Madden NFL 24 Player Ratings - Top Players at Each Position

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Re: Madden NFL 24 Player Ratings Released So Far...

I don't get caught up in the ratings stuff, but this one is a complete joke,and show how messed up they really are...

Ezekiel Elliott is 1 spot higher than Najee Harris..this is based on WHAT? exactly..based on Pro Football Reference here are his stats...

15 games 231 rushes 876 yards

https://www.pro-football-reference.c...E/ElliEz00.htm

As for Najee?

17 games 272 rushes 1034 yards

https://www.pro-football-reference.c...H/HarrNa00.htm

This coupled with TJ Watt being rated lower than he should be, shows that ratings are a joke.

One of the major guys who does ratings, bless his heart, is a Cowboy fan. That doesn't mean it's on purpose mind you. But he's likely influence by all the Cowboy games he watches and media he reads about them. It's very hard not to overvalue the players you see all the time.

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Re: Madden NFL 24 Player Ratings Released So Far...

Zack Martin is in the 99 club.

https://twitter.com/eamaddennfl/stat...DRHXEIGSDFWnJg

Dude had a 73.3 rating on Pro Football Focus but 99 in Madden. Meanwhile Nick Bosa has a 90.3 rating on Pro Football Focus but a 98 rating in Madden.

I know you're a Cowboys fan KANE699, but come on...

[Hooe]

Re: Madden NFL 24 Player Ratings Released So Far...

At the end of the day, the guys at EA Sports have access to significantly more NFL tape and data than we do, and those guys are paid specifically to digest and use all that tape and data to inform the design of their video game. We also know that current and former NFL coaches are consulted each year for the design of football components of the game. To that end, I think that the ratings designers deserve a lot more benefit of the doubt about where the ratings fall based on having access to subject matter experts and primary source material, even if we don't think the people designing the ratings are themselves football experts.

A specific example: Steelers edge defender Alex Highsmith posted 14.5 sacks, 30 pressures, and 20 QB hits in 2022, yet he checks in at OVR 82 for Madden 24. Underrated, right? Well, maybe not if you consider:

• ESPN did not include Highsmith in their 2022 top ten players lists for Pass Rush Win Rate or Run Stop Win Rate (they don't release these stats outside the top 10, as far as I know, but guys you'd expect to see do appear on these lists; Parsons, Bosa, Garrett, Donald, etc.)
• Pro Football Focus graded Highsmith as the 24th-best edge defender overall, and among edge defenders he was evaluated as only the 39th best pass rusher despite his eye-popping pressure and sack numbers
• Bootleg Football Podcast reports that the Steelers ran E-T / T-E stunts at the 10th-highest rate in the NFL in 2022, and they also called Cover 3 — be it Sky / Buzz / Cloud, or (importantly) fire zone — at the ninth-highest rate last season

So was Highsmith individually great and tearing up defenses screaming off the edge routinely defeating tackles' blocks like a Bosa / Garrett / Parsons / Miller, or was he the primary beneficiary aligning behind Cameron Heyward (who we know is great) and playing in a kitchen-sink defensive scheme called by first-year defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, who was quite obviously throwing everything at the wall to cover for the absence of injured T.J. Watt? I'd argue the latter, based on all that tracking information and grading we do have access to if we go digging for it. The average fan wouldn't even begin to know all this info or to go dig for it, much less process it to understand arriving at that latter opinion, just by scouting box scores or fantasy rankings.

[Hooe]

Re: Madden NFL 24 Player Ratings Released So Far...

Dude had a 73.3 rating on Pro Football Focus but 99 in Madden. Meanwhile Nick Bosa has a 90.3 rating on Pro Football Focus but a 98 rating in Madden.

I know you're a Cowboys fan KANE699, but come on...

Among guards, Zack Martin finished 3rd in ESPN's Pass Block Win Rate in 2022 despite playing on a Cowboys' offensive line that started something like a dozen different combinations of five players due to injuries. He is still individually great.

Personally, I would have put Martin at 99 last year (he was 98 last year), 98 this year, and given Lane Johnson 99 this year (and I'd still have Trent Williams at 99 this year as well). But I don't think it's a stretch to give out 99 to a guy who has more Pro Bowl appearances than career holding penalties and also a guy who literally every person paid to analyze football refers to as the best guard in the sport today and an active Hall of Famer.

[jerwoods]

Re: Madden NFL 24 Player Ratings Released So Far...

lol @ Zeke being included in the ratings reveal even though he's a free agent.

Also, lol @ Zeke checking in inside the top 20 RBs at OVR 84, he wasn't in PFF's top 40 running backs in 2022

at least he is in the game a few years ago DE J Clowney was not in the game at launch

[jerwoods]

Re: Madden NFL 24 Player Ratings Released So Far...

Among guards, Zack Martin finished 3rd in ESPN's Pass Block Win Rate in 2022 despite playing on a Cowboys' offensive line that started something like a dozen different combinations of five players due to injuries. He is still individually great.

Personally, I would have put Martin at 99 last year (he was 98 last year), 98 this year, and given Lane Johnson 99 this year (and I'd still have Trent Williams at 99 this year as well). But I don't think it's a stretch to give out 99 to a guy who has more Pro Bowl appearances than career holding penalties and also a guy who literally every person paid to analyze football refers to as the best guard in the sport today and an active Hall of Famer.

they still give out way too many 80's and 90's overall it needs to be what madden 10 launch rosters was that was a thing of greatness

[Kramer5150]

Re: Madden NFL 24 Player Ratings Released So Far...

Like I was saying, I don't get into the whole ratings thing, but being curious and reading this thread, I thought I would give it a look.

I would like to know how EA rates these players...is it by career? or seasonal play? Because if it's by seasonal play Highsmith should be rated higher than an 82...he stepped up his game when Watt went down and it clearly shows this in the stats, so only being an 82 is a huge slap in the face.

Also, if it's by career stats, then why is TJ only rated a 94? He was the DPOTY for crying out loud!, his rating should be a couple of notches higher as well.

[PhillyPhanatic14]

Re: Madden NFL 24 Player Ratings Released So Far...

Like I was saying, I don't get into the whole ratings thing, but being curious and reading this thread, I thought I would give it a look.

I would like to know how EA rates these players...is it by career? or seasonal play? Because if it's by seasonal play Highsmith should be rated higher than an 82...he stepped up his game when Watt went down and it clearly shows this in the stats, so only being an 82 is a huge slap in the face.

Also, if it's by career stats, then why is TJ only rated a 94? He was the DPOTY for crying out loud!, his rating should be a couple of notches higher as well.

I'm not sure that's it's the whole career, but i think they said it's more of a 2-3 year period that they take into account. When CMC went through his multiple years of hardly playing a snap due to injuries they pointed out how good he was a few years earlier as their defense for rating him so highly.

[Hooe]

Re: Madden NFL 24 Player Ratings Released So Far...

I would like to know how EA rates these players...is it by career? or seasonal play?

Performance from the most recent season based on tape study, player grading (EA Sports has stated publicly that PFF informs player ratings), big data analysis, and analytics, with some grace allowed for injuries. In the case of rookies, combine and Pro Day performance is also considered for athletic ratings.

Counting stats don't matter as much if at all because they are misleading if not entirely wrong. For example, we all know sacks are misleading for evaluating pass rushers, and we have known this for a while. The number of sacks alone does not report how opposing offenses shift their protections against certain defenders, it doesn't account for how defenses are structuring their pass pressures, it doesn't consider how often specific defenders take on and defeat double-team blocks, and so on.

I actually just talked about Highsmith in a previous post; he didn't earn his counting stats in the same ways actually great NFL edge rushers did in 2022. That difference is quantified IRL via advanced stats, team scouting and film study, and player grading. Lessons learned from that data then inform the ratings EA Sports ratings authors.

I repeat for emphasis, because I don't think people are seeing past their team allegiances to really grasp this — EA Sports has easier access than we do to far more and far more detailed information about how NFL players move and perform on NFL football fields. EA Sports and the NFL both love to tout how the Madden developer is the league's 33rd team, with the league sending them all-22 film of all their games. We also know that the NFL gives EA Sports all the data captured from players' shoulder pads during every game, which the designers then use to inform players' SPD and ACC ratings; EA Sports said as much themselves a couple years ago when they discussed how wide receiver route stems, WR-DB interactions, and route running was all rebuilt for the PS5 and XBOX Series X versions of Madden.

That level of access to game film and telemetry data is literally not available to anyone in the public, so we don't know what's in it (especially the telemetry data) or what specifically it informed EA Sports about which players, if we could even understand that data or knew how to properly study NFL all-22 film. Really the only way you get access to any subset of the telemetry data set is by participating in the Big Data Bowl, but even then you are getting old data from a couple seasons ago and you don't get a full season of data. Film is easier to come by on NFL Game Pass, but if any of you tell me you are qualified to watch NFL film and grade players my next question is "why are you arguing on Operation Sports and not working an actual football job" lol.

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Re: Madden NFL 24 Player Ratings Released So Far...

Among guards, Zack Martin finished 3rd in ESPN's Pass Block Win Rate in 2022 despite playing on a Cowboys' offensive line that started something like a dozen different combinations of five players due to injuries. He is still individually great.

Personally, I would have put Martin at 99 last year (he was 98 last year), 98 this year, and given Lane Johnson 99 this year (and I'd still have Trent Williams at 99 this year as well). But I don't think it's a stretch to give out 99 to a guy who has more Pro Bowl appearances than career holding penalties and also a guy who literally every person paid to analyze football refers to as the best guard in the sport today and an active Hall of Famer.

Yeah but higher ranking than the reining Defensive Player of the year, who got all of 8 sacks from the three other starters on that defensive line to help him? I don't think I'd do it, whatever his past has been.

[DaJuan]

Re: Madden NFL 24 Player Ratings Released So Far...

Dude had a 73.3 rating on Pro Football Focus but 99 in Madden. Meanwhile Nick Bosa has a 90.3 rating on Pro Football Focus but a 98 rating in Madden.

I know you're a Cowboys fan KANE699, but come on...

PFF rating is a good - subjective - indicator but it's no exact science.

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Re: Madden NFL 24 Player Ratings Released So Far...

PFF rating is a good - subjective - indicator but it's no exact science.

Be that as it may, PFF had him at 93.9 in 2021, which gives a baseline for that rating. How much of his All Pro in 2022 and his 99 rating this year were because of the past and how much because of last year? Assuming he did in fact play worse than before last year, it seems EA believes that regression from elite to above average was merely a bump in the road. But given his age, is that the right move? I certainly wouldn't raise him up if someone like PFF dropped him 20 points. It's my opinion the better move would be to drop him a couple of points. Still 95ish, but not higher than the reining DPOY.

[Steve_OS]

Re: Madden NFL 24 Player Ratings Released So Far...

Travis Kelce in the 99 club.

https://twitter.com/eamaddennfl/status/1682008754559000578?s=46&t=Dl-0FP-4DRHXEIGSDFWnJg

[Kanobi]

Re: Madden NFL 24 Player Ratings Released So Far...

Travis Kelce in the 99 club.

https://twitter.com/eamaddennfl/stat...DRHXEIGSDFWnJg

Of course. Anything less would be uncivilized.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Re: Madden NFL 24 Player Ratings Released So Far...

I think a significant part of the issue is that people are rating OVR, but players are different on the field in ways OVR doesn't capture. Haason Reddick and Matt Milano are both listed as outside linebackers, and both made the all-pro team last year. But they are very different players - Reddick is an elite edge rusher and Milano is a coverage / gap-shooting Will. So EA thinks broadly that Reddick (90) should be better than Milano (88).


Sure, whatever, I'll buy that. But they can't actually give them the ratings they deserve or else it would upset the formula. Reddick bounced around the league before he found a home and a position in Philly, while Milano has been one of the smartest players on 3 top 5 defenses. But if Milano had a higher AWR, his overall would get pushed over Reddick, so they knock it down. Milano has 8 INTs in his career to Reddick's 0, but boosting them would raise the OVR, so Reddick has higher catch ratings.


It also doesn't help that they don't explain what ratings actually do. Why does Von Miller (6'3 250lbs, 89IBL) have a higher impact block rating than pro bowl LT Dion Dawkins (6'5, 320lbs, 87IBL)?