Questionable Madden 21 Ratings: Minnesota Vikings

EA Sports’ Madden franchise has the daunting task of ranking all NFL players and their attributes. While they have the ability to correct these rankings with in-season roster updates, there are some issues with the initial rankings of players. So, The Game Haus will be analyzing the most questionable ratings for players on every NFL team.

Here are the most questionable Madden 21 ratings for the Minnesota Vikings.

Michael Pierce – 91

The Vikings signed Michael Pierce to replace Linval Joseph in the middle of their defense.

After cutting a few veteran players the Minnesota Vikings signed nose tackle Michael Pierce to sure up the interior of their defensive line. The Vikings signed Pierce to a three yearm, $27 Million deal.

Before signing with Minnesota, Pierce was an undrafted free agent out of Samford that played the last four years with the Baltimore Ravens. Pierce has been a valuable run defender because of his size, but only has 3.5 career sacks.

Pierce is one of the better nose tackles in the league, but many would not call him the third best defensive tackle in the league. The only two defensive tackles ahead of Pierce as rating goes is Fletcher Cox and Chris Jones. Notable players like Grady Jarrett, Kenny Clark, Geno Atkins and DeForest Buckner are a head of Pierce. This also made Pierce the best pure nose tackle in the game. While he is not the best nose tackle in the NFL.

Pierce is a very good NFL player and could thrive in a new defensive scheme in Minnesota. However his Madden rating is just way too high right now to represent his play.

Adjusted Rating – 87

Eric Kendricks – 89

Eric Kendricks is already one of the best middle linebackers in the NFL. Photo: si.com

This past season Eric Kendricks entered the conversation as the leagues best inside linebacker. Not only did he have 110 tackles but he had 12 passes defended. This was Kendricks’ fourth season in a row with over 100 tackles. He has never had under 90 in a season.

This past season Kendricks was voted to the Pro Bowl and was a First Team All-Pro.

After Bobby Wagner there is a huge drop off among inside linebackers. After Wagner the next best inside linebacker is Lavonte David and he is rated 8 points lower than Wagner. Than one point lower than David is Kendricks. It is understandable to put Bobby Wagner in his on category. But the gap between Kendricks and Wagner should not be nine points.

If Kendricks continues to build upon what he did last season he will get the rating he deserves. However right now he is severely underrated.

Adjusted Rating – 91

Danielle Hunter – 89

Danielle Hunter makes it a debate between him and Kendricks for best player in the Vikings front seven.

Danielle Hunter has been an absolute monster for the Minnesota Vikings over the past couple of seasons. Now that Everson Griffen appears to have moved on, Hunter is now officially the teams primary edge rusher.

This past season Hunter tied his sack total from the year before with 14.5, giving him 54.5 sacks in five seasons. He has been a Pro Bowler in each of the past two seasons and was a Second Team All-Pro in 2018.

Hunter slots in at 8th among the Left and Right Defensive Ends (LE & RE), but is rated a lot lower than the higher players on the list. There are certainly defensive ends who are more talented than Hunter, however there is not that large of a gap between a player like Myles Garrett, who is a 93, and Danielle Hunter as far as production and talent goes. Even Joey Bosa could be put in the same category of edge rusher as Hunter and he is a 91 overall.

It is hard to picture a player with the talent of Hunter not being listed over a 90 overall in Madden at any point this season. Especially since he should have been rated there to begin with.

Adjusted Rating – 91

Kirk Cousins – 82

After his success last season Kirk Cousins is still an underrated quarterback. Mandatory Credit: David Berding-USA TODAY Sports

It is fair to call Kirk Cousins one of the leagues best game managers over the course of his career. After having Super Bowl aspirations in his first season the team missed the playoffs with an 8-7-1 record. However in his second year with the Minnesota Vikings Cousins played like a top-10 quarterback.

After six seasons with the Washington Redskins Cousins joined the Minnesota Vikings. Cousins went his second Pro Bowl this past season. Cousins finished among the league leaders in the important quarterback categories. He had 3,603 passing yards (16th), 26 passing touchdowns (12th), six interceptions (23rd most) and with a 107.4 QBR (4th).

Cousins has the same overall as Philip Rivers who many said ‘lost a step last season’ and ‘appears finished’. But Cousins played at a pretty high level last year.

Though Cousins gets a bad rap because of his inability to win in primetime games, he is a good quarterback who can be one of the leagues best quarterbacks on any given night. But his Madden rating states that he is about an average quarterback, maybe slightly bellow average.

Adjusted Rating – 84

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