Madden NFL 15 News Post

Madden NFL 15: Top Rookies

07:03 PM - July 21, 2014 by CM Hooe

EA Sports revealed the top rookies in Madden NFL 15 by rating today, including a quick video and new screenshots.

A more detailed look at the rookie ratings can be seen here.

Here's the list:

DE - Jadeveon Clowney - Houston (83 Overall)
OL - Greg Robinson - St. Louis (83 Overall)
OLB -Khalil Mack - Oakland (81 Overall)
OL - Jake Matthews - Atlanta (81 Overall)
WR - Sammy Watkins - Buffalo (80 Overall)
S - Calvyn Pryor - New York Jets (79 Overall)
DL - Aaron Donald - St. Louis (79 Overall)
S - Haha Clinton Dix - Green Bay (79 Overall)
OL - Taylor Lewan - Tennessee (79 Overall)
QB - Blake Bortles - Jacksonville (78 Overall)
CB - Darqueze Dennard - Cincinnati (78 Overall)
WR - Mike Evans - Tampa Bay (78 Overall)
OL - Zack Martin - Dallas (78 Overall)

What do you think of the ratings? Any glaring misses?

Here is a look at the release date schedule for more ratings.

Mon, July 21 � Top 10 Overall Rookies
Tues, July 22 � Top 5 Overall QBs
Wed, July 23 � Top 5 Overall RBs
Thurs, July 24 � Top 5 Overall WRs/Top 5 Overall TEs
Fri, July 25 � Top 5 Overall OL Players
Sat, July 26 � Top 5 Overall DEs
Sun, July 27 � Top 5 Overall DTs
Mon, July 28 � Top 5 Overall LBs
Tues, July 29 � Top 5 Overall CBs
Wed, July 30 � Top 5 Overall Safeties
Thurs, July 31 � Top 5 Overall Special Teams
Fri, Aug 1 � Top 10 Overall Players/Full AFC & NFC North Ratings
Sat, Aug 2 � Full AFC & NFC South Ratings
Sun, Aug 3 � Full AFC & NFC East Ratings
Mon, Aug 4 � Full AFC & NFC West Ratings
Tues, Aug 5 � Ratings Recap

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Member Comments

# 121 bcruise @ 07/22/14 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	That's literally the exact opposite of what the released blogs said last year and also the exact opposite of what Ian Cummings posted on this forum in 2008. (if the URL doesn't work, copy-paste this: Code: http://www.operationsports.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2038462682&postcount=18 ) Do you have a source for that? If anything I would believe that the RBK / PBK ratings do nothing in played games, those being the legacy ratings. More links: here here EDIT: seems like there was never an OL blog released, I misremembered that. To that end the most recent info I have is that forum post by Ian Cummings.

Back then when Ian was in charge, it probably did. But those ratings don't show up in the frontend anymore - they're more or less dummied out of everything except play now games. They definitely don't show up in CFM as they're untrainable. They're legacy, like you said.

# 122 charter04 @ 07/22/14 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	That's literally the exact opposite of what the released blogs said last year and also the exact opposite of what Ian Cummings posted on this forum in 2008. (if the URL doesn't work, copy-paste this: Code: http://www.operationsports.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2038462682&postcount=18 ) Do you have a source for that? If anything I would believe that the RBK / PBK ratings do nothing in played games, those being the legacy ratings. More links: here here EDIT: seems like there was never an OL blog released, I misremembered that. To that end the most recent info I have is that forum post by Ian Cummings.

# 123 hanzsomehanz @ 07/22/14 11:32 AM

@Trojan Man

I am of the same mind but while we are here on the topic of height and weight I will say a few things.

A 99STR OG who is 300+ pounds should roll over a light weight DT who is primarily a finesse rusher.

99STR vs 99STR shoud not matter until it becomes a battle of strength and so when and if mass were considered: the playee below weight would need to build up his force and get into a positiom that can leverage a bull rush.

Aaron Donald should get bowled over by heavier guards when he is unable to wuicjly slip by them. Donald is like Sapp. He will rely on his quickness and dip and his low center of gravity will make it challelnging for blockers to engage him effectively.

Effectivess is a key to utilizing your full strength potential and like the 40time it is not often a player will be engaged in a situation that can leverage his full strength capacity.

Weight of the object (player) vs strength of other player should consider positioning for leverage. A heavy set player who is off balance on one foot can more easily be bowled over by even a DB as he loses mass on one foot.

In the present state I can use guys like Mario Williams, Cam Wake, James Harrison and Brian Orakpo as 3-4DEs and they perform way better than the elite players that are built for this position within the scheme.

Those four guys still demand double teams and can usually just rip through a gaurd w finesse moves when put at DT in a Nickle of Dime package.

I do not support STR being a duration for Olinemen and something else for Dlinemen - it should not even be a duration timer for anyone as that o considered holding lol which it literally translates to: a lineman can stand straight up w no leverage on the edge and no driving of feet and just pose as an immovable oak tree as he posts up on the outside defender lol.

It will be good to see impact matter more than suctioning so we can see players stumble and lose balance off initial impact: it peeves me to see a weak, small HB stand up to charging rushers who have him outmatched in strength, power and size and although that same rusher just made the lineman look sily w his power move: he is now struggling to knock down / knock aside an inferior HB who has poor positioining and no momentum to withstand his force.

Anyhow, we play by the rules and either bend them to our will or bend our will to them.

Remember that a prototypical nose tackle can draw up to 3 blockers in real life and slice through dbl teams: all these blockers are strong on their own in the gym but in a condition like a Football trench: strength now fits a new context. You can grip a bar in the gym: you cannot grip a defenders jersey - a new acquired / learned technical strength is now required.

We also factor stamina into strength as a modifier.

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk

# 124 CM Hooe @ 07/22/14 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcruise


	Back then when Ian was in charge, it probably did. But those ratings don't show up in the frontend anymore - they're more or less dummied out of everything except play now games. They definitely don't show up in CFM as they're untrainable. They're legacy, like you said.

Yeah I was aware that CFM didn't include the ratings on XBOX 360 and PS4, I wasn't sure if that was also the case on XBOX One and PS4 because I haven't played CFM on the Gen-8 consoles yet.

Again, this gets at the thing I said before about Tiburon just needing to release a comprehensive ratings document which details exactly what each rating in the game does, how it's used, if it's ever ignored, etc. etc. I've done my best to try to gather up information on what the ratings do over the years but clearly that's not enough.

# 125 Robrain @ 07/22/14 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	If anything I would believe that the RBK / PBK ratings do nothing in played games, those being the legacy ratings.

That wouldn't really make sense because in Madden 25's CFM mode the only stats for O-linemen that you can upgrade with XP points are their RBK, PBK, and IBK. There is no mechanism in place to upgrade their run-block-footwork or run-block-strength, etc. Why those stats are still in the game when they don't even show up on the standard player stats roster screen for CFM mode is far, FAR more confusing than implementing a functional system that takes into account each player's height and weight in the proper scenarios.

# 126 CM Hooe @ 07/22/14 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by charter04

So by assumption from what this tweet says, the game operates differently in user-user games than user-CPU games? Odd, to say the least.

# 127 bcruise @ 07/22/14 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	Yeah I was aware that CFM didn't include the ratings on XBOX 360 and PS4, I wasn't sure if that was also the case on XBOX One and PS4 because I haven't played CFM on the Gen-8 consoles yet. Again, this gets at the thing I said before about Tiburon just needing to release a comprehensive ratings document which details exactly what each rating in the game does, how it's used, if it's ever ignored, etc. etc. I've done my best to try to gather up information on what the ratings do over the years but clearly that's not enough.

Agreed - that's why I really enjoyed those blogs they did last year that showed how certain ratings interact with each other. Bookmarked all of them for future reference.

# 128 charter04 @ 07/22/14 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hanzsomehanz


	@Trojan Man I am of the same mind but while we are here on the topic of height and weight I will say a few things. A 99STR OG who is 300+ pounds should roll over a light weight DT who is primarily a finesse rusher. 99STR vs 99STR shoud not matter until it becomes a battle of strength and so when and if mass were considered: the playee below weight would need to build up his force and get into a positiom that can leverage a bull rush. Aaron Donald should get bowled over by heavier guards when he is unable to wuicjly slip by them. Donald is like Sapp. He will rely on his quickness and dip and his low center of gravity will make it challelnging for blockers to engage him effectively. Effectivess is a key to utilizing your full strength potential and like the 40time it is not often a player will be engaged in a situation that can leverage his full strength capacity. Weight of the object (player) vs strength of other player should consider positioning for leverage. A heavy set player who is off balance on one foot can more easily be bowled over by even a DB as he loses mass on one foot. In the present state I can use guys like Mario Williams, Cam Wake, James Harrison and Brian Orakpo as 3-4DEs and they perform way better than the elite players that are built for this position within the scheme. Those four guys still demand double teams and can usually just rip through a gaurd w finesse moves when put at DT in a Nickle of Dime package. I do not support STR being a duration for Olinemen and something else for Dlinemen - it should not even be a duration timer for anyone as that o considered holding lol which it literally translates to: a lineman can stand straight up w no leverage on the edge and no driving of feet and just pose as an immovable oak tree as he posts up on the outside defender lol. It will be good to see impact matter more than suctioning so we can see players stumble and lose balance off initial impact: it peeves me to see a weak, small HB stand up to charging rushers who have him outmatched in strength, power and size and although that same rusher just made the lineman look sily w his power move: he is now struggling to knock down / knock aside an inferior HB who has poor positioining and no momentum to withstand his force. Anyhow, we play by the rules and either bend them to our will or bend our will to them. Remember that a prototypical nose tackle can draw up to 3 blockers in real life and slice through dbl teams: all these blockers are strong on their own in the gym but in a condition like a Football trench: strength now fits a new context. You can grip a bar in the gym: you cannot grip a defenders jersey - a new acquired / learned technical strength is now required. We also factor stamina into strength as a modifier. Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk

None of that will matter until there is a real physics engine running the game IMO

# 129 charter04 @ 07/22/14 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	So by assumption from what this tweet says, the game operates differently in user-user games than user-CPU games? Odd, to say the least.

He didn't say user v user. He just said user. That imply's it's any user game. Vs the CPU or user. Because the guy was wondering why you can't upgrade it. The answer was it's pointless to upgrade a rating for something that you don't use in a played game.

# 130 CM Hooe @ 07/22/14 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robrain


	That wouldn't really make sense because in Madden 25's CFM mode the only stats for O-linemen that you can upgrade with XP points are their RBK, PBK, and IBK. There is no mechanism in place to upgrade their run-block-footwork or run-block-strength, etc. Why those stats are still in the game is far more confusing when they don't even show up on the standard player stats roster screen for CFM mode is far, FAR more confusing than implementing a functional system that takes into account each player's height and weight in the proper scenarios.

Already clarified about CFM in a post before yours.

Taking into account height and weight would be fine, sure, but again it misses my original point of how much height and weight matter vs the discrete ratings which are supposed to already tell me how that player performs.

Speaking with my game design hat on, "enough" isn't an adequate descriptor for determining how much strength vs weight should matter. Where's the line? What if I have a 180 lb player with 99 STR and a 330 lb player with 70 STR crashing into each other, who wins and by how much? How much does weight matter vs how much does STR matter?

It's fine to say all these ideals, but you have to get down to the nitty-gritty and explain how each detail applies and how much for it to make sense to do.

# 131 Robrain @ 07/22/14 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	So by assumption from what this tweet says, the game operates differently in user-user games than user-CPU games? Odd, to say the least.

Seems to me that he implied that those ratings are used in neither user-vs-CPU nor user-vs-user. He seemed to be saying that they are only used in CPU-vs-CPU games currently, meaning simulating games in CFM mode.

# 132 charter04 @ 07/22/14 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robrain


	Seems to me that he implied that those ratings are used in neither user-vs-CPU nor user-vs-user. He seemed to be saying that they are only used in CPU-vs-CPU games currently, meaning simulating games in CFM mode.

I even doubt they do anything in those games. Since they can't be upgraded

# 133 Robrain @ 07/22/14 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	Already clarified about CFM in a post before yours. Taking into account height and weight would be fine, sure, but again it misses my original point of how much height and weight matter vs the discrete ratings which are supposed to already tell me how that player performs. Speaking with my game design hat on, "enough" isn't an adequate descriptor for determining how much strength vs weight should matter. Where's the line? What if I have a 180 lb player with 99 STR and a 330 lb player with 70 STR crashing into each other, who wins and by how much? How much does weight matter vs how much does STR matter? It's fine to say all these ideals, but you have to get down to the nitty-gritty and explain how each detail applies and how much for it to make sense to do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momentum

Application to collisions

Elastic collision of equal masses:

Elastic collision of unequal masses:

# 134 CM Hooe @ 07/22/14 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robrain


	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momentum

I appreciate you completely dodging my question. I know what momentum and physics are, that's not sufficient to address the problem I described.

# 135 Robrain @ 07/22/14 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	I appreciate you completely dodging my question. I know what momentum and physics are, that's not sufficient to address the problem I described.

My answer is dead simple: it's not the job of the people in these forums to program the game for the developers.

As a gamer, I EXPECT a company that's generated over $4 billion in Madden revenue:

http://money.cnn.com/2013/09/05/tech...ion/madden-25/

To be able to hire programmers that are good at math and are paid to figure those equations out and get the numbers right.

Because it's not like physics is this ultra-mysterious class of mathematics at this point in history. Not at the relative scale that would need to be implemented to create a football game.

# 136 4thQtrStre5S @ 07/22/14 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	I thought this was already pretty well known, that the ratings drive everything and that height / weight are purely cosmetic. I suppose not...? Which to me makes some sense. Why should a 300-lb player with 99 STR be stronger than a 200-lb player with 99 STR? They both have 99 STR, that should mean the same thing across all players. If the 300-lb player should be stronger, how much stronger? It just strikes me as a unwieldy game balancing can of worms best left closed.

Maybe I am not getting your point, but a 200lb guy with 90 strength would have a more dificult time dealing with a 300lb guy with 90 strength...CAuse the 200/b guy has to deal with an extra 100 lbs.

What needs to be done, if weight and height are not a factor than, even if 300lb player benches the same reps as a 200lb player - to represent the difference in weight, the 200lb player should be rated maybe an 80 str and the 300 lb player rated a 90 str....This, at this point in time, seems to be the only way to represent weight difference....else why would I not just have my 90 Str 200 lb guy run block? cause of other ratings? maybe if I adjust my sliders so blocking is better, but I think we all know, ratings really don't matter, it is sliders and game difficulty that matter, such as All-Pro or All-Madden....

It is a joke...don't even look at ratings, just adjust sliders and move on...

# 137 hanzsomehanz @ 07/22/14 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robrain


	My answer is dead simple: it's not the job of the people in these forums to program the game for the developers. As a gamer, I EXPECT a company that's generated over $4 billion in Madden revenue: http://money.cnn.com/2013/09/05/tech...ion/madden-25/ To be able to hire programmers that are good at math and are paid to figure those equations out and get the numbers right.

This is where I rest my case.

The previous gameplay designer, Victor Lugo, was also lead of the Infinity Enginr and his interviee blogs and videos would speak on these matters.

That was M13, the I.E was never mentioned again in M25 or M15 as we see it now. I appreciated Vic's education and expert speak on the subject of physics albeit things did not line up as he implied.

I no longer take their word for credence: I just let the product reveal itself. We can argue till we dry in the mouth and our lips turn purple. Reality is: their direction in the studio seldom aligns w a hardcore gamer's expectations.

If only Vic was able to carry out his plans to the peak of their physics engine potential.. alas he is gone now but when he was there his blog revealed the depth of knowledgable members on the team.

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk

# 138 4thQtrStre5S @ 07/22/14 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by urlacher51


	Franchise play interview with Donnie Moore.

I hate it - people get a chance to interview these people and then go soft on the questions...Crappy interview and interviewer......

Get on them about how ratings don't matter, how sliders work or don't work...Why they rate so high? Why they will not take the ratings from a place like FBGamers? Why not implement a mass ratings editor in the game? Why not explain how sliders work, interact and generally effect game, including penalty sliders...

This whole interview was a waste of time to make and listen to...

*** Also, so strength and then a little Pass Block and Run Block are involved in netermining how long a block is held? Yeah, maybe; until you as the RB hit the boost/accelerate button, then every defender breaks their block at the same time.....another madden joke...

# 139 Khanchus @ 07/22/14 01:09 PM

I agree with most of you with the phyiscal and technical attributes

some of the ratings are way to high such as the 94rbk for robinson

but some are fairly accurate

someone mentioned before at least we don't have a 87 Reggie bush

disappointed CJ Mosley didn't make the cut but being a ravens fan makes me biased so i cant argue with that

# 140 Matt Diesel @ 07/22/14 01:14 PM

Blake Bortles!? He is a project to begin with.

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