Prior to the August release of Madden NFL 21, we spent the week revealing the league’s best player ratings and standings.
We’ll start with the quarterbacks on Monday and end with wide receivers later this week, ending with a SportsCenter special on Friday, July 17 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN and the ESPN app, which will break down the qualification process and include interviews with players. Check out First Take, SportsCenter, and Get Up this week for more Madden interviews and discussions.
Let’s get into the QB standings in Madden NFL 21, which will be released to fans on August 25:
Quarterbacks
There’s a new 99 overall, and the old quarterback guard, for the most part, is starting to decline. Four new quarterbacks entered the top 10, and should remain on this list for most of the next decade.
That includes cover athlete Lamar Jackson and a group of 20-plus others who will be the faces of the league in the 2020s.
1. Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs (99 overall): Mahomes is the first quarterback not named Drew Brees, Tom Brady, or Aaron Rodgers in the decade to earn an overall rating of 99 to start a season. Last year’s cover athlete and highest-rated quarterback for the second year in a row, Mahomes threw for 287.9 yards per game and led the Chiefs to a Super Bowl victory.
2. Russell Wilson, Seahawks (97 overall): Wilson played at the MVP level last year and could have won the award if Lamar Jackson had not had a landmark season. Wilson threw more than 4,000 yards for the first time since 2016 and connected more than 30 touchdown passes for the third consecutive year, jumping from a total of 91 to start last year and from sixth to second among quarterbacks.
3. Lamar Jackson, Ravens (94 overall): Jackson, this year’s Madden cover athlete, has made a massive leap from the start of last season, when he was 76 overall and 25th quarterback, to his current position as 3rd quarterback. in the game. After an MVP season in 2019, the question will be whether Madden’s developers did too good, like Michael Vick in Madden ’04, which theoretically broke the game.
4. Drew Brees, Saints (93 overall): Showing age is unrelated to the start of the game, Brees actually improved a point from where he started last season, as 92 overall (T-4). Brees, one of the most accurate passers in history, completed 70% or more of his releases for the fourth consecutive season in 2019.
5. Tom Brady, Bucs (90 overall): Twenty years after appearing as QB No. 12 in Madden ’01, it will be the first time for the future Hall of Famer, a new team. Moving from the New England Patriots to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brady has seen his overall rating drop from 96 last year to 90 this season (his worst starting rating since the early 2000s), and he went from second to fifth in QB ratings. This makes sense after Brady had one of his worst 16-game statistical seasons (4,057 yards, 24 touchdowns, 60.8% completion) in a decade. However, this could be a rating that jumps quickly, considering the offensive options around it.
6. Aaron Rodgers, Packers (89 overall): Two years ago, Rodgers had a 99 overall. Last season, he started the year as 90. Now, for the first time in more than a decade, Rodgers will start a season below 90 at 89, which is where he ended last season. Rodgers’ completion percentage has decreased in each of the past four seasons, and he has not thrown 30 touchdowns in a season since 2016. Rodgers, however, still moved up one place in last season’s overall QB ratings, in part due to the decline of Philip Rivers and the retirement of Andrew Luck.
7. Matt Ryan, Falcons (87 overall): Ryan lost two rating points and moved up one spot from his start last season (89 overall, eighth overall) after a season in which he had his highest interception total (14) since 2015.
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Tre’Davious White and Lamar Jackson are among the NFL stars waiting to hear how they will be qualified for Madden 21, which will be revealed July 13-17 on ESPN.
8. Deshaun Watson, Texans (86 overall): Watson, after his second Pro Bowl appearance, jumped four rating points despite having a lower completion percentage, fewer yards, and more interceptions than in 2018. But Watson is clearly a rising player, and his rating reflects it.
T-9. Dak Prescott, Cowboys (84 overall): While discussions of Prescott’s contract won’t affect his game at Madden, his performance on the field a year ago saw him take a three-point jump in ratings. Prescott threw 30 touchdowns for the first time in his career and 4,902 yards, more than 1,000 yards better than his previous best mark. Like Watson, he imagines he will continue to move up the QB rankings for years to come.
T-9. Carson Wentz, Eagles (84 overall): Wentz jumped two points in the standings and climbed three places on the QB ranking to No. 10 after playing 16 games for the first time since his rookie season and throwing more than 4,000 yards for the first time in his career.
Dropped from last year’s top 10: No. 3 Philip Rivers; T-4 Andrew Luck (retired), No. 9 Ben Roethlisberger; No. 10 Cam Newton.
Check out more position ratings this week.
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