In what may be the first case ever of a reigning Super Bowl Champion entering the next Madden rated the same as a team that went 3-13, both the Denver Broncos and Tennessee Titans begin Madden NFL 17 rated 82 Overall.

Denver of course lost Peyton Manning (while terrible last year he still had a good Madden rating) and Brock Osweiler, replacing them with Mark Sanchez and rookie Paxton Lynch. QB obviously drives a big part of a team Overall. Malik Jackson and Danny Trevathan also departed in free agency. Denver is tied with the Browns for the distinction of having the worst offense in the AFC but trail only the Chiefs as the conference’s best defense.

With the QB factor in mind the low rating for the Jets could make sense if the base roster making up these team ratings for Madden 17 doesn’t include the recent signing of Ryan Fitzpatrick and instead has the team led by Geno Smith. Fitzpatrick will obviously be on the team with the day-one roster update if he’s not on the initial roster that ships with the game.

These ratings are meant to be a representation of the “whole” but don’t necessarily reflect how effective the teams will be in Madden. The number of players rated 90+ and 80+ on the rosters maybe says more about them. Remember, the Overall numbers are lower with M17, but the actual players are being rated essentially the same or higher this year.  Read more

EA Sports today released the full database of player ratings for Madden NFL 17. You can check them all out in this sortable spreadsheet which also includes tabs found at the bottom for individual team-by-team rosters.

With Madden NFL 17 the Overall Rating has been lowered across the board and that’ll elicit some immediate reactions. On the surface the lowering of the Overall Rating makes it look like a new philosophy to the ratings system has been implemented and that they’ve been more spread out. It’s artificial however as discovered by investigating the individual attributes which are generally the same if not higher in key categories for most of the players.

The Seahawks have the most players rated 90+ (6) and NE/CIN/DEN/DAL/GB/CAR are next in line (4). However it’s the Patriots that have the most 80+ rated players (20) and in what may come as a surprise to many the Cowboys and Raiders are next in line (18). The 49ers, Chargers, and Jaguars have no players rated 90+ while the 49ers and Browns (7), Bears (9), and Rams (10) have the fewest rated 80+.

The reveal of the top rated players by position for Madden NFL 17 is nearing its conclusion with a look at the best safeties in the league. All that remain now are the punters and kickers.

On the outside-looking-in to begin the season are Eric Weddle and Da’Norris Searcy plus the likes of (the all currently unemployed) Will Hill, Donte Whitner, and James Ihedigbo – all of which finished tied for a final spot or off by a single point at the conclusion of last season.

Free Safety
T-#3 Malcom Jenkins – 93 Overall
T-#3 Eric Berry – 93 Overall
T-#3 Earl Thomas – 93 Overall  Read more