With Madden NFL 26 set to drop, many players will be ready to kick off a new go at franchise mode. If you’re not the type of player to simply choose your favorite team by default, or to attack the franchise mode with a fantasy draft, looking to rebuild a struggling franchise can be a fun way to challenge yourself. These seven teams could all do with a rosier outlook and present their own unique challenges to a prospective Madden player.
The Arizona Cardinals Need To Win With Kyler Murray Or Without Him
Four seasons ago, things seemed to be looking up for the Cardinals, a franchise that has managed just a sprinkling of relevant seasons in the Super Bowl era. They had a young and exciting quarterback who looked set to be among the best in the league for many years to come, a similarly young and touted coach, and had just won 11 games. It would take until Week 7, three seasons later, for them to reach their 11th win after that breakout year.
Now they find themselves in the unenviable position of having a pricey quarterback locked down for the next several seasons but unsure if he’s actually good enough to get them where they want to go. By jumping in on the Cardinals, your first decision is whether to try to build around Kyler Murray or see what you can get for him, do a complete reset on the whole thing, and look to the future to stock your roster with your young talent.
The Chicago Bears Are Killing Another Young Quarterback
There are few teams that elevate the art of building can’t-win situations for young quarterbacks to such levels as the Chicago Bears. With a top overall draft pick in the backfield, there was optimism out of camp before the harsh reality of a Bears regular season arrived, and now, just one year later, many fans are already out on Caleb Williams and looking forward to the next can’t-miss prospect for the organization to size up and go “watch us.”
With just one player in the 90s and a dearth of talent around Williams on the offensive side of the ball, this is a task that will require skillful scouting and shrewd work in trades to assemble the surrounding cast Williams needs to develop and avoid his destiny as another doomed Bears signal caller.
The Carolina Panthers Have Hung Bryce Young Out To Dry
If a passer looking for a sophomore surge is not to your liking, how about one who failed to achieve one in Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers? Young has looked poor in his time in Carolina, there’s no denying that; however, he has also been saddled with a franchise that has not made it easy for him. With a player in control of the reins, that could change.
They represent another of the more challenging rebuild opportunities with very little to love, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, where their best weapon for Young by OVR is an aging Adam Thielen, a player who himself served best as an unplayable number two in Minnesota, not as the lead man. Tear it all down or work with the young talent lower on the ratings list and bring Carolina back to the title contention talks they so rarely enter in real life.
The Pittsburgh Steelers Are Not Title Relevant
The ability of Mike Tomlin’s Steelers to win more than half of their games is famous to the point of being a meme, but easy to overlook in all those consistently good seasons is how few great ones the franchise has seen recently. This primarily comes down to one position: Quarterback.
While the early years of Tomlin’s tenure were marked by the Steelers, Patriots, and Peyton Manning having a near lock on the AFC Championship, as Ben Roethlisberger faded, all that consistently good winning has meant too few losses to find their next Super Bowl-winning QB in the draft.
Aaron Rodgers, or what’s left of him, is in town now, but this rebuild is about finding the QB of tomorrow. Can you put together an offense to once again match the imposing Steelers defense and get the Steelers back in sole possession of the Super Bowl wins record? Can you do it while staying successful in year one and again missing out on that premium pick?
The New York Teams Outside Of New York Are A Mess
It would be unfair to the Bills to say that things are rough for New York football, but things are definitely rough for New Jersey football as both the Giants and Jets seem to be in desperate need of an overhaul. No matter if you prefer blue or green, there’s a team reeling from a false dawn that you can look to bring back to the promise they had shown a couple of years back.
After the 2022 season, the future looked so much rosier at MetLife Stadium. The Giants were stuck in a brutal division but had found their way to the playoffs, where they knocked off a 13-4 Vikings team. Sure, the Eagles made the Super Bowl, but at least they lost it! In the other home locker room, the Jets were just 7-10, but they had the AFC Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year and were now adding Aaron Rodgers to the mix.
A 7-10 season where Rodgers’ Achilles vaporized on the Jets’ fourth snap in green and white has been the high water mark for either team since then. The Giants hope they’ve drafted their future star, and the Jets are hoping even harder that third team is the charm for Justin Fields. Neither seems likely to have much immediate success in real life, making them excellent challenge runs in Madden 26.
The Cleveland Browns Are The Cleveland Browns
Seasons change, but the Browns always stay the same. The latest calamitous state in Cleveland is borne out of the franchise making the decision to trade for DeShaun Watson in the midst of the quarterback facing more than twenty assault accusations. The play was viewed as a “football is not a morality contest” move, opting for one of the most talented young quarterbacks despite the crimes he was accused of. Instead, it’s turned into karmic schadenfreude for the fans of the other 31 franchises as Watson has been an unmitigated disaster with an albatross contract.
They’ve spent the offseason shopping for quarterbacks in bulk and present perhaps the most challenging rebuild that you could hope to take on. Figure out how to dig out of the massive cap hit of Watson and bring a first Super Bowl to the long-suffering Dawg Pound.
Those are our picks for the most interesting Madden NFL 26 rebuild options, but who are you choosing for your first crack at a rags-to-riches franchise run?
