The Detroit Lions Madden 19 Ratings Have Been Revealed!
It’s officially Madden season boys and girls! With the game releasing in less than a month, the developer, EA, has released the ratings for every player in the game. With the team ratings getting released last month, the Lions are a 78 overall and it seems like a fair rating for the team after their 9-7 season that was close to a playoff appearance. The ratings are a mixed bag for the Lions, with some players getting a higher overall rating than expected, and some under-appreciated. These ratings are the ones that will come out with the game when it launches but expect weekly roster updates once the season is underway. There could also possibly be a roster update before the season starts based on preseason performances.
The Offense Looks Interesting
Matt Stafford has been snubbed once again, folks. He again starts the season rated less than 90 overall once again, despite being third in the league in passing yards last season and fourth in passing touchdowns. His rating? A lousy 85 overall. Behind Stafford is nothing pretty, as if he goes down, the season is lost for Detroit.
The running backs are an interesting group. Newest Lion, LeGarrette Blount leads the pack with a shocking 87 overall, with Theo Riddick and Ameer Abdullah behind with an 84 and 82 overall. Rookie Kerryon Johnson has a 73 rating, which is a tad lower than I would have had him, while rookie fullback Nick Bawden is a 67 overall.
Next up are the wide receivers and the Lions have some solid options as they could have one of the best duos at the starting position in the NFL in Golden Tate and Marvin Jones, getting an 89 overall for Tate and an 87 for Jones. That duo could do some damage, but what is also impressive is the depth behind them in second-year wide receiver Kenny Golladay who is a 78 overall, and T.J. Jones who sits at an impressive 76 after the best season in his career so far.
Next up is the tight end position and with Eric Ebron leaving, the Lions had to do some work to find some decent replacements. The Lions signed former backup tight end Luke Willson and the madden crew sees him as the starter over Michael Roberts and Levine Toilolo, getting a 77 overall compared to the 73 for both Roberts and Toilolo, who most likely will end up as the blocking tight end.
The final piece of the offense is the offensive line and I have some mixed feelings about the ratings overall. Starting left tackle Taylor Decker is back from injury 100 percent and is a 77 which is a fair rating after missing half of last season. Madden listed both Graham Glasgow and Frank Ragnow as both centers, despite one of them going to be moving to left guard and Ragnow got a nice 76 overall as the first round pick, while Glasgow got a low 71, leaving him as the worst starting offensive lineman out of the five. The best two are on the right side as T.J. Lang is the lone right guard and the best overall at 86, while right tackle Rick Wagner is a solid 85 overall, despite not playing to that caliber last season.
Madden Reflects The Talent On Defense
Now flipping to the defensive side of the field, first up is the defensive line and while the Lions added some pieces, there were no flashy adds and the ratings reflect that. The man with the franchise tag, defensive end Ziggy Ansah is a lousy 83 overall as he has dipped in his time on Madden while starting left end Anthony Zettel got a hefty bump to an 81 overall and new number one starting defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson got a 77 overall. Kerry Hyder, despite missing all of last season with a torn Achilles, got a 78 overall and rookie Da’Shawn Hand received a 69 overall.
Next up is the linebacker core and this group changed after 2017. With Tahir Whitehead and Paul Worrilow on their way out, Devon Kennard and Christian Jones come in to possibly start, getting a 77 overall and a 74 overall, while second-year middle linebacker Jarrad Davis is hoping to improve and is tied with Kennard as the best linebacker on the team at a 77 overall. Seems like Madden didn’t get the memo of linebacker Nick Bellore possibly flipping to fullback either, but moved him up to a 71 overall to start the season out.
Now on to the cornerbacks, the place on the roster with the most depth. After an All-Pro season last year, cornerback Darius Slay gets the highest overall on the team, with a 91 overall. Cornerback/safety Quandre Diggs got moved up to a 77 overall after a good season last year. Nevin Lawson is back in Detroit, and with his number two job up for grabs, Madden sees him getting demoted to third string, possibly worse.
The final positions on defense are the safeties, strong and free. Free safety Glover Quin leads the pack with a well-deserved 87 overall as he is one of the leaders on the defense. Strong safety Tavon Wilson returns from shoulder surgery as an 81 overall, impressive for a former backup in New England.
Special Teams Doesn’t Get Respect
Special Teams, an important part in football and in Madden. While the ratings are lower than expected it was expected for punter Sam Martin after a disappointing 2017 season. Kicker Matt Prater, on the other hand, didn’t get much love by the Madden team with an 82 overall. While overall isn’t too important for kickers and punters, as kick power and kick accuracy are the main focal points, Prater, the man who has the record for the longest field goal in NFL history, has 11 kickers with a higher kick power than him. His kick power is a 95, and he is ranked the sixth best kicker in the league. Return man Jamal Agnew does have a low overall of 69, which is fair as he didn’t play much at the cornerback position last season, but after being an All-Pro return man and leading the NFL in punt return touchdowns and yards per punt return, his return rating? A horrendous 81 overall. He deserves at least a 90 overall for the solid performance that put him on the map in the NFL.
Some Interesting Factoids About The Ratings
There are a few other things that stand out when looking at some players compared to the rest of the NFL, some will certainly surprise you.
- Rookie Fullback Nick Bawden is tied for 12th out of all the fullbacks in the NFL, tied with Patrick DiMarco, Derek Watt, and Aaron Ripkowski.
- Wide receiver Marvin Jones has the same rating (87) as Allen Robinson. Robinson, in my opinion, is a better receiver, and if he didn’t miss all of last season with torn ACL he could have been a better overall.
- Quarterback Matt Stafford is ranked 11th out of the starting 32 quarterbacks in the NFL, behind an 87 overall Andrew Luck who never played a down last season…
- Cornerback Darius Slay is tied for 5th out of the cornerbacks in the NFL. Ahead of him is Jalen Ramsey, A.J. Bouye, Patrick Peterson, Desmond Trufant, and Xavier Rhodes, tied with Casey Hayward Jr. While Ramsey, Bouye, and Peterson deserve to be ahead of Slay, the others being ahead is a small dig at Slay.
- Running back LeGarrette Blount is the 10th best running back in the NFL, a bold statement made by the Madden team, ahead of better running backs like Leonard Fournette, Dion Lewis, and Mark Ingram.
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