I made a trade that gave me a 1st round pick, but the player I traded is still on my roster. Also, it appears that the cpu will approve any trade.

Are you playing in Career or Sandbox mode? In sandbox all trades are accepted. I haven't seen lopsided trades in career mode myself.

I play sandbox. That is horrible and should be changed.

I looked at the trade screen and it seems to be working as expected. Checking boxes and executing trades seems to work correctly.

And yes, in sandbox the trades are auto accepted since it's a sandbox mode where commissioners can set up things however they want. If you want a single player style playthrough you should pick career mode where things are more restricted and gamified.

Any plans to change sandbox mode or add a new mode in the future? I like what I call owners' mode (Jerry Jones) where I hire and fire the coaches/gm and I just control the draft and sign some free agents. It would be nice to have career mode rules with sandbox style play (stay with one team).

Yea, that's career mode. You play as a GM and control trades, drafts, roster adds/drops, etc. The coaches will handle playbooks and strategy, but you'll have to handle roster transactions.

I see I have to leave the box can be fired unchecked. Got it, thank you.