Pick your starters by substat, not by overall
Every card shows three stats, and your scheme decides which one matters. Rich Dean's pairings, set beside what the game says each stat does: Catching for deep passes, Agility for short ones, Accuracy for a Pocket Passer.
Every card carries three stats under its overall, and which three depends on the position. Rich Dean's rule is to start whoever is best at the stat your scheme uses, not whoever has the biggest overall. The game describes what each stat does, and What every stat on a card does has all of them. For most positions it says what Rich does.
Offense
Rich's pairings, with the game's own words where they back them:
- Wide receivers: Agility for short passes, Speed for medium, Catching for deep. The game agrees on all three: Speed is for finding "an opening for medium passes", and Catching "has an advantage for catching deep passes"
- Running backs: Speed for Outside runs, Power for Power runs, Vision for Zone. The game says Speed "is needed when the Running Back runs to the outside" and Power is for "running right through the middle"
- Quarterbacks: Accuracy for a Pocket Passer, Intelligence for a Game Manager, Athleticism for a Dual Threat. The game says an intelligent quarterback "is better at managing the game"
- Offensive line: Pass Blocking for a passing offense, Agility for Zone and Outside runs, Run Blocking for Power. The game says Agility helps the ball carrier "run outside or through the gaps"
- Tight ends: Blocking for the Blocking role, Catching for the Catching role
Tight end Athleticism is where the two part ways. The game says an athletic tight end "can block and catch, which makes them unpredictable for the opponent". Rich ignores it and picks Blocking or Catching to match the role, the same commit-to-one rule the rest of the offense follows.
Defense
- Linebackers: Awareness for Coverage, Tackling for Run Support, and Speed only if you blitz. The game backs all three: Speed is "good at blitzing", Tackling helps "protect against a running play" and Awareness is "good at covering the field"
- Corners and safeties: Awareness, then Tackling, for Zone coverage, and Speed for Man. The game says Speed keeps up with "the man he's trying to cover" and Awareness keeps a defender's eyes "on the zone he needs to defend"
- Defensive line: Strength and Tackling for either role, Pass Rush or Run Support
The game splits the line's two stats where Rich keeps them together. It says Strength "helps to form an impenetrable block against runs" and Tackling "is good when trying to prevent the Quarterback from passing". On that reading, lean on Strength for Run Support and Tackling for Pass Rush. Rich says Awareness does almost nothing for linemen, and the game ties it to "mixing their strategy", which fits Rich's rule never to set the line to Mixed.
Sub by matchup
Swap starters with the opponent. Against a passing offense, start your high-Awareness linebackers. Against a rushing offense, start your best tacklers.
The same rule picks from a draft pack: take the card with the stat your scheme needs, Catching for a deep receiver, Accuracy for a Pocket Passer, Pass Blocking and Agility for a lineman, over the one with the biggest overall. Every card on the position pages shows its three stats, so you can see who leads at the one your scheme uses.
These settings come from Rich Dean's Football Head Coach 27 videos on YouTube, and imswimduck gathered them into a cheat sheet for the community. The game publishes none of them, so use them as a starting point and see how they hold up in your own games.
This is an original blog article written by FHCWiz community writers, on various topics surrounding the FHC 27 (Football Head Coach 27) mobile game by Gamebasics BV. FHCWiz has no association with Gamebasics BV, and these articles are opinion and analysis, not official information.