ABILITIES & Personnel

Table of Contents

1. MUT Abilities

2. MUT Personnel

3. Regs/CFM Abilities

4. Regs/CFM Personnel

The abilities setup for this scheme has changed slightly since the AP on Escape Artist was increased to 15 AP. While I do still think Escape Artist is the best ability in the game, and you can absolutely be a demon running this scheme with just Escape Artist (15 AP) and Pass Lead Elite (3 AP), I think it’s best for us to start moving away from Escape Artist, which will set us up great for the future as we begin to look forward to Madden 23. If you see yourself as a more traditional player, then I definitely recommend Ability Setup 2, but if you want to play like a maniac, then Ability Setup 1 is the way to go.

Ability Setup 1 (My Setup/Option Football Setup)

• QB

  • Pass Lead Elite (3 AP)

  • Hot Route Master (3 AP)

  • Fastbreak (3 AP)

  • Recuperation (1 AP)

  • Long Range Deadeye (1 AP)

• HB

  • Tank (1 AP on Mike Alstott)

  • Bulldozer (1 AP)

• WR 1

  • Route Technician (2 AP)

• TE

  • Route Technician (1 AP on Vernon Davis)

• C

  • Post Up (0 AP on Robert Hunt)

Ability Setup 2 (Pocket Passing Setup)

• QB

  • Gunslinger (6 AP)

  • Hot Route Master (3 AP)

  • Fearless (3 AP)

  • Long Range Deadeye (1 AP)

• HB

  • Backfield Mismatch (1 AP)

• WR 1

  • Route Technician (2 AP)

• WR 2

  • Route Technician (2 AP)

Ability Setup 3

• QB

  • Pass Lead Elite (3 AP)

  • Escape Artist (15 AP)

Speed is more important than anything else, so I strongly recommend using a 50/50 Theme Team to get a +2 speed bonus on every player with the Theme Team chemistry. I list some example players below, but with so many different theme teams and with new players always being released, use whatever players fit your team the best.

• QB - I strongly recommend using Randall Cunningham since is 98 SPD on any 50/50 Theme Team and has the Generic 3 release which is arguably the best release in the game, but at this point in the year there are lots of viable options.

• TE - We want the fastest, tallest TE possible. Vernon Davis is 6’3 and 98 speed without a theme team, plus he gets an AP discount on Route Technician, so he’ll be arguably the best TE in the game for the rest of the year.

• HB - You have a lot of flexibility here, but you need to make sure your HB has at least 75 CTH (catch rating) since you will be throwing to him a lot. I’m currently using Mike Alstott, who is 97 speed on my Bucs 50/50 Theme Team because he gets a major AP discount on Tank (1 AP).

• WR - We want the fastest, tallest WRs possible, and ideally we also want at least one to be the Route Runner archetype so they can get Route Technician for 2 AP (if you choose to use it). Players like Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson are great options because they will be 99 speed on any theme team as long as you have at least one WR strat card that gives +1 speed.

If you plays regs or are in a CFM, you might not have the luxury of choosing every ability you want. With that restriction, the #1 most important ability for this scheme is a throwing ability, ideally Gunslinger or Pass Lead Elite. Without a throwing ability, you will have an extremely tough time passing the ball consistently. Below are my recommended abilities at each position.

QB

• Gunslinger (preferred), Pass Lead Elite, or Set Feet Lead

• Escape Artist

• Hot Route Master

TE

• TE Apprentice (if you don’t have Hot Route Master)

• Short In Elite

RB

• Backfield Master (preferred) or Backfield Mismatch

WR

• Slot Apprentice (if you don’t have Hot Route Master)

• Outside Apprentice (if you don’t have Hot Route Master)

Based on the abilities above, here are the ideal players to use for this scheme. The top priorities are 1) Have a passing ability, 2) Get the fastest players possible, 3) Have as many of the other abilities as possible.

QB

• Kyler Murray (Gunslinger + Escape Artist)

• Josh Allen (Gunslinger + Escape Artist)

• Russell Wilson (Gunslinger + Escape Artist)

• Aaron Rodgers (Gunslinger)

• Patrick Mahomes (Escape Artist)

• Tom Brady (Set Feet Lead + Hot Route Master)

• Justin Herbert (Set Feet Lead)

TE

• Darren Waller (TE Apprentice, Short In Elite)

• George Kittle (Route Apprentice, Short In Elite)

• Travis Kelce (TE Apprentice)

WR

• Davante Adams (Route Technician + Outside Apprentice)

• Justin Jefferson (Route Technician + Outside Apprentice)

• Amari Cooper (Route Technician + Outside Apprentice)

• Cooper Kupp (Slot-O-Matic)

• Chris Godwin (Slot-O-Matic)

• Adam Thielen (Slot-O-Matic + Slot Apprentice)

• Deebo Samuel (Slot-O-Matic)

• DeAndre Hopkins (Short In Elite, Mid In Elite)

• Keenan Allen (Outside Apprentice)

• Terry Mclaurin (Outside Apprentice)

• D.K. Metcalf (Outside Apprentice)

• Michael Thomas (WR Apprentice)

• Mike Williams (Outside Apprentice)

RB

• Christian McCaffrey (Backfield Master)

• Austin Ekeler (Backfield Master)

• Alvin Kamara (RB Apprentice, Matchup Nightmare)

• Aaron Jones (Backfield Mismatch)

If you are running this scheme in Regs, I recommend using the Cardinals - Kyler Murray with Gunslinger + Escape Artist will allow you to run this scheme without any limitations, and their receiver group is extremely solid as well, between DeAndre Hopkins with Short In & Mid In Elite and Andy Isabella & Rondale Moore who have 95 and 94 speed, respectively. Other regs teams that could be successful with Pistol Trips are the Seahawks, Bills, Packers, and Chiefs.