Tag: Madden NFL 21

5 Eagles who could be featured as ‘Madden NFL’ cover athletes in the future

5 Philadelphia Eagles who could be future ‘Madden NFL’ cover guys

The ‘Madden NFL’ reveal is a huge deal each summer and after EA announced Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes as their latest athletes, we felt it was a good time to analyze five current Eagles who could one day grace the cover of the legendary video game.

The Steelers aren’t doing anything to clear up Ben Roethlisberger’s murky future with the team

Sounds like the Steelers will be moving on.

As things stand right now, Ben Roethlisberger is still a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The question is whether he’ll still be there once the season finally rolls around this fall. The Steelers could potentially move on from Roethlisberger this offseason, who has been their quarterback for 17 seasons.

Will they keep him? We don’t really know. But Steelers GM Kevin Colbert isn’t making any assurances at this point.

On Wednesday when speaking to the media, he was given every opportunity to say that the Steelers were committed to bringing Roethlisberger back for next season.

He didn’t say that at all. Instead, he just let everyone know that Ben was still a Steeler as of now.

He said that the veteran quarterback says he still wants to play, but the team only told him that they’d have to look at the situation at hand.

With his $41.2 million cap hit for next year — compared to a dead cap hit of just $22 million if he’s cut — it doesn’t sound like Roethlisberger’s chances of returning are great at this point. He’d most certainly have to restructure his deal to spread the hit over multiple years if he does convince the Steelers to keep him around.

The Steelers will most likely try to get this resolved before the new league year — and free agency — begins on March 17.

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Travis Kelce: ‘Everybody will soon know, always pick the Chiefs in Madden’

Kansas City Chiefs TE Travis Kelce shares his thoughts on joining the ’99 Club’ in Madden.

The milestones and accomplishments so far this season for Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce have made him even more popular around the league. The big numbers per game have caught the eye of NFL video game giant EA Sports as they’ve updated “Madden NFL 21’s” ratings giving Kelce a perfect 99 overall rating.

Fellow 99 rating member Patrick Mahomes proudly announced the recent upgrade on social media earlier in the week. Kelce addressed the latest honor during Friday’s press conference giving plenty of reflection on his experience playing as himself in Madden throughout the years.

“It’s cool man. I remember, heck even a couple of years ago I was still creating a player and making all of his ratings 99 or at least making him a 99 overall,” said Kelce. “I mean it’s the peak of that video game and that video game was everything for me when I was a kid. Getting it on Christmas back in the day was life in itself, and to see myself go from like a 73 or whatever my rookie year to a 99 over the course of seven, eight years it’s pretty cool to see the development, so just shoutout to Madden and don’t forget to update your rosters, everybody.”

Kelce becomes the second Chiefs player to receive Madden’s top rating, along with Mahomes. Just behind them, hovering at 98 overall is WR Tyreek Hill. Kelce doesn’t think it’ll be very long before Hill joins the exclusive club.

“I give it an extra week, man,” Kelce said. “I still don’t understand how he’s not 99, how his speed isn’t 99. Nobody’s caught him yet. It’s just a matter of time man. It’s a matter of time and then there will be three 99 on one team and everybody will soon know, always pick the Chiefs in Madden.”

Hill also gave his unique take on being teammates with two of the top-rated players in Madden.

“The first thing I was thinking was I’m going to have to deal with two 99’s instead of just one now,” Hill said. “Because believe it or not, my brother, he plays with the Chiefs and I try to use a trash team on Madden. I’m not going to say a name. But just having two 99’s on this team is amazing but just as far as gameplay it sucks man because obviously, Pat (Patrick Mahomes) is amazing and then you add Kelce in the mix, it’s just unstoppable so it’s crazy. I’m very excited for him.”

It’s an exciting time on and off the field for Chiefs stars as they also seek the top seed in the AFC during the final quarter of the season. Hill could certainly be joining his teammates in the 99 Club soon as Kansas City’s finest head to Miami to face the Dolphins on Sunday.

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Yahoo’s ‘Madden NFL 21’ simulation says Jags traded away Super Bowl LV’s MVP

Yahoo Sport’s Madden simulation for the NFL’s upcoming season had some interesting things happen, including a former Jags being successful.

The Jacksonville Jaguars had a busy offseason in 2020 and a lot of the transactions made were to reallocate money as they entered the season with a questionable cap situation. On defense, that included the trades of A.J. Bouye and Calais Campbell, two players who were Pro Bowlers at least once with the team.

On offense, the Jags were able to put Nick Foles’ contract off on the Chicago Bears at the cost of taking a massive $18.7 million cap hit on the season, of course. This was doable because of the 2019 performance and extremely inexpensive contract Gardner Minshew II provided the team with, leaving them eager to see what they had in the sixth-round pick.

While in the real world the Jags got future cap relief from the decision to trade Foles, in the virtual world of ‘Madden NFL 21’ they may have made another mistake — at least according to Yahoo Sports. In their annual NFL season simulation, the Chicago Bears ended up winning Super Bowl LV and the MVP of the games was, you guessed it — Foles.

Here is what writer Anthony Sulla-Heffinger had to say about Foles in his 20 takeaways for the 2020 season simulation.

16. Nick Foles(yes, Nick Foles)wins NFL MVP. If you’ve made it this far, congrats, because you’re about to enter the “Madden” Twilight Zone. Foles finished with a league-best 4,801 yards, 44 TDs, 5 interceptions and 70 percent completion rate. If this was “Madden 2014,” I might buy this since Foles was coming off his 27-touchdown breakout with the Eagles. In 2020, I’d be hard pressed to find something less likely to happen.

In addition to Foles’ solid year and showing in the Super Bowl, the Bears also registered a 14-2 season before heading to the playoffs and beating the Kansas City Chiefs for the Lombardi Trophy by a score of 42-24.

17. Oh wait, I spoke too soon! The Bears had the league’s best record, finishing 14-2 before eventually advancing to Super Bowl LV against Kansas City.

18. Which of course … They won. The Chicago Bears won Super Bowl LV 42-24, with Nick Foles throwing for six touchdown passes and tying Steve Young’s record from Super Bowl XXIX.

Simply put, this could be a long shot in reality, but if it happens, it feels like the Bears elite defense would have to pull the weight. Basically, this would point to the Bears being a similar team to the 2017 Jags where the defense was a very good unit, but the quarterback play was sporadic.

Get an early look at how Chase Young, Jeff Okudah, and J.K. Dobbins appear in Madden NFL 21

EA Sports released some early looks at what former Ohio State players Chase Young, Jeff Okudah, and J.K. Dobbins look in Madden NFL 21.

We continue the count down to the release of EA Sports’ Madden NFL 21. We’ve already gotten the information on what all the players’ ratings will be, and that got us interested in how all the former Ohio State players stacked up.

We also did the homework for you and put together a former Buckeye only Madden NFL 21 team if that suits your fancy as well. Go ahead and dominate someone from Ann Arbor with that squad and you’ll fit right into the football universe.

In addition to that though, EA Sports has also provided a glimpse into what three of the OSU rookies will look like in the game. Ohio State football got its hands on the sneak peek provided by the EA Sports Twitter profile and shared it through its official Twitter social media feed. We’re simply regurgitating it for you.

Click on the below and see how former Buckeyes Chase Young (the artist formerly known as the Washington Redskins), Jeff Okudah (Detroit Lions), and J.K. Dobbins (Baltimore Ravens) all look in all their virtual glory.

Those are pretty spot on and much better than when I used to play Tecmo Bowl and run all over opposing defenses on the Sega Genesis. In those days, you had to squint to even recognize the pixelated team logos.

 

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First look at top rookies in ‘Madden NFL 21’

See some of the first images of this year’s top rookies in EA Sports’ “Madden NFL 21” video game

If you just can’t wait to get your hands on the next “Madden NFL” video game from EA Sports, maybe a first look at some of this year’s top rookies will suffice for now.

This year’s version of the virtual football experience recently revealed some of the facial renderings for the biggest names from the 2020 NFL Draft class, and they did not disappoint:

This year’s game is set to release on August 25th, when fans will finally get the chance to use their favorite prospects from the rookie class without having to use the create-a-player feature.

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Look: Joe Burrow’s face gets officially put into upcoming Madden game

Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow is officially in the next Madden.

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Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s face is officially in the upcoming “Madden NFL 21” from EA Sports.

Burrow, who recently worked out in Cincinnati with Bengals like Sam Hubbard, sat down and had his face scanned into the upcoming game alongside other notables from the incoming rookie class.

The No. 1 pick is the highest-rated passer of any rookie this year in the upcoming game at a 76. He’s got some interesting ratings in areas like accuracy and throw power that could make him and the Bengals quite the interesting force in the upcoming game. Keep in mind some of this has to do with the strong rating for Tee Higgins, too.

The team behind Madden recently released some brief clips of Burrow’s transformation to the virtual world.

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NFL.com considers Texans QB Deshaun Watson has the worst Madden NFL 21 rating by far

NFL.com commentator Adam Rank believes Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson was jobbed with his overall rating in Madden NFL 21.

EA Sports must have goofed with their overall ratings for Deshaun Watson if Adam Rank is taking them to task.

The NFL.com commentator put the Houston Texans quarterback at the top of his list of “most egregiously off-base” ratings in Madden NFL 21.

I wrote in my look at the Texans in our State of the Franchise series that I feel for Watson, because he was as much of a mobile-aerial ground-breaker as the other young QBs dominating the game today, but he seems to have been surpassed in reputation by Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson — and now it’s happened in Madden, too. Of course, it’s not much of a leap to give higher ratings to Mahomes (99) and Jackson (94), given both have MVP awards to their names. But I’m still trying to figure out how older quarterbacks like Drew Brees (93), Tom Brady (90) and Matt Ryan (87) carry higher overall ratings in 2020 than the 24-year-old Watson. Is this some sort of lifetime achievement award? Like when Alan Arkin won an Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine?

Watson found the overall rating EA Sports provided to be humorous.

Second-year offensive coordinator Tim Kelly says that Watson always needs to improve, and that consistency is always the focus. However, the two-time Pro Bowler plays at such a high level already.

“He’s set the bar so high, so it’s really a challenge for him to be able to play at that level every time he steps on the field,” Kelly told reporters on May 20.

Another factor that goes into high Madden ratings is being associated with winning. Mahomes has appeared in the past two AFC Championship games at a minimum while Jackson was on the No. 1 seed in the AFC. Brees, Brady, and Ryan are elevated due to their victorious reputations. All it will take for Watson to crack the 90’s is being a part of a deep playoff run or having a dominant regular season.

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Adam Ranks calls Gronk’s Madden rating ‘egregiously off-base’

See why NFL.com’s Adam Rank believes the Madden people got it wrong with Rob Gronkowski’s player rating in ‘Madden NFL 21.’

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ acquisition of tight end Rob Gronkowski this offseason reunites Tom Brady with his favorite target of all time.

Brady, the six-time Super Bowl champion who signed with the Bucs this offseason after 20 years with the Patriots, struggled mightily without Gronk last year. The return of one of the game’s greatest tight ends should have Brady’s numbers on the up-and-up in 2020.

But Gronk’s return to the NFL isn’t without its share of controversy — Madden controversy that is.

Last week, the player ratings for Madden NFL 21 were released ahead of the game’s release next month, and Gronk’s player rating of 95 raised more than a few eyebrows. Even his own teammates couldn’t believe it! Adam Rank over at NFL.com had Gronk at No. 2 on his list of the ten most egregiously off-base player ratings in Madden NFL 21.

Per Rank:

“Like I said, this list includes the good. And the bad. I’m a huge fan of Gronk, who is probably the greatest tight end in NFL history. (If you want to say Tony Gonzalez actually holds that title, that’s fine. But it’s also not the point.) The thing is, Gronk, who came out of retirement to join Tom Brady on the Bucs, did not play NFL football last year. And yet, he has a higher Madden rating than reigning MVP Lamar Jackson (94). I might have R-Truth, the man who beat Gronk for the WWE 24/7 title, rated higher than Gronk at this point. And this is downright disrespectful to Eagles tight end Zach Ertz, who is rated a 90.”

As much as I love Gronk, there is no way he deserves to be a 95, at least not right now. Even a 90 rating would’ve been a stretch. 88 feels like the right number for a guy who’s been away from the game for a year.

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It appears Antoine Winfield Jr. is happy with his Madden rating

Buccaneers rookie safety Antoine Winfield Jr. posted an image on Instagram that seems to indicate he’s pleased with his Madden rating.

The Buccaneers kick off training camp next week, but today, rookies and quarterbacks were due to report, and that included the new man under center, Tom Brady, who was seen entering the team’s training facility.

As for the rookies who will be in attendance at camp, the Buccaneers will have all of their selections from the 2020 draft present, having reached agreements with each player, including first-round pick Tristan Wirfs.

One rookie many people are anxious to see in action is safety Antoine Winfield Jr., the former Minnesota star who was taken by Tampa Bay with the 45th overall pick in round two of the draft.

Winfield, the son of former NFL Pro Bowl cornerback Antoine Winfield Sr., seems like the perfect player to plug into Todd Bowles’ defense, and hopefully, the Golden Gopher can bring some much-needed toughness to the pass defense.

Winfield seems poised for a big season, with Marc Sessler of NFL.com even predicting the rookie will have a Pro Bowl season. And the people over at Madden NFL 21 gave Winfield an overall rating of 75, the highest among Bucs rookies.

It seems the Bucs’ new safety was pleased with that rating, as Winfield posted the below image on his Instagram story a short while ago.

Take a look.

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