If the 2011 movie starring Brad Pitt tells us anything, it’s that “Moneyball” works completely and indefinitely, and there is absolutely no reason to look into it any further. No need to look into the A’s record since 2002 (they’re under .500 by 53 games) or look at fan sentiment of the team (they currently don’t have a centralized fan base… or any fan base for that matter), you definitely shouldn’t look at if the model has succeeded in any other sport (Jonah Hill’s character is based off John DePodesta who has been the Browns’ Chief Strategy Officer since 2016 and was the genius behind the Deshaun Watson trade). The Moneyball system is foolproof! (Heavy sarcasm intended).
Although I might not be a massive believer in the original “Moneyball” concept as depicted in the movie, I think MLB teams like the Rays have figured it out and tweaked it enough so that it may work outside of early 2000s baseball. That’s what I wanted to test out with this article. I want to see if Moneyball could work in Madden 26. Can you win Madden franchise mode games by spending next to nothing and focusing on efficiency and drafting?
How My Simulation Worked
To get the feeling that Brad Pitt describes in the movie, “there’s the rest of the league, and then there’s two feet of shit, and then there’s us,” I could have just gone with the Giants roster, but that roster isn’t exactly Moneyball appropriate, with a payroll north of 250 million. I wanted to create an initial roster that was already using Moneyball principles, so I started with a fantasy draft, but while the CPU was drafting from the full slate of players for the other 31 teams, I drafted a team only from players that fit my Moneyball criteria.
The Moneyball criteria were that the majority of my players must have been a sixth-round, seventh-round, or undrafted draft pick who hadn’t gotten a significant second contract. I then added the occasional veteran to give the team some balance; these veterans must have played the majority of their career as a backup. Finally, I added the strongest kicker, punter, and long snapper I could, because when you dig into the metrics, these positions (specifically kicker and punter) are the difference between wins and losses, especially for a team with a meager 75 overall rating.
Season One Depth Chart
| QB | Marcus Mariota | Tanner McKee | ||
| RB | Isiah Pacheco | Ollie Gordon II | Chris Rodriguez Jr. | Kenny McIntosh |
| WR-X | Demario Douglas | Dyami Brown | Jimmy Horn Jr. | |
| WR-Y | Josh Palmer | K.J. Osborn | Andrei Iosivas | |
| TE | Foster Moreau | Grant Calcaterra | Ko Kieft | Luke Lachey |
| LT | Rasheed Walker | Walter Rouse | ||
| LG | Blake Brandel | Cody Ford | ||
| C | Jarrett Patterson | Luke Wypler | ||
| RG | Ben Bredeson | Kayode Awosika | ||
| RT | Thayer Munford Jr. | Stone Forsythe | ||
| LEDGE | Jonathon Cooper | James Houston IV | ||
| REDGE | Tyquan Lewis | Antwuan Powell-Ryland | ||
| DT | Karl Brooks | Dante Stills | Moro Ojomo | Aeneas Peebles |
| SAM | Malcolm Rodriguez | Dee Winters | ||
| MIKE | Tyrel Dodson | Darius Muasau | Carter Coughlin | |
| WILL | Eric Wilson | Kain Medrano | ||
| CB | Christian Benford | Jaylen Watson | Jaylon Jones | Carrington Valentine |
| FS | Rodney Thomas II | Ja’Sir Taylor | Russ Yeast | |
| SS | Quentin Lake | Elijah Hicks | ||
| K | Cam Little | |||
| P | A.J. Cole | |||
| LS | Aaron Brewer | |||
Season One
I went into the first season thinking that we had a decent team, given the circumstances. We are obviously weak at QB and the O-line, but we have receivers and a stud RB in Pacheco, along with a quality secondary and an underrated pass rusher in Jonathan Cooper. Unfortunately, this group didn’t quite perform as I had hoped and ended up with just a 3-14 record, but we got the second pick in the draft, and my hopes were high that we would be able to improve the lineup this offseason.
Offseason One
The parameters I set myself for the offseason were that I don’t spend too much money, I set a goal of a yearly payroll of 200 million each year, and I was able to stay under that goal in the first offseason, with a cap hit of just 198 million for 2026 after everything was done. The other thing I did was that I turned off offseason free agency, which was intended to force me to make signings during pre-season week 1 after all the major free agents had signed (ensuring a realistic moneyball approach), unfortunately that just made it so the CPU signed guys for me this offseason (I fixed it in all following offseasons) so we ended up with a couple of decent signings, but I was still able to keep the cap hit under 200 million with a key trade of Aeneas Peebles for the far cheaper Tyree Wilson.
In the draft, I got us our desperately needed quarterback in 73 overall, Joey Werner, who was by far the best QB in the draft, but had just a normal dev trait, unfortunately. Still, he was our best quarterback by rating, and he ended up starting on day one. The rest of the draft was pretty disappointing, with most of our prospects landing at about a 68 to 65 overall with no stars or superstars in the bunch.
Season Two Depth Chart
Rookies are in italics, free agents are in bold, and trades are in both.
| QB | Joey Werner | Marcus Mariota | Desmond Ridder | |
| RB | Isiah Pacheco | Ollie Gordon II | D.J. Giddens | Eric Gray |
| WR-X | Demario Douglas | Dyami Brown | ||
| WR-Y | Josh Palmer | Derius Davis | Andrei Iosivas | |
| TE | Foster Moreau | Elijah Arroyo | Grant Calcaterra | Stefan Hodges |
| LT | Rasheed Walker | Calvin Ridley | ||
| LG | Kingsley Suamataia | Cody Ford | ||
| C | Jarrett Patterson | Robert Hainsey | ||
| RG | Dalton Risner | Ben Bredeson | ||
| RT | Evan Neal | Thayer Munford Jr. | Jose Escobar | |
| LEDGE | Jonathon Cooper | Trevis Gipson | Ben Horn | |
| REDGE | Tyree Wilson | Antwuan Powell-Ryland | ||
| DT | Ruke Orhorhoro | Karl Brooks | Jaden Crumedy | |
| SAM | Malcolm Rodriguez | Dee Winters | ||
| MIKE | Tyrel Dodson | Darius Muasau | ||
| WILL | Kenneth Murray Jr. | Troy Tucker | ||
| CB | Christian Benford | Jaylon Jones | Carrington Valentine | Montaric Brown |
| FS | Rodney Thomas II | Ja’Sir Taylor | Billy Bowman Jr. | |
| SS | Quentin Lake | Ronnie Hickman | ||
| K | Cam Little | |||
| P | A.J. Cole | |||
| LS | Aaron Brewer |
Season Two
We ended up at 3-14 again after Joey Werner’s mid-rookie performance, which included 21 TDs, 18 INTs, and an 85 passer rating on the season. It definitely wasn’t great. Pacheco was the motor of the offense, running for a little under 1200 yards and eight touchdowns. He was our main bright spot.
Offseason Two
We had the number one pick in the draft this year and chose an absolute beast in 77 overall superstar EDGE rusher Terry Kitchens with the pick. We then selected 74 overall TE Colin Painter in the second round and 74 overall C Oscar Martinez in the fifth round.
I didn’t grab any huge difference-makers in Free Agency, but I did get two starters in Patrick Mekari and David Onyemata.
Season Three Depth Chart
| QB | Joey Werner | Marcus Mariota | Desmond Ridder | |
| RB | Isiah Pacheco | Ollie Gordon II | D.J. Giddens | Deontay Freeman |
| WR-X | Demario Douglas | Dyami Brown | ||
| WR-Y | Josh Palmer | Derius Davis | Sean Rodgers | |
| TE | Elijah Arroyo | Colin Painter | Terrance Ferguson | Stefan Hodges |
| LT | Rasheed Walker | Calvin Ridley | ||
| LG | Kingsley Suamataia | Cody Ford | ||
| C | Jarrett Patterson | Oscar Robertson | ||
| RG | Patrick Mekari | Ben Bredeson | ||
| RT | Evan Neal | Jose Escobar | ||
| LEDGE | Jonathon Cooper | D.J. Wonnum | Ben Horn | |
| REDGE | Terry Hitchens | Tyree Wilson | ||
| DT | David Onyemata | Karl Brooks | Dylan Richter | Jaden Crumedy |
| SAM | Malcolm Rodriguez | Dee Winters | ||
| MIKE | Tyrel Dodson | Tony Fields II | ||
| WILL | Troy Tucker | |||
| CB | Christian Benford | Caelen Carson | Carrington Valentine | Koren Lunsford |
| FS | Rodney Thomas II | Ja’Sir Taylor | Billy Bowman Jr. | |
| SS | Quentin Lake | Ronnie Hickman | ||
| K | Cam Little | |||
| P | A.J. Cole | |||
| LS | Aaron Brewer |
Season Three
Well… it happened again, 3-14 just like the last two years, Joey Werner isn’t really developing, and most of his numbers are sitting around 22nd in the league, a number I fear he may be stuck at going forward, which really hurts our chances at getting much better. I was really banking on this QB. Hitting on a rookie quarterback is the only way to achieve success with the Moneyball system in football, and that success only lasts five years, even if you hit it. Signing a 60-million-dollar quarterback with a 200-million-dollar budget is not really feasible. Let’s hope that we can hit on a few draft picks in this offseason to give Werner some weapons and support, and maybe he can turn it around and buoy our team record, because right now my coach approval is sitting at 12% and I would have been fired by now if I hadn’t turned off coach firings in the settings.
Offseason Three
This was definitely a strong draft, albeit one where we weren’t able to give much direct support to Werner. We took 79 overall DT Carl Clifton with the first pick in the draft, and then 79 overall LG Andrew Prince in the second round, and in the fourth round we drafted 75 overall SS Hunter Strong. It was a solid haul, but I fear our gains in the draft were offset by losses in free agency, and we ended up at around the same talent level as we were last season. I just hope we don’t end up at 3-14 again!
Season Four Depth Chart
| QB | Joey Werner | Marcus Mariota | ||
| RB | Isiah Pacheco | Ollie Gordon II | D.J. Giddens | Deontay Freeman |
| WR-X | Demario Douglas | Dyami Brown | ||
| WR-Y | Josh Palmer | Derius Davis | Sean Rodgers | |
| TE | Colin Painter | Terrance Ferguson | Stefan Hodges | |
| LT | Calvin Ridley | Trey Pipkins III | ||
| LG | Andrew Prince | Cody Ford | ||
| C | Oscar Robertson | Jarrett Patterson | ||
| RG | Kingsley Suamataia | Ben Bredeson | ||
| RT | Evan Neal | Jose Escobar | ||
| LEDGE | Jonathon Cooper | Ben Horn | ||
| REDGE | Terry Hitchens | David Ojabo | Adisa Isaac | |
| DT | Carl Clifton | Karl Brooks | Dylan Richter | Jaden Crumedy |
| SAM | Malcolm Rodriguez | SirVocea Dennis | ||
| MIKE | Tyrel Dodson | Jesse Guerrero | ||
| WILL | Troy Tucker | |||
| CB | Christian Benford | Max Melton | Carrington Valentine | Koren Lunsford |
| FS | Ronnie Hickman | Elijah Clemons | ||
| SS | Quentin Lake | Hunter Strong | ||
| K | Cam Little | |||
| P | A.J. Cole | |||
| LS | Aaron Brewer |
Season Four
You’re not going to believe it…
Final takeaways
If you are asking if Moneyball can work in Madden 26, the unequivocal answer is this: Not the way I do it. I think my parameters, particularly the no-offseason free agent limit I set myself, were way too complicated, and I think I needed to maybe package some of my first overall picks into trades for more picks, because I was simply not replacing talent fast enough or effectively enough to build a talented roster. I went 3-14 for four straight years, for crying out loud, zero growth whatsoever. I mean, individual players grew, Duke Hinchens was above 90 overall by the time I rage quit after seeing the 3-14 pop up on my screen for the fourth time in a row, that type of failure takes a mental toll on someone, I had to stop after season four!
I do think the team has some good pieces, and with an adjustment in strategy, I could perhaps keep trying to Moneyball my way to some wins. Still, you guys gotta let me know if you want that, because it’s pretty tough to see that many losses without any upward trajectory. The cynical part of the brain says it’s impossible, and the only way to win in franchise mode is to spend like a drunken sailor, but maybe that’s just me. What do you think? Honestly, I think the closest the NFL gets to Moneyball is what Howie Roseman does.
