FB/BB/TE Question

Wanted to set up a 2016 team with a twin TEs offense. Draft results available this morning. I got both Delanie Walker and Antonio Gates as I'd tried. However Gates appears as the top FB/BB on my roster, with the indication he is a BB/TE. How can I know that the game engine will line him up as the second TE? My drafted second TE is a scrub and I don't want to see him in my starting 2 TE alignment, and I certainly don't want to see Gates running out of the FB slot - his card doesn't even have a rushing chart! I wish the starters page allowed us to assign backup roles so I could designate Gates as TE2 so the game engine would be sure to place him in the 2 TE alignment properly...any thoughts?

Hard to believe that you can designate a 4th WR but not a second TE.

If you are still in preseason, drop Gates and pickup new TE. Drop BB and pickup new BB. Then drop new TE and pickup Gates and so forth...

Ugh!

I don't know anything for certain, so my first advice is to send your question in an e-mail to Strat's Contact Us link.

But maybe if you listed Gates as your starting tight end, then when HAL looks to add the second TE to fit your program, he likely will choose Walker. Hard telling what other problems that strategy might cause.

I have no idea how it works with the CD-ROM game, but that probably is a source for the answer also.

Not sure if this would work, but could you drop your scrub TE for a second FB? Then you would just have Walker and Gates at TE.

From what I can tell, our rosters must have 2 of each TE and BB/FB. This limits the ability to game the roster to lower the random chance that the game engine will start players you don't want. I notice that the 2016 set also has Gronk appear as a BB/TE as well, primary position blocking back. What kind of sense does that make?

For what it is worth, you might find you get the results you want if you just choose the blocking back set and put Gates in as your starting blocking back. I have Vernon Davis as my blocking back and he started off the season catching so many passes that he ended up sitting out a game with an injury despite having an A0 rating. He currently has 34 catches after 13 games.

Here are the instructions about the two TE formation:

Approx. Pass/Run Ratio: 55/45
Notes: Both TEs need to be quality receivers, 2nd WR not used often, both HB/FB carry the ball
Pros: Increased blocking for both run and pass plays
Cons: FB must be a large part of running game (at least 30+ carries per season)

I'm not sure that there are fullbacks in the 2016 set that you really want running the ball too much. There are only two (Ripkowski and Tolbert) who had 30+ rushing attempts and only two others (Kuhn and Olawale) who had more than eight. Seems like there are a lot more good players to choose from if you have a second wide receiver in your lineup.

That said, if you can't drop your scrub TE for a FB, then maybe you could drop Gates for another fullback and then quickly drop your scrub TE for Gates.