While Madden 26 has been in early access for around a week, the official release is finally upon us. I spent last week reviewing the offensive ratings for Madden 26 and came to many conclusions that you can read here, but now I think it is the perfect time to focus on the game’s less entertaining but arguably more important side: defense!
According to most pundits and basically every high school through professional coach you’ve ever listened to (or pretended to listen to), defense wins championships. I can’t say that it is 100% true when it comes to Madden, but it certainly is important, and we shouldn’t forget to focus on that side of the ball if we want a truly balanced and realistic gaming sim experience.
Without further ado, here are my takeaways from reviewing the defenses in Madden 26.
Top Five Defenses
Steelers 91
The Steelers have the highest-rated defense in the game with T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward, and newly acquired Jalen Ramsey, who are all over 90 overall with X-factor abilities. I think this defense is wildly overrated, with most of their top players being older guys past their prime, but Madden disagrees.
Chiefs 89
Chris Jones continues to be a beast in Madden with a 97 overall rating this year. He leads this Chiefs defense, which is full of above-average players who usually play better as a unit than they do individually. The Chiefs have spent the last few years building up this defensive secondary from scratch, acquiring young talent like Trent McDuffie (94 OVR), Bryan Cook (78 OVR), Jaylen Watson (77 OVR), Chamarri Conner (76 OVR), and Joshua Williams (75 OVR), who form a very strong unit that has long-term upside.
Cowboys 88
Assuming Micah Parsons stays on the team and doesn’t get traded, this defense is one of the best in the game. If Micah is gone, though, the whole defense comes crumbling down like a house of cards. Parsons is the lynch pin with his 98 overall and dual-threat X-Factor ability, which makes him an elite disruptor both as a pass rusher and a coverage linebacker. His versatility and dominance crashing the pocket make his teammates better, including corners Daron Bland and Trevon Diggs, who, at 87 and 84 overall, respectively, are usually the beneficiaries of the wild throws caused by Micah’s pressure. Beyond those three players, the Cowboys don’t have any other established stars on that side of the ball and will have to rely on younger guys developing and breaking out into impact players.
Ravens 87
Kyle Hamilton is underrated, sitting only at a 90 overall despite proving to be a potentially generational talent. If he were rated appropriately, we would likely see this defense at the top of this list. They have five guys above 90 overall, five! Including Roquan Smith (94 OVR), Nnamdi Madubuike (93 OVR), Marlon Humphrey (92 OVR), Jaire Alexander (91 OVR), and Kyle Hamilton (90 OVR). It’s very balanced with one DT, one LB, two CBs, and one safety over 90. They also have some decent edge rushers in Odafe Oweh (82 OVR) and Kyle Van Noy (80 OVR). This team also has some intriguing defensive rookies, including former Georgia Safety Malaki Starks and the sack leader of all FBS last year, Mike Green of Marshall.
Texans 86
With two elite edge rushers in Danielle Hunter (91 OVR) and Will Anderson (89 OVR) on the D-line and guys like Derek Stingley Jr. (93 OVR), C.J. Gardner-Johnson (84 OVR), and Jalen Pitre (83 OVR) in the secondary, this team has got a great formula for destroying opposing passing attacks. Throw in some massive DTs like Folorunso Fatukasi and Sheldon Rankins, as well as some great linebackers like Azeez Al-Shair and Henry To’oTo’o, and you’ve got a balanced defense that could wind up being the best in the league by the end of the season.
Five Most Fun Defenses
Texans
As I explained earlier, the Texans have elite edge rushers, a lockdown corner, hard-hitting safeties, massive Defensive tackles, and sideline-to-sideline linebackers. That’s basically all you can ask for from a defensive unit, I think they are maybe the best defense in the game in terms of depth and long-term success.
Eagles
Cooper DeJean and Quinton Mitchell are so fun to watch as their two young corners who just lockdown opposing receivers as former Georgia Bulldogs like Massive human Jordan Davis or dangerous human Jalen Carter harass and attack the QBs in front of them on the D-line. Throw in one of my favorite players in the league, breakout star Zack Baun at linebacker, and you’ve got yourself a unit that is electric, dynamic, and dominant just as Howie Roseman drew it up.
Vikings
The Vikings’ defense is consistently great, and they just got better last year as they added a dangerous edge rushing trio in Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel, and Dallas Turner that will continue sacking QBs for many years to come. Now they’ve added a pair of elite defensive tackles in Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave to their D-line, which should make their line perhaps the best line in the NFL.
Giants
Speaking of “the best defensive line in the NFL”, the Giants have a legitimate claim to the title now with the addition of rookie Abdul Carter, who by all accounts has hall of fame like talent and potential and will join a D-line that already has one of the best defensive players in all of football right now in Dexter Lawrence, as well as Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux on the edges, this is an elite unit that alone makes this defense one of the most fun to play in Madden 26z
Ravens
This secondary is the best in the NFL with Hamilton, Humphrey, and Alexander all elite, and Nate Wiggins, Chidobe Awuzie, and Ar’Darius Washington round out a unit that makes this defense truly elite.
Five Best Rebuild Defenses
Commanders
The Commanders have some older guys like Bobby Wagner, Marshon Lattimore, and Von Miller propping up their defense for the time being, but after getting rid of them after a season or two, you really have a good, clean slate with a few young gems to build around. It’s a defense that needs to keep up with its surprisingly productive offense and should continue adding young defensive talent to surround guys like Da’Ron Payne and Jer’Zhan Newton up front and Mike Sainristill and Quan Martin in the secondary.
Patriots
I like a quite a few of the young guys that the Patriots have added recently like Christian Gonzalez and Keion White as well as some of their other guys like Kyle Dugger and high value defensive linemen Milton Williams (who is criminally underrated in Madden unfortunately) and I think they have the building blocks under Mike Vrabel to get back to the glory days of the early 2000s Patriots defenses that were so dominant.
Rams
The Rams, for years, had a defense that scraped by with a constant rotation of overperforming no-name players from day three of the draft to supplement one or two stars. Now, after the successes of Jared Verse and Braden Fiske from last year, the Rams could be entering a new era of defensive focus. Their D-line is solid now, but they still need to reinvent their secondary and linebacker corps. It could take a few years, but they are in a great position to be rebuilt.
Bengals
The Bengals are the most lopsided team, perhaps in NFL history. Joe Burrow and that offense are putting up unbelievable numbers on the offensive side and on the defensive side… the numbers are also unbelievable, but for a different reason. This defense is so bad, and now with the holdout of their one true bright spot in Trey Hendrickson, it could be time for them to trade him for all he’s worth and do a complete rebuild of their defense from scratch to complement this offense before Joe Burrow starts to go grey.
Falcons
This team’s got pieces, but they are still underwhelming. They drafted two edge rushers this year in Jalon Walker and James Pierce, so they now have a young core, but I think there’s still a lot to do on this defense to build around those rookies on the D-line and Jessie Bates and A.J. Terrell in the secondary.
Five Most Underrated Defenses
Broncos
Patrick Surtain has a potential claim as the best cornerback in the league, and now he’s got secondary help in free agent Talanoa Hufanga and rookie Jahdae Barron, who might be a DROY candidate. The team’s also got a scrappy pass-rushing attack with a couple of breakout stars in Nik Bonitto, Zach Allen, and Jonathan Cooper. Add in Dre Greenlaw, and you have a complete team full of really underrated talent that may be considered a top-five defense.
Colts
The Colts’ linebackers know how to tackle, consistently logging the most tackles in the NFL. Zaire Franklin and company are solid in the middle of that defense. They also are solid up front with DeForest Buckner, Grover Stewart, and a growing list of young pass rushers joining the team, but it’s the secondary where I think they could make a real jump this year. Charvarius Ward has been one of the best under-the-radar corners in the league recently, and Cam Bynum has been playing at an all-pro level at safety without much recognition at all. They are now both Colts and should bring this Colts defense into the upper echelon of the league.
Jets
Sauce Gardner is a beast, Quinnen Williams is a beast, and his brother Quincy is also a beast. They also have two pass rushers with gobs of potential who could pop off at any moment: Jermaine Johnson II and Will McDonald IV. Between the five of them, I think they bring this defense to a higher level than people usually place them.
Bears
Much like Milton Williams of the Patriots, Dayo Odeyingbo was also not recognized by Madden after receiving a huge bag in the offseason. He got that bag because he impacts his opponents’ running and passing attack on nearly every down (despite not always putting up eye-popping statistics). Dayo should at least be an 80 overall if not 85 or higher, but Madden gave him a 73 overall. An underrating that is emblematic of their rating for the whole of the Bears defense, which saw legit stars like Jaylon Johnson (89 OVR) and Montez Sweat (81 OVR) fall far below my expectations.
Cardinals
The Cardinals have made a concerted effort to make their defense a focus of their rebuild, and they’ve gotten to the point where I think it’s finally gone from a wish to a reality. They’ve got Josh Sweat from the Eagles (who’s great play deserves at least an 88 overall but who Madden gave an 85), Walter Nolen and Will Johnson from this year’s draft (underrated as like all high drafted rookies) and other assorted players like Zaven Collins, Darius Robinson, B.J. Ojulari, Max Melton and Garrett Willliams who should all take a big step this year in proving that they are legit quality starters in the NFL.
Five Best Defensive Playbooks
Broncos
The Broncos are one of my favorite defenses in the league, and part of that is their solid playbook, which has a base 3-4 defense that utilizes quite a bit of 4-4 and nickel packages.
Ravens
The Ravens have arguably the best nickel and dime packages, with a focus on their elite secondary being a prime centerpiece to their defensive scheme. This isn’t necessarily a heavy type of defense; you’ll need a lot of speed at linebacker and some big run stuffers up front, as you’re not going to be stacking the box very often and will have to rely on size up front and speed on the back end to stop the run. With regards to pass defense, this is the gold standard, with elite coverages and a ton of plays with one or two extra DBs.
Cowboys
This defense has quite a few funky blitzes and good schemes that utilize multiple defensive sets in 4-3 and 3-4. This defense is designed around having an elite versatile linebacker like Micah Parsons and should be used when you have a lot of “tweeners” or guys that can play multiple positions and aren’t necessarily a good physical fit for any one position. This defense allows you to use players in different ways from play to play
Vikings
The Vikings’ defense is a fan favorite because it has versatility and great blitz plays. I think it works best as a 3-4 defense, but it depends on your personnel.
Patriots
Like the Cowboys and the Vikings’ defensive playbooks, this one is also versatile, perhaps the most versatile. While it hasn’t been as elite as it used to be when it was Bill Belichick leading the charge and designing a crazy scheme that worked with any personnel and kept offenses on their toes, the current iteration is a descendant of that Belichick defense and works with a lot of the same versatility of defensive schemes that the Patriots used to deploy.
Final Takeaways
Defense may seem like a secondary factor when playing the game; it may seem boring and not as fun as the offense, but when you look at the best teams in the game, nearly all of them have top-ten defenses. Regardless of what game mode you play in and what you want to get out of the game (realism, competition, or fun), defense is going to play a big part in that.
For realism, I like the Broncos’ defense because it has the most dynamic playbook, and the defense as a whole is just so good, but not unrealistically good like the Steelers’ or Cowboys’ defenses are in the game. For competition, it’s the Ravens; they have an elite playbook and elite personnel, particularly against the pass, which represents a large portion of the playcalling in Madden head-to-head competition. When just trying to have fun, go with whatever team you root for in real life, who cares about ratings, playbooks, or the meta? When you want to have fun, play as your team, it’s as simple as that.
