The Most Head-Scratching Player Ratings in Madden 21

Despite the outbreak of COVID-19, it’s still that time of year: Madden SZN. With not much going on in the sports world, SportsCenter hosted a “Madden 21 Ratings Week” from July 13th-17th to reveal all the player ratings for this year’s game. Like every year, players took to social media to voice their frustrations over their ratings. We’ve already seen Kyler Murray, DeShaun Watson, and even cover athlete Lamar Jackson show disdain over their ratings in the last couple days. So today, we’re going to join them and check out the more head-scratching ratings in this year’s Madden. Before we get started, here are a few interesting trends and tendencies that the developers use to decide a player’s overall rating:

• Legacy Award: Year after year Madden gives a bump to players who have been good for a long time. Even though guys like Patrick Peterson, Greg Olsen, and Calais Campbell are all well past their primes, Madden gives them sort of a “Legacy Award” and keeps them at a higher rating than their play on the field would suggest. I actually like this trend, as I think the ratings shouldn’t come down to just what a player did last season.
• Grab my bags, rook: It’s no secret that most NFL Drafts are a complete crapshoot. Every year we see 1st and 2nd round busts, as well as hidden gems in the 5th, 6th, and 7th rounds. In years past, we’ve seen rookies rated in the lower to mid 80’s, but in this year’s game not a single rookie received a rating above an 80. Until we see what these guys can do on an NFL field, Madden is keeping all the rookies in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. This is another tendency that I completely agree with.
• Prove it to me: This rule goes hand in hand with the legacy award. The developers at EA don’t reward higher ratings to “one year wonders”. Guys like Ryan Tannehill, Kyler Murray, and Matthew Judon all had breakout seasons in 2019, yet all have relatively low ratings. Madden keeps their ratings low to make sure last year wasn’t just a fluke.

Alright guys, let’s jump right in and take a look at the most egregious ratings in this year’s Madden.

T.J. Watt, LOLB, Pittsburgh Steelers

Madden 21 Rating: 86

It’s unfair, but T.J. Watt will always be seen as J.J.’s little brother, even in the Madden ratings. Watt had a monster 2019 season. T.J. led the league in forced fumbles, logged 36 QB hits, and registered his second straight season with 13+ sacks. What’s even stranger about his rating, is that there are six players on the Steelers who snagged a better overall rating than Watt. I don’t even think it’s an opinion, he’s the best player on the Steelers. The only reason I can come up with to justify his rating is that he’s played just three seasons. However, in his last two seasons he’s made two Pro Bowls, averaged 14 sacks, and he’s one of the best pass rushers in football. T.J. finished 3rd in the DPOY voting last year, he deserves to be in the 90’s.

My Rating: 91

Rob Gronkowski, TE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Madden 21 Rating: 95

It’s hard to argue that Rob Gronkowski isn’t the most talented tight end to ever play the game of football. Unfortunately, his peak was about eight years ago. Gronkowski famously retired after Super Bowl LIII and took a year off from football in 2019. Coming into 2020, Gronk is another year older, not in playing shape, and has had a laundry list of injuries throughout his career. Gronk comes into Madden as the highest rated Buccaneer…and that is just BLASPHEMOUS. According to Madden, he’s better than Mike Evans, Shaq Barrett, Ndamaukong Suh, Tom Brady, Chris Godwin, and Lavonte David, hell even Lamar Jackson! After missing over a year of football and at age 31, you can’t convince me that Gronk is the best TE in the game not named Kittle or Kelce. I can understand the legacy aspect, but c’mon EA Sports.

My Rating: 87

Jaylon Smith, MLB, Dallas Cowboys

Madden 21 Rating: 81

If you can remember, Jaylon Smith tore both his ACL and LCL in the 2016 Fiesta Bowl, causing him to miss his rookie season with Dallas. Smith made a speedy recovery and has been excellent for the Cowboys ever since. Smith had a breakout 2018 campaign, and followed it up with an even better year in 2019, making his first Pro Bowl. Smith recorded 142 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and 9 passes defended. Unfortunately for Jaylon, the developers are giving him the T.J. Watt treatment, saying “Hey, he’s only been good for two seasons”. However, Jaylon is just a much better player than several middle linebackers rated above him like Roquan Smith, Benardrick McKinney, and Avery Williamson. I’m not saying he deserves to be in the 90’s, but 81 is just too low.

My Rating: 86

Derrius Guice, RB, Washington TBD

Madden 21 Rating: 81

Derrius Guice’s Madden 21 rating is an instance where the developers are basically breaking their own rule. Going back to the 2018 Draft, I thought Guice was the most talented running back not named Saquon. Two major knee surgeries later, and Guice has just 42 career carries in two seasons. We’ve discussed how Madden doesn’t reward one year wonders…Derrius Guice is a one GAME wonder. His career game logs are as follows:

@GB      5 attempts   42 yards    0 TD
@CAR    10 attempts  129 yards  2 TD
vs. DET  10 attempts  32 yards    0 TD
vs. NYJ   7 attempts    24 yards   0 TD
@PHI     10 attempts  18 yards    0 TD

As you can see, there is a clear outlier in Guice’s five game career, week 13 against the Panthers. That one game in which he averaged 12.9 yards/carry shot his rating up to an 81 overall. Guice is basically entering his rookie year in 2020, his sample size is just too small to warrant an 80+ rating, especially when Kyler Murray is a 77.

My Rating: 77

Darius Leonard, LOLB, Indianapolis Colts

Madden 21 Rating: 85

I can already hear the Colts fans reading this saying, “Yes!! Thank you!!!” In Leonard’s first two seasons in the league, he’s won a DROY award, led the league in tackles, and been selected to a First-team All-Pro. Add in the fact that he added 5 INTs in just 13 games last year, what more does Darius need to do to get into the 90’s? It’s nearly impossible for a linebacker to have a better first two years in the league than Leonard has had…and he’s just 24. Leonard is years away from his prime and he’s only going to get better. I don’t care that he’s only played two seasons, if he keeps this pace up he will be wearing a yellow jacket in Canton someday. Yet another young player disrespected just for the simple fact that he hasn’t been in the league for very long.

My Rating: 90

Michael Pierce, DT, Minnesota Vikings

Madden 21 Rating: 91

To be a 90+ overall in Madden, you have to be pretty special. Heck, Aaron Rodgers, Alvin Kamara, and Earl Thomas couldn’t even crack the list! Is Michael Pierce a good player? Absolutely! But is Michael Pierce one of the 50 best football players in the NFL right now? Absolutely not. What’s even more curious about his rating is the defensive tackles listed below him. Geno Atkins, Grady Jarrett, DeForest Buckner, and Kenny Clark are all better in the interior than Pierce and have had much more decorated careers as well. If I haven’t persuaded you yet, outside of Buffalo’s Stefon Diggs, Pierce is the only player with a 91+ rating who hasn’t been selected to at least one Pro Bowl or All-Pro team.

My Rating: 86

Thanks for reading guys! There were a lot of worthy candidates for today’s list, so here are few honorable mentions of guys that I considered. Let me know who you think Madden got wrong in the comments section below!

Overrated: Patrick Peterson, Alshon Jeffrey, Justin Coleman, J.J. Watt, Amari Cooper, Josh Jacobs, Chidobe Awuzie, Jason McCourty 

Underrated: Aaron Rodgers, Anthony Harris, Marcus Mariota, Eric Fisher, D.K. Metcalf, Kyler Murray, Shaquill Barrett, Lamar Jackson, Marcus Peters

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