What is an average player in this game as far as rating, 40/40.. 50/50?

The first number is what the player is right now and the second number is what he will be. The average depends on how long your league has been going. For a new league it would be lower than an older league. In my opinion a player between 70-75 future rating would be average for most leagues.

ok, so a 6th year player rated 72/72 is an average player, and should be only asking average player money, give or take a few variables?

Yes don't overpay for an average player

with 70-75 being average, it's seems like the majority of players are different degree's of bad and very bad instead or average and above average.. strange design

Players are either "Heathers" or they're not. lol (80s movie reference)

70s are average but you can't just look at the player's overall rating since lets say he's a WR and has 20 speed but 100 pass catching and 100 route running. It's a skewed rating since you wouldn't want a WR with such bad speed.

Pour through these boards for tons of nuggets and info and I'm sure you'll pick it up quickly.

Example, for a QB you want high end intelligence, accuracy, arm strength and then make sure his field of vision and look off defense is 80+ and his fumble rating is 30 ish+ since very low will have you lose games left and right. Each position archtype has certain areas you need elite ratings in and other spots you can punt.

Setherick posted some primers on here which will get you up to speed!

Doesn't matter as long as they are fast (for most positions)

I think that a 70 or 75 is a solid starter for most positions. Anyone in the 80's and higher is a star. Most teams have a number of 60-70, and I would say that is an average player... IMO, of course...

It also depends on your weights. I generally gave players that have default ratings in the 60-65 range (sometimes much lower), but between 70-75 on my weight system. At least, that's my goal.

Never base your decision about a player solely on his default values. Most important are the position key attributes. Ive had QBs with default ratings in the 55-65 range play as well as QBs in 75-90 range, same for RBs. A good idea is to look at your league's player statistics, look at the top 10 or 20 players in their category. When you look at the QBs for your league, click on the rating column and look for the starters, based on pass attempts. Then look at the starters cards for their attribute ratings. For OL, look at the Misc category, sacks allowed, the top OL allow 2-3 sacks on 1100 plays or more. Look at their att ratings, it will show you what attributes are key and what those values are. Or, as has been mentioned, you can take what has been posted on the subject at face value, and set your weights the same.