With all the buzz surrounding Madden 22, there will definitely be some debate over rookie ratings. Earlier this year, some of the top draft picks predicted theirs.
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Today, the cover for the “MVP” edition of EA Sports’ Madden NFL 22 officially dropped. It will feature 2 past league MVPs, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, who went head-to-head with each other in Super Bowl LV in February.
In that game, Brady’s experience easily trumped Mahomes’ youth, although both players had stellar performances. Many fans see this year’s cover as a proverbial “passing-of-the-torch” between 2 generations.
While the Madden games have come under heavy criticism of late for not showing any difference or improvement year after year, the latest edition has promise.
Given that the game will release on the next-gen consoles (PS5 and Xbox Series X|S), it looks as though EA will be trying out a handful of new features. For example, fans can expect homefield advantage and an improved franchise mode.
As we keep receiving more information about the game, one thing to keep an eye out for is player ratings. Obviously, being subjective measures of a player’s skill, the ratings are heavily debated and scrutinized.
This is especially true for rookies, considering that they’ve never even played a single snap of professional football.
NFL Rookies Predict their Madden 22 Ratings
During the draft media proceedings, some of the top prospects were asked to predict their Madden ratings. In early May, after the draft concluded, the video started making rounds on social media after some of the rookies had some hopeful predictions.
We had some of the new QBs predict their rookie Madden ratings.
Whose guess do you think is most accurate? 🤔 @EAMaddenNFL pic.twitter.com/oHPRaLx4zv
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) May 14, 2021
Bears QB Justin Fields was applauded for staying realistic in his evaluation, predicting his rating to fall within the 78-81 range. It’s probably because Fields actually plays Madden that he was a good judge of how EA would rate him.
The same can’t exactly said for the other players, who were a little more optimistic. Mac Jones predicted an 85, Trey Lance an 88, and Zach Wilson a 90.
All of these are highly unlikely to even be close given the highest ever rookie rating was Andrew Luck with an 83 overall. Also, the highest rating usually goes to the #1 pick, which was Jags QB Trevor Lawrence this year.
The Clemson alum will probably get the highest rookie rating, somewhere between 80-83.
