If you're anything like me, one of the first things you do on Madden's release is go searching for trade targets for your Franchise. The key is finding the player that fits your play style, and so I have decided to compile rankings based on various player types. Note that, while some names are similar to the archetypes EA uses my formula isn't going to match their's exactly. On the overall ranking at the end, the list is comprised by any player who made a "Top 40" list in either of the two categories below. Coverage Run Support Overall Ranking

If you're anything like me, one of the first things you do on Madden's release is go searching for trade targets for your Franchise. The key is finding the player that fits your play style, and so I have decided to compile rankings based on various player types. Note that, while some names are similar to the archetypes EA uses my formula isn't going to match their's exactly. On the overall ranking at the end, the list is comprised by any player who made a "Top 40" list in any of the three categories below. Zone Coverage Man Coverage Press Coverage Overall Rankings

If you're anything like me, one of the first things you do on Madden's release is go searching for trade targets for your Franchise. The key is finding the player that fits your play style, and so I have decided to compile rankings based on various player types. Note that, while some names are similar to the archetypes EA uses my formula isn't going to match their's exactly. On the overall ranking at the end, the list is comprised by any player who made a "Top 40" list in any of the three categories below. Run Support Pass Rush Coverage Overall Rankings

If you're anything like me, one of the first things you do on Madden's release is go searching for trade targets for your Franchise. The key is finding the player that fits your play style, and so I have decided to compile rankings based on various player types. Note that, while some names are similar to the archetypes EA uses my formula isn't going to match their's exactly. On the overall ranking at the end, the list is comprised by any player who made a "Top 40" list in any of the three categories below. Run Stoppers Power Rushers Finesse Rushers Overall Rankings

If you're anything like me, one of the first things you do on Madden's release is go searching for trade targets for your Franchise. The key is finding the player that fits your play style, and so I have decided to compile rankings based on various player types. Note that, while some names are similar to the archetypes EA uses my formula isn't going to match their's exactly. On the overall ranking at the end, the list is comprised by any player who made a "Top 40" list in any of the three categories below. Run Stoppers Power Rushers Finesse Rushers Overall Rankings

If you're anything like me, one of the first things you do on Madden's release is go searching for trade targets for your Franchise. The key is finding the player that fits your play style, and so I have decided to compile rankings based on various player types. Note that, while some names are similar to the archetypes EA uses my formula isn't going to match their's exactly. On the overall ranking at the end, the list is comprised by any player who made a "Top 40" list in any of the three categories below. Vertical Passers Precision Passers Running Passers Overall Rankings

If you're anything like me, one of the first things you do on Madden's release is go searching for trade targets for your Franchise. The key is finding the player that fits your play style, and so I have decided to compile rankings based on various player types. Note that, while some names are similar to the archetypes EA uses my formula isn't going to match their's exactly. On the overall ranking at the end, the list is comprised by any player who made a "Top 40" list in any of the three categories below. Power Backs Elusive Backs Receiving Backs Overall Ranking

Earlier today EA hosted a special developer stream on Twitch to detail the changes coming out of the Beta heading into the game's release later this month. Out of the stream came a laundry list of changes, fixes, and improvements, as well as information on future changes they plan to make based on the feedback from the community. While the changes were substantial and numerous, the biggest takeaway from the stream was a resounding "We hear you" from the development team. Constantly highlighted throughout the stream were references to feedback coming directly out of the Beta. Fears of pass rush being tuned back, or throwing animations being shortened were quickly put to rest as Clint explained that the feedback from the community didn't support such moves. Mentioned often were comments from twitter about issues and bugs that were seen and how the team wanted to move to correct those that were truly issues. In a bigger picture sense, the stream sold the idea to t

This one is all about the secondary and their coverage stats. I broke down each team based on man coverage and zone coverage then gave them an overall coverage grade. I used the project nickle personnel doing my best job at trying to get the proper personnel on the field.

It's no secret that pass rush has been turned up a notch for Madden 20, but it never hurts to have a little extra juice. Below is my pass rush rating for each team based on their optimal pass rush score. Optimal pass rush took the teams best four man front and then selected their best pass rushing stat to create the optimal outcome in a pass rushing situation.

Nothing screams Madden quite like speed and we got you covered on that front. We have broken down the speed of each team on both offense and defense, as well as assigned an overall team speed score. The analysis was done using 11 personnel on offense and nickle personnel on defense. On offense QB's and O linemen were not included, and on defense there were no D linemen used. Some liberties were taken when an older starter who wouldn't be used by most in Madden was backed up by a young up and comer. Offense: Defense Overall

This is what I refer to as PPA or Points Per Age. This score essentially creates a OVR to age ratio that identifies the best young players in game. The list above are the top 30 PPA scores for Madden 20. Below is the All-PPA team.

Continuing our deep dive series, this article will take a look at the offensive line units of each team in Madden 20. Above you can see my spreadsheet I created to make my observations. I plugged in the blocking stats of the starter at each offensive line position. In some cases when a back up in one position was substantially better than a starter at another I took liberty in moving that back up into a starting role. Quick Stats Top 5 Pass Blocking Units 1-DAL 2-PHI 3-NE 4-GB 5-PIT/BAL Bottom 5 Pass Blocking Unit 1-HOU 2-ATL 3-ARI 4-MIN 5-MIA Top 5 Run Blocking Units 1-DAL 2-NE 3-PHI 4-SF 5-PIT Bottom 5 Run Blocking Units 1-CIN 2-MIN 3-NYJ 4-MIA 5-HOU The Numbers, Then and Now Comparing last year to this year a few things popped out to me. In general the Avg blocking score is about 3 points lower across the board outside of Dallas. The spread grew a bit as well going from 86.7 to 73.8 compared to 86 to 70.8 this year. The biggest

With the rookie ratings dropping today there have been a couple surprises and we count down the top 5 rookie rating surprises. While overall ratings aren't a great indicator of the player's actual usefulness in game they make for a great topic of debate! For a full list of rookie ratings click here . #5) Hakeem Butler - WR - Arizona Cardinals Why he made the list: Butler entered the draft as an intriguing prospect that many believed was raw with high upside. That upside though still landed him in the 4th round with the 1st pick to the Cardinals. Madden however appears to be higher on Butler than the NFL teams were. Butler comes in at a 72 OVR and the 26th highest rated rookie in the game. #4) Daniel Jones - QB - New York Giants Why he made the list:  Jones was a surprise pick by many draft pundits, but I'm not sure anyone saw the 6th overall pick being rated so poorly in Madden. Jones checks in with a 63 OVR at launch and actually is the 6th highest

EA just released our first look at ratings for Madden 20 in the form of the rookie ratings. We have learned over the last few months that the ratings have spread out more across the ratings spectrum, which means that there has been more of a downward trend in overalls. Looking back on Madden 19 we can see the difference in comparison to last years ratings and what we know so far about Madden 20. It's a  Whole New World The initial knee jerk reaction will be that the ratings are "too low", but this goes in line with EA's attempt to create more spread in the ratings. By starting the rookies lower it is most likely an indication that this is the "normal" range of average players going forward. We will know more about the ratings as a whole when the rest of the rosters drop however, this does seem to signal they were serious about using more of the range. Numbers of Interest Highest Rated Player 19 - 83 20 - 80 Number 1 Overall Pick Rating

Coming out of the beta, one of the commonly heard complaints was that QB's seemed to "wind up" for throws, even those that were shorter in distance. This led to people immediately calling for it to be "fixed" by the development team. A feature that had been touted by EA as a more realistic representation of QB release times was already being challenged after three days of beta game play. This situation is a microcosm of everything that is wrong in the current player/developer relationship when it comes to Madden. While it's easy to look at the players as the root cause of this unhealthy relationship, the development team must own a piece of it and do their part to improve it.  Patch and Burn Sometimes people are gluttons for punishment. They will ask for something they think they want only to find themselves upset with their desires shortly after. When it comes to Madden, patching is a polarizing topic that has caused so much angst within the commu

Our friends over at Madden School continue to do a nice job of breaking down all the individual abilities, this time for each all defenders  HERE . Staying in sync with our article yesterday, I took a crack at ranking the top five DB's for Madden 20 based on abilities.This ranking does not take age, attributes, or team into consideration they are based solely on their Superstar and X Factor abilities. #4b) Stephon Gilmore - New England Patriots The Abilities: X Factor Ability:  Shutdown What this ability does:  Tighter coverage and more Interceptions on contested catches Super Star Ability:  Acrobat What this ability does:  Increased diving swats and interceptions Super Star Ability:  Man Up What this ability does:  Improved coverage and catch knockouts in man-to-man Why he made the list:  Gilmore makes the list tied with our next player for the #4 spot, but there is no shame in that as their load out is quite nice. Shutdown gives Gilmore tigh