There is a great deal to look forward to in this year’s installment of the Madden football series of games. Since the game came out there have never really been any garbage years for the game. The biggest name in football games has never really screwed up football, thankfully. With that said there have most definitely been some years that have been better than others.
Based on what information we have now, Madden 18 looks like it will bring some welcome improvements to a series that has been somewhat stagnant for a few years now. Let’s be honest, EA knows the principle of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and they have lived by it for a while, though it finally seems like they are at least shaking things up.
While the Frostbite engine likely won’t make the game nearly as crisp as watching on a Sunday afternoon, it will more than likely offer noticeably sharper gameplay and some visual improvements. The new story mode sounds like it could be very cool and will include a player’s high school and college career, described as a playable movie. More multiplayer and online play modes sound like they’ll add to the experience. It doesn’t sound like they’ve done a lot to the franchise mode, but from the sounds of it, there have been some long-awaited modifications to the coaching mechanics in the game.
As with any sports game though, there is always some disagreement with regard to the ratings of individual athletes. We’ll admit two things: firstly, EA is generally pretty good at ratings overall. Second, coming up with ratings for players whose stats and performance change on a yearly basis is difficult. A six time All-Pro might have an off year or sustain an injury, so the question becomes: whether to rate based on career or based on last season. While it is a tough job, there are some ratings for 2018 that are a bit ridiculous. Here are our top fifteen.
15 Demaryius Thomas - 87
While it isn’t quite as violently disrespectful as some of the ratings we’ll see here, Demaryius Thomas is more than an 87. The Broncos’ 2010 first rounder hasn’t missed the Pro Bowl in five seasons and in that same amount of time, as is to be expected, has not dipped below 90 catches per year or less than 1,000 receiving yards. Here is the problem, his 2016 season saw his lowest number since 2011; 1,083 yards and 90 catches. But keep in mind, this is far less his issue and has more to do with team issues than any problem he had. They were consistently unable to establish a running game, and with a shaky, rookie quarterback in Trevor Siemian, it is impressive that Thomas even achieved what he did. He’s turning thirty this year, but dropping him down to 87 at this point is premature. He’s a low to mid 90s wide receiver.
14 Eli Manning - 80
We aren’t going to pretend that the two-time Super Bowl winning younger Manning brother belongs in the 90s, but mid 80s is called for in this case. 80 is an insult. Manning was not the strongest quarterback in the league last year, and his stats certainly showed it. But with that said, he racked up over 4,000 yards along with 26 touchdowns through the air. A wildly ineffective Victor Cruz returned to action, but did next to nothing. Odell Beckham Jr. looked great once again, but unfortunately with no legitimate options for a top running back and Will Tye as what can loosely be called a first string tight end, Eli isn’t entirely to blame for his subpar 2016 year. This is an example of a low rating based on a single rough year that was out of the player’s control.
13 Antoine Bethea - 75
Now 33 years old, Antoine Bethea is most definitely on his way out, but a 75 is a bit of a stretch. He was one of the only remotely okay parts of an atrocious San Francisco 49ers team in 2016. Given the state of that team’s roster, that 2-14 record is on all of them, but nobody with half a brain in their head was expecting anything impressive from that team in 2016. Bethea didn’t put up superstar numbers last year, but 110 overall tackles, 3 passes defended (a little low), a lone pick and a couple of forced fumbles are not the work of a 75 overall safety. Obviously his glory years are over, but dropping him down to 75 isn’t accurate. Now with the Arizona Cardinals, it will be interesting to see how he functions in a far superior defense, one that gave up the second lowest number of overall yards last year.
12 Brandon Graham - 95
Most of the entries on this list will detail players who are underrated by the game, but this is a case of a player who has been rated too high.
Over the past three seasons, Brandon Graham has blossomed into one of the foundational players for the Eagles’ defense. The former first round pick out of Michigan had some injury issues to start off his career and spent some time at linebacker in his early years. The move back to defensive end has been great for him and his 2016 year was great. Looking to stats, he has 17.5 sacks over the past three seasons (5.5, 6.5, and 5.5 respectively) along with above average tackle numbers each year. There is no question, this guy has earned his 2016 Pro Bowl/All-Pro selection, but a 95 overall is a quite an inflated rating. Disgraceful? Maybe not, but definitely a little high. Obviously Philadelphia fans will disagree with this, but they are about as capable of rational, balanced thought as Raiders fans.
11 Marshawn Lynch - 85
Rating Beast Mode Lynch in the mid 90s would have been too high, but putting him in the mid 80s is far too low. He had a rough 2015 due to a sports hernia and, as we all know, he took a year off from competition in 2016. He did plenty of stuff and none of it was football, and now he’s back with one of the most explosive offenses in the league. We wouldn’t be surprised if there was some rust on Lynch when he gets back on the gridiron, but once his feet hit the turf, it will be very surprising if we don’t see the same guy return very quickly. The man is a monster, and was one of the most durable, hard-hitting, skilled running backs in the league for most of his career. 85 is low, but Beast Mode will prove this for us, we don’t need to make this point any more.
10 Clay Matthews - 82
Maybe someone put a Bears fanatic in charge of rating the Packers’ defense this year. Ha Ha Clinton Dix, along with Clay Matthews are both rated 82, which is ludicrous. We can understand in the case of Clinton-Dix, as he is young and somewhat unproven, but five picks, 80 overall tackles and of course his Pro Bowl nod last year make a good case for a higher rating.
Clay Matthews on the other hand is well above an 82. Like a few others on the list, he saw a drop in productivity in 2016 and missed a few weeks with some injury issues. According to all reports, he’s healthy as an ox once again, and if the Packers’ defense can stay healthy (they were operating with second and third string corners throughout the 2016 season), Clay will likely see a return to his former glory, which is worthy of a 90, at least, whether the Pack put him at OLB or on the inside.
9 Dez Bryant - 91
So we’re going to use some Madden logic here for a second. We’ve detailed quite a few top-tier superstars who had a bad year in 2016, and are now dealing with low ratings for Madden 18. Dez Bryant, however, had atrocious seasons in 2015 and 2016. He hasn’t played more than 13 games in a season since 2014, and between the last two football seasons he had just 81 catches and 1197 yards through the air over 22 games played. That’s two relatively poor seasons for a guy who was one of the best in the league for a few years prior. If the developers of this game are going to ding players for a single bad season, why is Dez still sitting in the 90s?
8 Vic Beasley - 83
2015’s 8th overall pick for the Atlanta Falcons had a decent, but not remarkable rookie year at outside linebacker, but tore up the league in his sophomore year. Former Clemson two-time All-American Vic Beasley recorded 15.5 sacks in 2016, leading the league and getting a nod for the Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors. Someone at EA seems to have been taking hard drugs on the job one day and gave this fast, heavy hitting machine an 83 overall rating. If the 2016 sack total didn’t warrant a better rating, then we just have to look at his fumbles, as he caused six last year (very solid number) and managed to return one for a touchdown. While it may be too soon to throw Beasley into the 90s, his outstanding season warrants at least 87 or 88.
7 Ryan Tannehill - 83
In 2016, Ryan Tannehill went from an extremely average quarterback to one of the most useless in the league. He was short of 3,000 yards passing, but that is slightly offset by his missing a couple of games at the end of the season. 19 touchdowns and 12 picks thrown are also wildly underwhelming numbers. Aside from his numbers, he’s one of the few quarterbacks in the league who is universally known for a weak arm that is flirting with “liability” status. Here’s another problem with Tannehill being an 83, several quarterbacks who are more skilled and had better years are rated lower than this, including Joe Flacco, Alex Smith (yes he’s better than Tannehill), Eli Manning as we saw earlier, Marcus Mariota, and Jameis Winston.
6 T.Y. Hilton - 88
We’ll look back to what we said about Dez Bryant for a second. He has had two terrible seasons in 2015 in 2016 and remains cemented above 90. T.Y. Hilton, the star wide receiver of the Colts, is getting shafted not being over 90. While he doesn’t belong above 95, anywhere between 92 and 94 would have been far more accurate. Let’s look at some facts. The Colts had a decent offense in 2016, and Frank Gore, despite what people will say about his age, managed to top 1,000 yards on the ground. Hilton however, tore apart several defenses in 2016 and came away with a career-best 1,448 receiving yards. This is his fourth straight year above 1,000 yards and he led the league in yards through the air. 88 is a joke.
5 Trai Turner - 77
On July 20th, 2017, Carolina Panthers guard Trai Turner signed a contract extension with the team, worth about $45 million over four years. This should tell you something, which is that the team is in love with the guy. There is a reason for that, he’s a top five guard and in 2015, allowed just one sack all season. The third rounder from 2014 out of LSU managed to put up good results in 2016, and was selected to the Pro Bowl in both of those years (although he didn’t play in 2015 because the Panthers were too busy losing in the Super Bowl). He wasn’t nearly as effective in 2016, but giving the guy anything under 80 is an example of poor judgment. A generous rating for him would be 87 or 88, but more accurate would be 84 or 85.
4 Lavonte David - 84
Lavonte David is an example of that old saying “it isn’t the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” At 6'1 and about 230 lbs, he was considered too small to be competitive at outside backer in the NFL. This was back in 2012 when he was taken in the second round out of Nebraska. Since then, he’s missed just two regular season games, and has at least 130 tackles in four of five seasons. 2016 wasn’t a great numbers year for this Buccaneers defender, but he still managed to get five sacks and an All-Pro selection.
We couldn’t see him being rated above 90 here (maybe in earlier seasons) but 84 is too low for a player who is building this kind of career. David deserves a minimum of 87, despite a slightly more average 2016 year.
3 Philip Rivers - 84
Like quite a few others on this list, Philip Rivers’ Madden 18 rating seems to have been heavily influenced by a poor 2016 year. With that said, let’s look at how poor that year was. He had a very low (60.4) completion percentage, and led the league with 21 interceptions. With that said, he threw the fourth most touchdown passes, 33, and threw for 4,386 yards, good enough for fifth in the league. Philip Rivers is a good quarterback and the fact that he is listed at the same number as Andy Dalton, and just one point better than the likes of Sam Bradford and Ryan Tannehill is enough for him to make our list. He’s not a 90 by any stretch of the imagination, but anything less than 87 or 88 is a poor grade for the Chargers’ long time field General.
2 Malcolm Butler - 92
Obviously the New England Patriots’ team in this game are about as stacked are they are in real life. Four players in the 90s and five more in the high eighties, and ,of course, Tom Brady rated at 99. Cheeseheads, Aaron Rodgers is listed at 98, go debate which QB is better elsewhere.
Malcolm Butler, as you can see, is one of four Patriots above 90, which is not at all in line with reality. He’s a gifted cornerback, however, don’t get us wrong. He just isn’t a 92. In fact he isn’t a 90. He’s more like an 85-87. He put up some great numbers in the 2016 season, defending 17 passes, picking off four and starting every game of the season, including the playoffs. But when you look at the fact that Patrick Peterson and Richard Sherman are listed at 91 and 90 respectively, it is pretty apparent that Butler’s number has been inflated a bit, possibly due to picking off Russell Wilson in the Super Bowl in early 2016.
1 Muhammad Wilkerson - 79
Muhammad Wilkerson had a very unimpressive 2016 year. The 27 year old Jets defensive end recorded just 4.5 sacks last year, in comparison with his 12 in 2015 and 10.5 in 2013. According to Pro Football Focus, he was a top five defensive end back in 2015, but the 2016 season saw Wilkerson start to play while recovering from a broken fibula (outer bone in the lower leg). The guy admitted multiple times that his leg was bothering him throughout the year and as of the past few weeks, he has indicated that his recovery was not complete in 2016, but that he should be good to go now. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, this rating is far too low and ignores the injury with which he played throughout 2016. Wilkerson is a mid 80s player, not a 79.
