The Game Haus will be analyzing the player ratings from Madden 19 of every NFL team. Madden has a daunting task of rating all NFL players and their attributes. While they have the ability to correct some of these rankings with in-season roster updates, there are some issues with some of the initial rankings of players. This article will look into the head-scratching Madden 19 ratings for the Carolina Panthers.

Greg Olsen

Olsen is widely regarded as one of the best tight ends in the NFL. Unfortunately, due to injury, Olsen was only able to appear in seven games last season. It wasn’t a year to remember for Olsen, but he shouldn’t be remembered by an injury-plagued season. Madden seemingly forgot how good Olsen is, as they rated him a 92.

That rating in and of itself isn’t terrible, but the players ranked ahead of him are. Both Jordan Reed and Delanie Walker are rated ahead of him (Zach Ertz is also rated below those two at 92 overall, which is crazy, but this article will stick to the Panthers). Both tight ends, with the exception of last season, aren’t nearly as productive as Olsen.

If Madden is hesitant about rating Olsen higher than those two because of his injury, shouldn’t they be consistent and be hesitant about rating the injury-prone Reed a 94? If they are worried about Olsen aging, shouldn’t they take into account that Walker is actually a year older (on August 12) than Olsen?

Julius Peppers

Peppers is an ageless wonder and had 11 sacks last season. It was his first season back with the Panthers four seasons with the Bears and three with the Packers. The 38-year-old has shown he has more left in the tank for the 2018 season, but was rated at an 82 overall.

There are several less productive players rated higher than Peppers by Madden. Jerry Hughes, Vinny Curry, William Hayes, Jason Pierre-Paul and Chris Jones all had fewer sacks last season. This might be Madden again trying to predict production drop-offs based on age. With weekly roster updates in the new Madden games, is it totally necessary for them to predict a dip in production before it actually happens?

The rating of 82 gives no respect to how Peppers played last season.

Mario Addison

Addison and Peppers are in the same boat in terms of being a defensive end that was underrated by Madden. They both had 11 sacks, but Addison is just 30-years-old. Addison may have been penalized because he is a late-bloomer and first got to the 9.5 sack mark in 2016, but his overall rating of 80 is too low.

With the players rated higher than Peppers and the additional players rated ahead of Addison with less production, the Madden ratings on defensive ends overall don’t make any sense. Now, getting sacks isn’t the only thing required of defensive ends, but that is what they are paid for. Addison, and Peppers, are good enough at the other skills required for a defensive end to still be rated higher than a lot of players ahead of them.

Adjusted Ratings

Greg Olsen: 94

Julius Peppers: 84

Mario Addison: 83

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