Ahead of the highly anticipated Aug. 2 launch date of this year’s installment of the “Madden” video game franchise, the developers at EA Sports made the game’s player ratings public for the first time. Though the ratings are largely subjective and sometimes seemingly arbitrary, they nonetheless do a decent job of mirroring players’ actual abilities.
However, ratings aren’t an exact science — something best captured by these ostensibly off-kilter ratings. While we’ve already covered the biggest Baltimore Ravens snubs in the ratings, there are also players on the other end of the spectrum whom the game seems to have overvalued.
While future updates to the ratings might address these aberrations, gamers can — for now — benefit from these players being overrated.
TE Hayden Hurst: 78 overall
The No. 25 overall selection in the 2018 draft largely fell short of early expectations because of injury. In 12 games, Hurst had just 13 catches for 163 yards and a touchdown. As a result, Hurst’s rating in this year’s game remains the same as it was when “Madden NFL 19” launched in his rookie season.
However, it doesn’t seem fair that Hurst’s rating is only one point below that of Ravens tight end Mark Andrews, the leader in receiving yards among rookie tight ends and one of football’s most promising players at the position. In a similar vein, Hurst has the same rating as wide receiver Willie Snead — the team’s top pass catcher in 2018. It would seem that Snead is deserving of slightly higher marks relative to the unproven Edwards.
RB Kenneth Dixon: 76 overall
Dixon is the second-highest-rated running back on the team, behind only Mark Ingram II (86 overall). Gus Edwards (75 overall) and rookie Justice Hill (70 overall) round out the backfield. That doesn’t make much sense, given that Dixon is arguably the most likely ball carrier to be on the chopping block this preseason. In the ratings hierarchy, Dixon should certainly take a backseat to Edwards, who burst onto the scene last season as one of football’s most productive running backs. Hill may be a more talented back than Dixon, too, though that’s admittedly pure speculation given that the rookie has yet to play a NFL snap.
LB Pernell McPhee: 79 overall
McPhee was once a sack machine for Baltimore, notching 7.5 of them in his last season with the team back in 2014. However, McPhee has been a shadow of his former self ever since he departed the Ravens. Over his three seasons with the Chicago Bears, McPhee never managed to best that 2014 tally. Last year, McPhee failed to post a single sack over 204 snaps with the Washington Redskins. While McPhee’s player rating has taken a hit over the years, the 30-year-old still has a relatively generous valuation. For comparison’s sake, Baltimore linebackers Tim Williams and Tyus Bowser have 74 and 72 overall ratings, respectively.
