 24 - 21 NE
9. Week 9: WIN / NYJ 28 - 24 HOU
10. Week 10: WIN / NYJ 10 - 3 ARI
11. Week 11: WIN / IND 18 - 24 NYJ
12. Week 12: BYE WEEK [record @ 8-3]
13. Week 13: WIN / SEA 7 - 14 NYJ
14. Week 14: WIN / NYJ 28 - 0 MIA
15. Week 15: LOSS / NYJ 14 - 17 JAX
16. Week 16: WIN / LAR 14 - 35 NYJ
17. Week 17: LOSS / NYJ 13 - 35 BUF
18. Week 18: WIN / MIA 14 - 35 NYJ

Note: remember this is a fantasy draft franchise, so a week 4 loss to the Broncos, for example, isn’t as embarrassing as it may seem at first glance.

Playoffs:

• Wild Card: LOSS / HOU 31 - 30 NYJ

Super Bowl Champions:

• Carolina Panthers (User Controlled, Diggy)

Other noteworthy happenings during the season:

• Best Record: Carolina Panthers 16-1
• Worst Record: Atlanta Falcons 3-14
• Most Valuable Player: Blake Corum, CAR
• Offensive Player of the Year: Blake Corum, CAR
• Defensive Player of the Year: Demarcus Lawrence, ARI
• O Rookie of the Year: Blake Corum, CAR
• D Rookie of the Year: Edgerrin Cooper, MIN
• Coach of the Year: Trevor Robar, CIN

————

• In week one, Justin Fields (CPU controlled) lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to victory with an NFL record 8 passing touchdowns.
• After a week 8 win, and a 5/10 + 2 interception game from Carr I shipped him + a few picks across town to the New York Giants for Jared Goff

Coming out of the season, my biggest problem is I lost a lot of big pieces to retirement on my defense.. I’m not entirely sure what my offseason game plan will be, but those are holes that 100% need to be filled.

The connected franchise was a lot of fun and, honestly, probably a driving reason behind why I’ll grab Madden next year at release. Games are made to be played with friends, and become infinitely more fun once you embrace that.

Now it’s on to season 2! Will I keep this up? Will we finish a full season before we cool off on Madden entirely? No one knows! Stay tuned!