Tag: Madden 21

J.K. Dobbins highest-rated rookie RB in ‘Madden 21’

Despite being the fifth RB off the board in the 2020 NFL Draft, Baltimore Ravens RB J.K. Dobbins earned the highest “Madden 21” rating

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When the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft wrapped up, everyone said the Baltimore Ravens found a steal with the selection of running back J.K. Dobbins. EA Sports recently released their “Madden 21” ratings for the rookie running backs and proved that theory correct once again, making Dobbins the highest-rated running back taken in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Dobbins earned a 75 overall grade, which tops all rookie running backs, including the four selected before the Ravens grabbed Dobbins. Here are the “Madden 21” ratings for the first five running backs taken in the 2020 NFL Draft:

  • Baltimore Ravens (No. 55) – J.K. Dobbins: 75 overall
  • Kansas City Chiefs (No. 32) – Clyde Edwards-Helaire: 74 overall
  • Detroit Lions (No. 35) – D’Andre Swift: 74 overall
  • Indianapolis Colts (No. 41) – Jonathan Taylor: 73 overall
  • Los Angeles Rams (No. 52) – Cam Akers: 73 overall

EA Sports has slowly been trickling out their player ratings for “Madden 21” before the game’s release date of Aug. 25. While they snubbed quarterback Lamar Jackson, who is this year’s cover athlete for the video game franchise, it’s nice to see them give some love to Dobbins.

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Many draft experts considered Dobbins to be one of the best running backs in this year’s class, earning him a first-round grade by several pundits. The fact the Ravens were not only had him available deep in the second round but after several other running backs were selected ahead of him helps reinforce the idea that Baltimore is one of the best drafting teams in the league.

In the aftermath of the draft, general manager Eric DeCosta noted the team had more pressing needs at other positions but simply couldn’t pass up the value Dobbins represented in the second round, taking him even though they had three other solid running backs on the roster already.

“This was a guy that’s, in my opinion, one of the best in college football this year,” DeCosta said following the second day of the 2020 NFL Draft. “We thought he was going to be a first-round pick.”

Though Dobbins might not get the starting nod immediately thanks to Mark Ingram, Gus Edwards, and Justice Hill already being on the roster, he looks to be the future of the franchise at running back. With the highest initial grade of the rookie running backs in “Madden 21,” Baltimore was proved to be right to take Dobbins. Hopefully next year we see Dobbins’  “Madden 21” rating skyrocket as the Ravens’ offense becomes unstoppable.

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Where Bills’ Zack Moss lands in Madden 21’s ruffled rookie RB ratings

Buffalo Bills rookie running back Zack Moss in Madden 21’s ratings of rookie running backs.

Continuing our offseason slate of player ratings in the latest version of the Madden NFL football video game franchise, Madden 21, we have a new official slate of players and their results posted.

We did have a bunch of rumored ones released on Monday via Madden School, but now rookie running backs were officially released by the creators of the game, EA Sports, via ESPN. In this group is perhaps the Bills’ most highly-anticipated rookie: Zack Moss.

Moss is one of a few rookie rushers that play a part in the jumbled ratings of rookie rushers. Moss, at 70 overall, is the seventh-highest rated rookie running back. Overall at the actual 2020 Draft, he was the eighth taken, so a slight jump. The player he jumped was Bucs running back Ke’Shaqn Vaugh, who was selected 10 picks before him. In addition, Moss also ranks higher than the Raiders’ Lynn Bowden and Washington’s Antonio Gibson. Those two are not pure running backs, but flex RB/ WRs, and taken before him. Still, Moss is held in higher regard, ever so slightly.

But jumbled or ruffled is really the only way to describe the ratings for rookie running backs. Of all rookie rushers, only one was a first-round pick, the Chiefs’ Clyde Edwards-Helaire. He clocked in at a 74 overall Madden rating, the second best. Who was the No.1? Bit of a surprise, the Ravens’ JK Dobbins, at 75 overall. He wasn’t the second running back drafted either. Rather, he was the fifth. So a bit of a surprise there.

There’s a few twists and in Madden’s top running back ratings, so we’ll graph it out here:

Madden rating Name Team Drafted RB order Round/ pick
75 JK Dobbins Ravens 5th RD 2/ No. 55
74 Clyde Edwards-Helaire Chiefs 1st RD 1/ No. 32
74 D’Andre Swift Lions 2nd RD 2/ No. 35
73 Cam Akers Rams 4th RD 2/ No. 52
73 Jonathan Taylor Colts 3rd RD 2/ No. 41
72 AJ Dillion Packers 6th RD 2/ No. 62
70 Zack Moss Bills 10th RD 3/ No. 86
69 Antonio Gibson Washington 7th RD 3/ No. 66
69 Darrynton Evans Titans 11th RD 3/ No. 93
69 Ke’Shawn Vaugh Bucs 8th RD 3/ No. 76
69 Lynn Bowden Jr. Raiders 9th RD 3/ No. 80

 

Rounding it out, here’s Moss and his card in Madden with some of his individual ratings in the game. In addition, check out the links below for our previously reported on Madden 21 ratings and rumors:

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Ravens QB Lamar Jackson snubbed from 99 club on ‘Madden 21’ player ratings

Despite being the cover athlete for the game this year, Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson was snubbed in his “Madden 21” player ratings

If you pick up the only new NFL video game, “Madden 21”, when it hits store shelves, you’ll catch Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson on the cover in all his glory. Yet, despite being the video game franchise’s latest cover athlete and winning the NFL’s MVP award last season, Jackson didn’t earn the elusive 99 player rating. In fact, Jackson isn’t even the top quarterback in the game.

EA Sports released some of their player ratings, including the top 10 quarterbacks. While Jackson is featured high on the list, he comes in third behind Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson with a pretty disappointing 94 overall rating.

While Jackson is the fastest and most agile quarterback in the game, he falls short in just about every other category, including some that he’d seemingly top the league in.

Below are the most important ratings for quarterbacks and where Jackson finds himself among his position group:

  • 95 awareness (fifth-highest among quarterbacks)
  • 92 throw power (tied for fourth)
  • 92 stamina (seventh)
  • 91 throw-under-pressure (fourth)
  • 92 short-throw-accuracy (sixth)
  • 83 medium-throw-accuracy (11th)
  • 86 deep-throw-accuracy (tied for seventh)
  • 89 play-action (tied for seventh)
  • 95 throw-on-the-run (third)

While it’s hard to hate on any of the individual rankings or even where Jackson is placed in his position group, it bucks the usual trend in “Madden” video games. Typically the cover athletes have gotten a little boost in all their ratings to help make them one of the best players in the game. Like Jackson, most cover athletes are fresh off an especially impressive season where they put themselves at the top of the sport. Yet, unlike previous years, Jackson finds himself surprisingly shortchanged in the ratings. It’s something a few of Jackson’s teammates called out on Twitter.

If Jackson can start off the 2020 regular season the same way he did last year, I’d expect those ratings to get a pretty big bump.

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Check out Rams rookie Cam Akers’ ratings in ‘Madden NFL 21’

Cam Akers is the fourth-best rookie RB in the game.

Cam Akers was the Rams’ top draft pick this year, being selected at No. 52 overall. The former Florida State running back was one the few players Los Angeles really coveted with its first pick in the draft, according to GM Les Snead, so he figures to be a key player in 2020.

Rams fans who play “Madden” will be using him a lot in this year’s game, too, though he won’t be as good as Todd Gurley was last year out of the gate. EA Sports continues to release player ratings in “Madden NFL 21” and the latest group to be revealed was the rookie running backs.

Akers is a 73 overall, which is fourth-best among all rookie running backs. J.K. Dobbins of the Ravens is a 75 overall, followed by Clyde Edwards-Helaire and D’Andre Swift at 74 overall.

Here’s a look at some of Akers’ key ratings in the game, led by an impressive 90 speed and the best acceleration rating at the position (94). It’s also worth noting that he has a 56 throw power rating and accuracy ratings that range from 47-51, which are among the highest for all rookie running backs.

As a former high school quarterback, Akers’ throwing ability could be used on trick plays this year – both for the Rams and in the video game.

Akers was a highly productive running back at Florida State, rushing for at least 1,000 yards in two of his three seasons despite playing behind a terrible offensive line. He scored 27 touchdowns on the ground and averaged 4.9 yards per carry in his career, proving to be the only consistent player on FSU’s offense.

While he should get plenty of opportunities, he’ll still have to beat out Darrell Henderson and Malcolm Brown for snaps in the backfield. Having no on-field work yet to date won’t help, but Akers should be in the mix early for the Rams.

Rumored top-12 players on Bills in Madden 21, plus Josh Allen

Some rumored Madden 21 ratings for Buffalo Bills players and quarterback Josh Allen.

For the gaming faction of Bills Mafia, this is a big week. Regardless, it’s an interesting one to monitor as well.

EA Sports, who produces the Madden NFL football gaming franchise over the past many years, is teaming up with ESPN to release player rankings this week for the latest installment of the game, Madden 21. The operation actually started late last week when rookie wide receivers such as Gabriel Davis and Isaiah Hodgins, and rookie QBs including Jake Fromm, saw their player ratings released. Davis leads that crew at a 69 overall.

On Monday, the top-10 overall ratings for quarterbacks was released, and Bills QB Josh Allen is not in that. But we did officially see he has the strongest arm in the game.

Adding to all of those now? Some rumors.

Madden School, an outlet covering the Madden franchise since 2008, has reported on some player ratings for each team. First and foremost is the top-10 players for each team in the NFL.

For the Bills, here’s their 10 best:

Stefon Diggs – 92
Tre’Davious White – 89
Micah Hyde – 88
Jordan Poyer – 85
Cole Beasley – 83
Jerry Hughes – 82
Devin Singletary – 82
Mitch Morse – 82
John Brown – 82
Ed Oliver – 81

In addition to releasing each team’s top-10, Madden School has replied to fans on social media via Twitter, giving a few lucky ones some additional ratings. Among those are a few Bills players.

Tremaine Edmunds appears to have just missed this top-10 list with an 80 overall mark. Just behind him, perhaps the 12th best player on the Bills, is fellow linebacker Matt Milano.

And of course the most anticipated release? Buffalo’s quarterback. Allen is rumored to be checking in at 77 overall in Madden 21. If these rumors are to be true, there’s one more worth noting that was put out there by Madden School: the Patriots’ Cam Newton. He’s at 78 overall, perhaps just edging out Allen.

As mentioned, EA Sports and ESPN will eventually made all of these players rating official by Friday.

 

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Bills’ Josh Allen has the strongest (Madden 21) arm in NFL

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and his throwing power in Madden 21.

It’s rating release week for Madden 21, and we’re getting a bunch of hints tossed our way about player ratings in the upcoming video game.

EA Sports has teamed up ESPN this week, going day-by-day releasing some overall player ratings. We currently know at least one about Bills quarterback Josh Allen, his throwing power.

Allen edges out Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes for the strongest throws in the upcoming NFL football game:

Unfortunately, Mahomes has Allen beat pretty mightily overall. At the time of this write up, the top-10 QB ratings were released by EA Sports. Mahomes is the lone 99 overall, even though his arm power is a 97/100 rating.

The top-10 QB overall ratings are rounded out by Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz, who’s at an 84 overall. In Madden 20, Allen was initially rated a 74 overall. So Allen will be an 83 or lower.

Micah Hyde was the Bills’ highest-rated player at an 86 overall in last year’s game. So far we know the full ratings of a few of the Bills rookies and that’s it. Those are the wide receivers and quarterback ratings and fourth-round rookie Gabriel Davis leads that crew at a 69 overall.

 

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Packers QB Aaron Rodgers will be rated under 90 overall in Madden 21

For the first time in a long time, Aaron Rodgers won’t be rated 90 overall or higher in the new Madden video game.

Gone are the days when Aaron Rodgers is universally considered one of the NFL’s greatest players.

The rating adjusters at “Madden NFL 21” still see Rodgers as one of the top quarterbacks, but his overall rating – once 99 just two years ago – will fall below 90 in the new video game.

Rodgers is rated 89 overall in “Madden 21,” one rating point lower than last season and now ranking sixth among quarterbacks.

The five quarterbacks rated higher than Rodgers: Patrick Mahomes (99 overall), Russell Wilson (97), Lamar Jackson (97) and Tom Brady (90). Rodgers is still one of only eight quarterbacks with an overall rating of 85 or higher.

A two-time MVP, Rodgers was one of only a few to be rated 99 overall in “Madden NFL 19.” Just two years later, he’s dropped 10 rating points. Last year, Rodgers was 90 overall in the game.

Over the last two seasons, Rodgers ranks sixth among NFL quarterbacks in passing yards, 12th in touchdown passes, 22nd in yards per attempt, 31st in completion percentage and 14th in passer rating (min. 250 attempts).

Broncos RB Melvin Gordon not happy with his ‘Madden 21’ rating

Broncos running back Melvin Gordon is not pleased with rating in ‘Madden NFL 21.’

EA Sports is rolling out ratings for Madden NFL 21 this week.

After announcing the top 10-rated quarterbacks on Monday, Madden will probably be announcing the top 10-rated running backs on Tuesday. It appears that Broncos running back Melvin Gordon got an early look at the rankings.

“Not top ten hahah,” Gordon tweeted last Thursday. “At this rate madden gon rate me a 79 with no X factor !!! …. we need a season so I can boss up … NO 🧢.” 

In last year’s Madden, Gordon was rated 92 overall, making him the fourth-best running back in the game. Gordon apparently took a tumble in this year’s rankings, perhaps a bit deservingly.

Gordon sat out the start of last season and ended up playing in 12 games. After averaging 5.1 yards per carry in 2018, his average dropped to 3.8 last season. That kind of production drop makes his slip in Madden understandable.

The ratings for Broncos rookie wide receivers Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler have already been revealed. Full ratings will arrive later this week.

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Chase Young hints at Madden 21 rating being highest of entire rookie class

The Madden ratings have not dropped for everyone yet, but Chase Young shared a spoiler to his IG story that suggests he’s an 80 overall.

The hits keep coming for Washington’s rookie DE Chase Young.

Though many of the EA Madden 21 ratings have not yet been released, a select few have been dropped here and there, and the latest leak over the weekend announced that Young was rated as an 80 overall, the highest of the entire rookie class.

That may not seem like much of a rating, but when you consider the lack of groundwork that he has to go off of, it’s a solid place to start from.

On top of the leak, Young shared the post to his IG story on Saturday, seemingly confirming it. We will find out for sure what his overall ratings, as well as specific numbers like speed at tackling, in the coming days.

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‘Madden’ reveals ratings for Broncos WRs Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler

See where Broncos wide receivers Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler rank among the rookie WRs in Madden 21.

EA Sports announced the ratings for the top rookie wide receivers in Madden NFL 21 on Friday. Denver Broncos first-round pick Jerry Jeudy is rated 75 overall, making him the second-best rookie WR in the video game.

Las Vegas Raiders speedster Henry Ruggs (76) is the highest-rated rookie WR, followed by Jeudy (75) and Dallas Cowboys rookie CeeDee Lamb (75). Here’s a look at the top five rookie WRs in the game, courtesy of EA Sports:

(EA Sports)

KJ Hamler, the Broncos’ second-round draft pick, is rated 70 overall. Hamler has an impressive speed rating of 94, making him the second-fastest rookie wide receiver in the game. Hamler also has high acceleration (95) and agility (93) ratings.

Madden NFL 21 will be released for Xbox and PlayStation consoles on Tuesday, Aug. 25. Complete ratings will be revealed next week.

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