Madden Ratings Review For Every Position (Also, Madden Sucks)

I’d like to start off by saying Madden sucks. The rating system sucks. Modern sports games as a general rule suck. While I play them yearly, I usually buy them once they are on sale for $15 and then I screw around doing franchises building teams, only to quit once I start winning. Why? Because the game-play sucks.

I will admit I did enjoy Madden 2020 Face of the Franchise. That’s about it. NFL 2K5 and the likes of Madden 07 and 08 are far more enjoyable than anything today that EA puts out.

Of course, Madden leaked it’s anticipated player ratings prior to the release. The shitstorm follows thus the world keeps spinning.

First and foremost, Madden needs an entire overhaul of the rating system in general. Personally, there are significant gaps between the tiers of players and it should be reflected in the game. Of course it would be hard to reflect real life value in the form of a video game. For example, George Kittle and Travis Kelce are far and away the best tight ends. However, Zach Ertz is far and away better than someone like Jared Cook who is close in rating.

Now this would cause a shit storm among the players, but I am not here to adhere to their lack of self-awareness. I think Madden should start tiering their ratings off to separate the elite from the great from the good. Whoever is the best at their respective position should set the bar.

For example, Patrick Mahomes is a 99. No one is sniffing Mahomes’ jockstrap as far as QBs go. The closest is Russell Wilson and I still believe there is a significant gap there. Behind Wilson, there is another small gap there. We also know that QBs add wins more than any other position so why not reflect that by setting the cap on a QB at 120? Just an idea.

Let’s operate off the 99 system though and I’ll use RBs as the example…

• 99 – 91 (Elites) – McCaffrey, Barkley, Zeke
• 90 – 82 (Greats) – Kamara, Cook
• 81 – 74 (Sure Starters / High End Rookies) – Carson, Mack, Freeman
• 73 – 68 (Borderline Starters) – Hyde, Peterson, Howard
• 67 – 60 (Role Players) – Gore, Lat Murray
• 59 – 50 (Sure Backups) – James White, Gus Edwards
• 49 – 0 (Backups / Roster Hopefuls / Coach Wants To See You Bring Your Playbook) – literally anyone who has been cut or barely made it.

This would do a number of things…

1- It would separate the players more true to real life I believe.

2- It would make it a hell of a lot more fun to build teams in franchise mode. It would also make the game play more challenging I feel.

Now that I am done regarding the overhaul, let’s talk current ratings. Here are the top 10 of every position and how I view them.

Top 10 QBs (What I Would say)

1. Patrick Mahomes – 99 (99)
2. Russell Wilson – 97 (97)
3. Lamar Jackson – 94 (90)
4. Drew Brees – 93 (94)
5. Tom Brady – 90 (91)
6. Aaron Rodgers – 89 (91)
7. Matt Ryan – 87 (87)
8. Deshaun Watson – 86 (94)
9. Carson Wentz – 84 (82)
10. Dak Prescott – 84 (85)

Overall, the top 10 QBs are pretty spot on. I think Rodgers should be no lower than 90, but what is one point? Jackson is a little high for my liking, but I know the speed rating is causing that to shoot up. Watson being 86 and below Matt Ryan is a goddamn tragedy.

Top 10 RBs (What I would say) 

1. Christian McCaffrey – 99 (99)
2. Derrick Henry – 93 (93)
3. Nick Chubb – 92 (92)
4. Ezekiel Elliot – 92 (96)
5. Saquon Barkley – 91 (95)
6. Dalvin Cook – 91 (92)
7. Aaron Jones – 90 (89)
8. Joe Mixon – 89 (87)
9. Josh Jacob – 88 (88)
10. Alvin Kamara – 88 (90)

The talent pool for RBs in the NFL right now is fantastic. The top 10 on Madden are the same in my Top 10 ahead of 2020, just slightly different in order. I love that they gave mad respect to Chubb. I think he flys under the radar big time. I don’t think any of the RBs are overrated. However, Barkley and Elliott should be much higher. Both should be above 94. Kamara being an 88 is silly despite his down year. His 2019 wasn’t as great as his previous two years. He dipped in receiving by 2.5 yards per catch. But he shat all over the league in terms of attempts per broken tackle. He broke a tackle every 5.9 attempts. The second best was a tie between Damien Williams and Aaron Jones at 7.4. I think people overstate how down his 2019 was.

Top 10 WRs (What I would say)

1. Michael Thomas – 99 (99)
2. Deandre Hopkins – 98 (98)
3. Julio Jones – 97 (97)
4. Tyreek Hill – 96 (95)
5. Davante Adams – 94 (94)
6. Amari Cooper – 93 (90)
7. Stefon Diggs – 92 (88)
8. Mike Evans – 92 (92)
9. Odell Beckham Jr. – 91 (91)
10. Keenan Allen – 91 (92)

When it comes to receivers, speed plays a big role. Cooper and Diggs are rated entire too high because of it. The top 5 is great and par for the course. The receivers beyond that are enough to make you puke at how badly they’re rated. Also, the fact that Diggs is higher than Adam Thielen and 7th in the game is a fucking joke. Diggs is flirting somewhere between 12-15 as far as best receivers go.

Top 10 TEs

1. George Kittle – 98 (98)
2. Travis Kelce – 97 (97)
3. Rob Gronkowski – 95 (90)
4. Zach Ertz – 90 (92)
5. Austin Hooper – 89 (89)
6. Evan Engram – 88 (90)
7. Jared Cook – 87 (87)
8. Mark Andrews – 86 (87)
9. Greg Olsen – 86 (79)
10. Darren Waller – 85 (86)

I love Gronk, but no way he should get the nod of 95 with a year off. In my top 10 TE column, I completely missed Engram (here’s my retraction, that was dumb). Just completely slipped from my mind. My biggest problem with this list is Gronk and Olsen being higher than they deserve because of namesake alone.

Top 10 Pass Rushers (What I would say)

1. Aaron Donald – 99 (99)
2. JJ Watt – 98 (94)
3. Khalil Mack – 97 (96)
4. Von Miller – 97 (92)
5. Fletcher Cox – 96 (96)
6. Cam Jordan – 96 (96)
7. Chandler Jones – 95 (91)
8. Calais Campbell – 95 (91)
9. Myles Garrett – 93 (88)
10. Chris Jones – 92 (92)

Ewww. This list is absolute garbage across the board. First and foremost, there are better ways to get a pulse on great pass rushers than just sacks. It is the equivalent of the “how many rings bruh?” Yes, they are important, but even more important is the number of times a player pressures a QB. Neither Bosa brother, Danielle Hunter, younger Watt, Shaq Barrett, DeMarcus Lawrence or Za’Darius Smith (led league in pressures with 93) are in your top 10, get the fuck out. The league is filled with great pass rushers today because of how important it is to generate pressure so of course people will be left off, but this is ridiculous. JJ and Miller are way too high on the list because of namesake like we have already seen. Literally five of the top 10 best win rates on edge rushers are not on the list. For the love of God, Calais Campbell is a fantastic player all around, but he wasn’t even in the top 5 for interior lineman let alone edge guys. So how the fuck does a guy with 15% win rate on pass rushes make the top 10?

Top 10 Cornerbacks

1. Stephon Gilmore – 99 (98)
2. Jalen Ramsey – 94 (91)
3. Richard Sherman – 92 (92)
4. Jaire Alexander – 90 (88)
5. Tre’Davious White – 90 (98)
6. Marlon Humphrey – 89 (92)
7. Casey Hayward Jr. – 89 (88)
8. Byron Jones – 88 (91)
9. Darius Slay Jr. – 88 (86)
10. Patrick Peterson – 88 (82)

Overall, it is not bad. However, White being a 90 is the biggest tragedy in ratings for Madden 21. They are absolutely brain dead because he is arguably the best corner next to Gilmore. More on that once I do my top 10 players. Sherman got beat more than he normally does last year, but the majority of his plays are kept in front of him. His yards per reception were 1st among corners at 7.5. He is such a great tackler and plays everything in front of him. He may not be Sherman of 3 years ago, but he is still great at what he does.

Lastly, Patrick Peterson top 10, my ass. He has 4 interceptions and 12 pass break ups the last two seasons. He has given up 114 receptions, 1,393 yards and 7 TDs. That is also on 170 targets. Overrated. Always has been, always will be.

Top 10 Safeties

1. Harrison Smith – 95 (95)
2. Tyrann Mathieu – 93 (93)
3. Jamal Adams – 92 (93)
4. Devin McCourty – 92 (92)
5. Kevin Byard – 91 (91)
6. Justin Simmons – 90 (90)
7. Derwin James Jr. – 89 (92)
8. Eddie Jackson – 89 (89)
9. Micah Hyde – 88 (88)
10. Earl Thomas – 88 (88)

Although I overwhelmingly agree with the ratings by in large except James, there is a clear name missing. Minkah Fitzpatrick. Overall, I agree with the safeties more than most other positions. Once again, we have another player who is probably getting more respect than he deserves at this point in Earl Thomas.