Madden 27 How-To
How to start a Madden 27 fantasy draft
A fantasy draft is a full league reset: every player goes back into the pool and nobody is safe. This walks you from the main menu to your first pick, including the one setting most leagues get wrong.
- About 10 minutes
- 8 steps, start to first pick
- Online or offline leagues
Step 1: Create a new league
From the main menu open Franchise. The Current Franchises screen lists your existing save files, or tells you there are none. Choose Create New League.
Step 2: Choose online or offline
Play Offline Solo keeps the league on your console with manual saves and no connection to EA servers. Play Online Solo or Multiplayer saves to the cloud automatically, simulates faster, and supports up to 32 users.
Pick online unless you have a reason not to. It is the only path that lets friends join later, and it is what companion app exports read from.
Step 3: Select the roster file
This screen decides whether a fantasy draft is even offered. Weekly NFL Roster starts you in a specific NFL week with that week's real stats, records, and injuries, and has no fantasy draft option.
Choose Roster File. It loads the latest roster available (or a Madden Share or Creation Center roster if you have one) and is the only option whose starting points include a fantasy draft.
Step 4: Pick your team and role
Choose any team and take the coach, owner, or player role you want. The roster you inherit does not matter: every player on it goes back into the draft pool, so pick the stadium, division, and playbook you want to live with instead.
Step 5: Set the starting point to Fantasy Draft
On the Customize screen open More Options and then Starting Point. Three options appear: Preseason, Regular Season, and Fantasy Draft. Select Fantasy Draft.
The button at the top left changes to Start Playing: Fantasy Draft. Do not press it yet, one setting still needs changing.
Step 6: Switch the draft to Snake in League Settings
Still on the Customize screen, open League Settings. The settings are split across tabs along the top (Gameplay, Breaking News, Team, Commissioner, League Type, and more). Page across to the Commissioner tab with L1 and R1 on PlayStation, or LB and RB on Xbox.
Scroll roughly three quarters of the way down that tab to Fantasy Draft Order and set it to Snake.
Snake order lives on the Commissioner tab
Fantasy Draft Order is not on the Customize screen. Open League Settings, page across the tabs at the top with L1 and R1 (LB and RB on Xbox) to Commissioner, then scroll down to Fantasy Draft Order and set it to Snake.
- Snake: The order reverses every round.
- Pick 1 in round 1 picks last in round 2. This is the traditional fantasy format and what most leagues want.
- Standard: Every round uses the same order.
- Pick 1 in round 1 also picks first in round 2 and every round after it, which heavily favors the top slots.
The default is not the order Madden used before, so check it every time you create a league.
The other settings worth changing first
Draft Timer and Draft Presentation sit on the same Commissioner tab, directly above Fantasy Draft Order.
Fantasy Draft Order
Snake or Standard. Set this before you start the league, it cannot be changed once the draft opens.
Draft Timer
On gives every pick a clock. Off lets each team take as long as it wants, which suits offline leagues.
Draft Presentation
Full plays the podium scene for every pick. Turn it down to get through 50+ rounds in one sitting.
Step 7: Start the draft from the Weekly Hub
Back out of League Settings and choose Start Playing: Fantasy Draft. You land in the Weekly Hub with a single card: Start Your Fantasy Draft. In an online league only the commissioner sees it, and selecting it kicks the draft off for everyone at once.
Have your draft board open before you press it. The draft begins immediately.
Step 8: Work the draft board
The draft screen shows the full round grid, your clock, and the teams picking before your next selection. Draft Pick opens the player list; Pause Draft stops the clock, but only the commissioner can use it.
Inside the player list you can filter to available players, narrow to one position, and sort by any attribute. Sorting is far more useful once you have filtered to a single position.
Go in with a board, not a hunch
Keep the Madden 27 draft board open on your phone while you draft on the console. Round 1 is free, and Draft Genius ranks the pool against your scheme when you upgrade.
- Draft board
Draft Genius