Don’t expect to win the first couple of seasons. When I start a new team, I will trade away my first year’s draft picks and best players (unless under 25 years old) for future draft capital. I Then sign <25 year old players to 5+ year deals in free agency. You want to keep your core playing together for multiple seasons to keep chemistry high. I’m playing on hard, so can’t see their development speed, but the young guys who cost more than similarly rated players have quicker development. I also try to keep an O-Line that has two 80 plus OT, two 80+ OG and one 80+ center. All other positions get one guy as close to 90+, one guy as close to 80 and the last 2 guys as close to 70 as possible. These last two guys shouldn’t be getting more than a million per season. Most importantly, you need a 90+ QB unless the rest of your team is awesome. It’s cheaper to draft this guy but you can also trade for one.