EA Sports released their full “Madden 21” ratings on Friday and that immediately led to fierce debate over who rated out too high, who rated out too low and who was downright disrespected.
For the New York Giants, many of the ratings feel on point, but there were a few that left us scratching our heads.
Here’s a look at five Giants who we feel graded out too low or were just downright disrespected.
TE Kaden Smith (65)
It’s not like anyone expected Kaden Smith to burst onto the scene with an 80s rating or anything, but 65? That just seems unrealistically low for a player who demonstrated rare athleticism and talent in 2019.
The folks at EA Sports will tell you that grades are given based on how a player performed last season going into the current season (which we’ll have more on later), but comparing Smith’s 65 to Evan Engram’s 88 disproves that notion.
Remember, Smith ended his rookie campaign with a six-catch, two-touchdown game against the Washington Redskins in Week 16 and an eight-catch, 98-yard game against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 17. He also took 100% of all offensive snaps over the final three games of the season.
OL Nick Gates (56)
Again, this isn’t a scenario where we expected to see Nick Gates earn an 80s rating or even a high 70s rating, but being slapped with an overall rating of 56 seems like a swing and a miss.
A quality utility lineman, Gates can play both tackle positions and both guard positions in a pinch, and has even practiced his snapping a bit. Oh, and did we mention he’s also a go-to in jumbo TE sets?
Due to injuries, Gates was forced into playing 290 snaps in 2019, and surrendered just a single sack over that span. He was not called for a single penalty and earned an overall grade of 77.0 from Pro Football Focus, including a 71.5 pass blocking grade and a 75.9 run blocking grade.
DT Dexter Lawrence (77)
Dexter Lawrence is viewed around the league as a superstar in the making and has earned some high praise from front office executives, coaches and scouts this offseason.
Lawrence got progressively better as the season wore on in 2019, quickly establishing himself as an every-down defensive lineman who can both stop the run and rush the passer. And while his numbers don’t leap off the stat sheet, his play certainly leaps off the film.
Going into just his second year, perhaps EA Sports cautioned against having Lawrence earn a rating some would think was too high, but he should at least be the highest-rated defensive lineman on the Giants (Dalvin Tomlinson and Leonard Williams are tied for best with a rating of 80).
WR Darius Slayton (78)
We debated putting Darius Slayton on this list for a fraction of a second simply because he was such an unexpected surprise in 2019, but again, we go back to EA Sports and how they claim ratings are determined.
With that in mind, it’s important to note that Slayton led the Giants with 740 yards receiving and eight touchdowns (in 14 games) as a rookie — and that essentially came as the No. 3 guy behind Golden Tate and Sterling Shepard, both of whom earned higher ratings than Slayton.
Marquise Brown and Deebo Samuel were each given a higher ratings than Slayton despite less overall production (yards + touchdowns), while N’Keal Harry (74) came just shy of matching Slayton’s rating despite almost no production.
RB Saquon Barkley (91)
How can anyone rated 90 or above be considered too low? That’s a fair question, but it’s also Saquon Barkley, so…
Barkley is arguably the best all-around running back in football, yet he finds himself tied for fifth-best in the league with his 91 rating. And as we’ve mentioned throughout this article, the folks at EA Sports defend that by suggesting Barkley didn’t play well enough through his injury last season.
“Our rating are basically coming off what you’ve done last year heading into this year. So if you played through injury and didn’t play well, we have to reflect that because you were out there playing,” EA Sports head ratings adjuster Dustin Smith told ESPN. “Now, doesn’t mean it won’t change as the season goes on. Obviously that is why we do all the roster updates. But if you played through injury and it’s not up to par …”
What damaged Barkley’s overall rating the most was his 78 “ball carrier vision” rating, which was tied for 86th among all running backs, meaning EA Sports believes there are 85 NFL running backs with better vision.
All righty then.
