The Game Haus will be analyzing the Madden 19 ratings of every NFL team. Madden has a daunting task of rating all NFL players and their attributes. They have the ability to correct some of these rankings with in-season roster updates, but there are some issues with their initial rankings of players. This article will examine the Madden 19 ratings of the Arizona Cardinals.
Chandler Jones celebrates after one of his seventeen sacks in 2017. (Photo by the Boston Herald)
In 2017, Jones officially emerged as one of the NFL’s premier pass rushers, leading the league in sacks with 17. According to footballperspective.com, his approximate value was 15, which ranked 18th amongst the entire NFL and 9th amongst defensive players.
Jones is listed as a right-end in Madden 19 and is rated an 89-overall, tying him as the 12th highest rated defensive-end. To put this in perspective, Jones’ shares an 89-overall rating with fellow defensive-ends Cameron Wake of the Miami Dolphins and Jabaal Sheard of the Indianapolis Colts, who both started all 16 games in 2017 and both finished the year with approximate values of 7. Clearly, Jones is a more impactful player than his defensive-end counterparts, unfortunately, the EA Sports team failed to recognize this.
Sam Bradford answers questions during his inaugural press conference in Arizona. (Photo by Arizona Sports)
Bradford signed a 1-year, $20 million contract with the Cardinals for the 2018 season. The first-overall pick in the 2010 NFL draft has had an underwhelming career, as he displays a 34-45-1 regular season record and 62.5 percent completion rate. Due to many severe injuries, the 30-years-old has started all 16-games only twice (2010 & 2012). The most recent injury came to his left knee, which ended his 2017 season in week 2, despite not being put on the injured reserve until week 10.
Now that we have grazed over the negative, we can attack the positives. Over the past two seasons, while Bradford is on the field, he has been one of the best quarterbacks in the entire NFL. In 17 regular season games in 2016 and 2017 combined, Bradford has a 9-8 record, a 72 percent completion rate, and 23 touchdowns compared to just 5 interceptions. His interception rate of 0.9 in 2016 ranked best among quarterbacks with at least 500 passing attempts.
Bradford is rated 79-overall in Madden 19, tying him as the 25th highest rated quarterback with fellow veteran Joe Flacco and rookie Lamar Jackson, both of the Baltimore Ravens. In comparison to Bradford, Flacco has never had a season with a completion rate above 65 percent and has had an interception rate of 2.2 percent or above every season since 2013. Jackson, the 32nd pick in the 2018 NFL draft, has yet to step on an NFL field and isn’t anticipated to begin the season as the starter. With this said, it seems blasphemous to give Bradford the same rating as both Flacco and Jackson, as he is clearly the superior player at the current moment.
Chandler Jones: 95
Sam Bradford: 82
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