So I'll be going on an out-of-country vacation for nearly two weeks starting next month, and I've been thinking about how I'll handle that. The nice thing about this game's design is that I can spend between a few minutes and a few hours, every day, preparing for my next game and remain competitive in either case.
But what if I go those two weeks without my computer? And will my phone carrier work abroad? I might not even be able to set my depth chart on a mobile phone for the entire time. So what happens to a team when the user is AFK for long periods of time? Right now, my best option is to have a solid gameplan that can work week in and week out and hope that nobody on my team gets seriously injured.
But what if we had an AFK or vacation mode. Press a button, and the computer or 'coaches' automatically load a recommended gameplan (and just like we do now, you can set what facets of the gameplan they control, eg.: offensive plays, defensive run/pass, etc.) and activate/deactivate players based on injury. This way, a team doesn't drown because the user can't get to his or her computer.
Obvious drawbacks: This will encourage more people to leave their teams for large periods of time. There needs to be more accountability for which users are active and which go long periods without logging in. Also, this will encourage more people to spread out to multiple teams while having very little input in each one, thus reducing their competitive edge.
That's my suggestion, as long as there is a way to keep that option from being abused.