It goes without saying that the makers of Madden have been known to make a mistake on occasion. Even the game’s infamous ratings adjuster, who’s been known to patrol the sidelines at NFL games to obtain first-hand information in his role, can get things wrong in the murky science of evaluating talent. Though Madden 24 is now out, it’s hardly expected that the ratings will be perfect before the season has even begun and time will only tell just how much adjusting the aforementioned ratings adjuster will need to make as the weeks progress.
Let’s take a shot at anticipating which players’ ratings are most likely to rise and fall during the season by highlighting some specific ratings that seem a little off from the outset. We’ll make the case for a handful of ratings where players perhaps haven’t been given quite enough credit in their rating and another batch that have likely received too generous a scouting report.
Too Low
Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo Bills (94 OVR)
As Madden 24‘s cover athlete, you might assume that Josh Allen’s rating would be slightly inflated as a token of appreciation for him being this year’s face of the game (and playing through an elbow injury last year). Instead, Allen finds himself not only trailing Patrick Mahomes (as one might expect) but also one point lower than the Bengals’ Joe Burrow. While it’s entirely possible to make the argument that Burrow is in fact better than Allen heading into this season, there likely would have been few complaints if Allen and Burrow simply swapped their ratings. If Allen or his representation had been hard-line negotiators, they could have insisted on Allen’s rating being better than Burrow’s before even committing to being on the cover.
Daniel Jones, QB, New York Giants (75 OVR)
There are a number of quarterbacks who are likely disappointed or upset by their ratings, but with all due respect to Russell Wilson (77 OVR) and Justin Fields (76 OVR), no QB may have been more disrespected by Madden 24 than the Giants’ Daniel Jones. For someone who not only led his team to an unexpected playoff berth with zero marquee receivers but also managed to beat the Vikings in Minnesota in the Wild Card round, you would hope these accomplishments would place him a little higher than the 75 OVR Madden 24 has assigned him. What makes it even more puzzling is that Jones has shown the kind of ability with his legs that would usually inflate that overall rating to perhaps be higher than you would imagine.
Alex Highsmith, ROLB, Pittsburgh Steelers (82 OVR)
It’s a sign of just how much of an under-the-radar rising star Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith is that Madden 24 still has him rated so low. Despite putting up an impressive 14.5 sacks last season, Madden 24 has placed Highsmith lower among other right outside linebackers than players whose numbers weren’t nearly as gaudy. Khalil Mack, who only put up 8 sacks last year and is six years older than Highsmith, somehow is rated 3 points higher at an 85. Chandler Jones is even older at 33 and amassed just 4.5 sacks last year and yet Madden 24 considers Highsmith to be his equal by also being rated an 82 overall.
Tyler Allgeier, HB, Atlanta Falcons (78 OVR)
In the same vein of Highsmith, Falcons’ running back Tyler Allgeier accomplished the feat of rushing for over 1,000 yards last year, but perhaps because he was on a team that were never really considered contenders (and stuck behind the dynamic Cordarelle Patterson on the team’s depth chart), many people probably still don’t know his name. Madden 24 continues that trend of overlooking Allgeier by assessing him to be only a 78 overall. The same issue may arise for him this year once again with the dynamic Bijan Robinson now in the fold, but I still won’t be shocked if Allgeier ends up getting more touches than expected on a team that wants to run the ball quite a bit.
DJ Reed, CB, New York Jets (83 OVR)
Probably because he had rookie phenom Sauce Gardner playing on the other side of the field, the talents of Jets’ cornerback DJ Reed were bound to be overshadowed. Though Gardner gets plenty of respect in Madden 24 with his 93 OVR rating, Reed isn’t held nearly as in high regard with his 83 OVR. Granted, Reed did only have the one interception in 2022, but he was ranked 8th in coverage among all cornerbacks in the league by Pro Football Focus and only gave up one play longer than 20 yards all season.
Too High
DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Tennessee Titans (93 OVR)
With all due respect to the impressive career that game-breaking receiver DeAndre Hopkins has enjoyed up to now, there are reasons to believe he’s no longer at the elite level warranting a 93 overall in Madden 24. For starters, he recently turned 31 and the body has proven to not quite be the same for wideouts past the age of 30. To that point, Hopkins has not managed to stay on the field for the entirety of the past two seasons and, regardless of how effective he’s been when playing, that has to be concerning.
Jalen Ramsey, CB, Miami Dolphins (97 OVR)
There was a time when Jalen Ramsey was without question the best cornerback in the NFL, but those days may have already come and gone. A slow start to the 2022 season following a Super Bowl run in 2021 where Ramsey no longer appeared to be the shutdown corner he had proven himself to be left many wondering if he had lost a step. While he did right the ship enough by the end of last season to entice the Dolphins to make a monster trade for him, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him drop in the Madden 24 ratings at the position below someone like Sauce Gardner by the end of the 2023 season, especially since he’ll be on the shelf for a large majority of the season now.
Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Miami Dolphins (83 OVR)
The injury concerns alone are sufficient enough with Tua to make you wonder if Madden 24 isn’t being optimistic about his abilities coming into 2023. Assuming he is completely healthy though, there’s also the nagging thought that perhaps the big numbers he compiled in 2022 when he was on the field are owing more to the dynamic tandem of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle than to the skills of the quarterback.
Zach Ertz, TE, Arizona Cardinals (83 OVR)
As with Hopkins and Tagovailoa, there can’t help but be worries that Zach Ertz isn’t the same dangerous weapon at tight end that he was prior to suffering a debilitating ACL injury in 2022. Ertz will be turning 33 this year, and while he’s savvy enough to still be a possession target for 3rd down conversions, his days of catching balls down the field could be behind him. He starts the year tied at an 83 overall with the Bills’ Dawson Knox and it will be surprising if Knox doesn’t end the season with a higher rating.
Justin Tucker, K, Baltimore Ravens (91 OVR)
After what was a bit of a down year in 2022 for Ravens’ kicker Justin Tucker compared to the near-perfection he’s exhibited in the past, Madden 24 seems to have decided to give him a bit of a pass. Despite making only 86% of his field goals last year (though only one of his misses was under 50 yards), an accuracy mark that hasn’t been so low for Tucker since 2015, Tucker’s 91 rating is still somehow 8 points better than the next highest rated kicker in Daniels Carlson at 83 overall. This discrepancy seems especially strange considering Carlson converted 91.9% of his own field goals in 2022 (including 11 of 13 from 50+ yards).
