The tutorial players are substantially better than the original players you get, and they count as Homegrown players for purposes of merchandise, making them substantially better than buying a similarly skilled player off of the transfer list (since you don't pay the transfer fee _and_ they increase your weekly merchandise income due to homegrown bonuses).
As noted on the player's page, if you need to fire them for fiscal reasons, the fans "will understand" (and thus won't punish you any more than they would for any other firing or transfer listing of a player). But they should be able to carry you through your first few seasons in division IV and eventually division III pretty well -- I'm still starting one of my tutorial players and the other two are consistent backups for my team at the end of my second season.