Tag: Madden NFL 24

Cooper Kupp has 96 overall rating in ‘Madden NFL 24’, tied for 4th among WRs

Cooper Kupp is tied for the 4th-highest rating of any WR in Madden 24, checking in at 96 overall.

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Each year, EA Sports releases its overall ratings for players in Madden before the game releases, which then become popular talking points on social media. With “Madden NFL 24” right around the corner, EA Sports gave Los Angeles Rams wideout Cooper Kupp a 96 overall rating in this year’s game after he was a 98 overall last year.

Kupp is tied with Stefon Diggs for the fourth-highest overall rating in the game among wide receivers. The three wideouts ahead of Kupp are Justin Jefferson, Tyreek Hill, and Davante Adams.

 

After leading the NFL in receptions (145), receiving yards (1,947), and receiving touchdowns (16) in 2021, Kupp was the second-highest overall receiver in last year’s game at 98 overall. But after missing eight games in 2022, the All-Pro wideout has seen his overall rating drop by two.

Even at 30 years old, Kupp is still one of the premier pass catchers in the NFL and he’ll continue to see a high volume of targets in 2023 with Matthew Stafford back on the field. While some fans may believe his overall rating should be higher, EA Sports realizes that Kupp is in the upper echelon of wide receivers entering the 2023 season.

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Titans’ Kevin Byard among highest-rated safeties in ‘Madden NFL 24’

Titans’ Kevin Byard is among the highest-rated safeties in “Madden NFL 24”.

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With the wildly-popular “Madden NFL 24” video game set to come out next month, EA Sports has begun revealing player ratings, starting with safeties on Monday — and Tennessee Titans safety Kevin Byard did quite well.

According to the game’s social media, Byard was given a 92 overall, tied for the third-highest rating at the position going into the 2023 season. The Mayor of Murfreesboro was tied with Denver Broncos safety, Justin Simmons.

The only safeties who pulled off a higher rating were the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Minkah Fitzpatrick (93) and the San Diego Chargers’ Derwin James (95).

Of course, we’d always prefer No. 1 for Byard, but it’s hard to complain too much with how often the veteran safety is overlooked.

Byard lands higher on this list than he did in a recent survey from ESPN that ranked the top-10 safeties based on the opinions of coaches, executives and scouts. The 29-year-old landed at No. 7 on that list, four spots lower than 2022.

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This rendering of Packers CB Jaire Alexander from ‘Madden NFL 24’ is hilariously bad

Virtual Jaire Alexander looks nothing like real Jaire Alexander. Come on, Madden. If it’s in the game, put it in the game.

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Want to see a lazy, hilariously bad rendering of a star player from the world’s No. 1 video game producer of football simulations? Well, “Madden NFL 24” has just the thing for you!

The video game giant released a trailer for this year’s edition of “Madden” on Wednesday, and the Packers’ official Twitter account tweeted out this endorsement of the game featuring a virtual Jaire Alexander:

Casual football fans might not even recognize the player here as Jaire Alexander. Packers fans will see countless details rendered wrongly or poorly.

A visual aid might help first. Let’s show a side-by-side of virtual Jaire and real Jaire:

For starters, the numbers on the front of the uniform and top of the shoulder pads are the wrong size. And the difference isn’t a small one; Madden’s rendering of the Packers uniform looks almost comically inaccurate. Also, the stripes on the sleeves aren’t correct. The real stripes are angled into the front of the uniform. This isn’t a new thing, either. The look of the uniforms across the game have been wrong for years. It’s 2023; the small details matter! Getting uniforms correct should be a reasonable expectation of a massive video game with full NFL liscensing.

Ok, so the overall Packers uniform isn’t right. Now, let’s focus on Jaire.

Here’s a photo from the All-Pro cornerback playing in a game at Lambeau Field last season:

Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

What do we see as distinguising features? Long gold undersleeves. White gloves. Gold shoes. Nearly all-white socks. Mouthguard.

Virtual Jaire gets it all wrong. Long green undersleeves. Black gloves. Black shoes. Mostly all-green socks. No mouthguard.

Again, it’s the little things. EA Sports is selling a football simulation video game. The game’s tagline was once, “If it’s in the game, it’s in the game.” So why can’t “Madden” get even the simpliest details right about a player they are featuring in the trailer of the new game?

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It’s funny, you look at Lambeau Field in the background of virtual Jaire and it looks gorgeous. Little details like the railings are correct. Even the crowd looks great. But the player? I’m not sure even Jaire Alexander would recognize his virtual self in the promo.

For hardcore “Madden” fans, these visual issues aren’t a dealbreaker. They just want to play simulated football. But we should hold EA Sports to a higher standard of development and performance, and it’s not unreasonable to want these long-running (and mostly simple!) problems to get fixed, once and for all.

National reaction to Bills’ QB Josh Allen landing Madden NFL 24 cover over Jalen Hurts

The national media and Twitter reacts to Bills quarterback Josh Allen landing the Madden NFL 24 cover over Jalen Hurts and other finalist

If you believe in the Madden Curse being a real thing, then Josh Allen landing the cover of ‘Madden 24’ isn’t the worst thing to happen.

EA Sports announced that they have their cover athlete for Madden 24 and it is Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. Allen posted the pics below on his social media showing his gratitude for making a childhood dream come true.

Here is the full list of Madden cover athletes:

2000 John Madden
2001 Eddie George
2002 Daunte Culpepper
2003 Marshall Faulk
2004 Michael Vick
2005 Ray Lewis
2006 Donovan McNabb
2007 Shaun Alexander
2008 Vince Young
2009 Brett Favre
2010 Troy Polamalu and Larry Fitzgerald
2011 Drew Brees
2012 Peyton Hillis
2013 Calvin Johnson
2014 Barry Sanders
2014* Adrian Peterson
2015 Richard Sherman
2016 Odell Beckham Jr.
2017 Rob Gronkowski
2018 Tom Brady
2019 Antonio Brown
2020 Patrick Mahomes
2021 Lamar Jackson
2022 Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady
2023 John Madden
2024 Josh Allen

Hurts was a finalist for the honor along with Joe Burrow, Justin Jefferson and others.