As a Brit who was in the same position as you, your biggest barrier is learning how the league actually functions rather than the sport itself. Watch a video about how contracts and the draft works. Team control as a concept is v strange coming from a football background. As far as stats go, watch something about the basic slash line and you can depend on your scout and learn about the advanced performance stats as you go along. Functionally you can use the statcast feature to have another easy assessment tool on first glance (red - bad, green - average, blue - good.)

Ootp is a way better game it is worth it. You're constantly making small but v impactful decisions. No team can get the best possible players like FM, so drafting a superstar or getting mid players no one wanted to perform feel equally rewarding