Madden Presents…Playoff Hits

Bode
On Blast
Published in
3 min readNov 23, 2020

Madden ratings are holistic, meticulous 360° view of your players spanning from their acceleration to pass block finesse. Take a look at your team’s ratings using the interactive Airtable below.

Notice that some players are designated a teal-label, which are reserved for elite players with an overall rating of 89 and up.

Team Madden Ratings

Madden Quick Hits

Playoff Lock Teams

  • With the 4th lowest total team rating, Kong’s team has looming question marks, specifically with his pedestrian pass-blocking RB’s: RoJo’s pass block rates at 54, while Henderson rates at 34. A couple blown blitz pickups are all it takes to being phased out of the RB2 game plan against a blitz-heavy defense. Leads are key to these guys’ floors.
  • Madden likes the week-winning upside in each of Theo’s receivers, giving them strong Spectacular Catch ratings across the board: Evans 97, Keenan 93, Claypool 86, and Diontae 84. Despite Gurley’s negative TD regression, Theo can rest easy heading to the playoffs, knowing that his team can score 140+ points on a week where his lead RB did not hit paydirt.
  • Ramon’s team is incredibly balanced with zero players rated below 80, but outside of Adams, this team is looking for league-winning upside. Ramon needs more firepower, especially after Boyd and Anderson’s starting quarterbacks got knocked out due to injury. All eyes are on Carson and Mostert’s returns, whose 87 overall ratings are on the cusp of teal-label territory, if they can stay healthy.
  • While Meyers’ throw accuracy rating of 48 is not bad for a WR, Madden does not see Caleb’s Burkhead-Meyers stack (average rating of 75) as a sustainable combination for wins. Caleb will need to find a glitch in the matrix elsewhere — Madden favors old heads like AB (88 overall rating) or Bell (82).

Rate Race

  • Vince’s QB1, Deshaun Watson, has elite tier potential when he becomes a runner. With the RB ceiling being capped by Drake & Edmonds splitting usage and Ekeler’s injury, Watson’s rushing is less of a bonus and more a necessity to stay in this race:
  • With yet another elite teal-label player ailing after Julio’s exit in the 3Q, Danny’s team needs recent WW pickup Josh Reynolds to continue his emergence as a X-factor tonight. Reynolds’ rating has risen in the past several weeks, featuring an upgraded catch (86) and release rating (74).
  • Madden gave Gordon’s 4-WR unit a league-high average rating of 88! Each receiver is right on the cusp of elite tier, but unlucky game scripts and injuries have kept this team from blooming. Coupled with Taylor’s steady decline from RB1 territory (last 2 weeks: BC Vision -1, Awareness -2), Gordon needs his receivers to hit similarly as Theo’s team.
  • Armed with two teal-label players, Alex’s squad has big play ability: Jones’ juke move rating (91) combined with Russ’ absurd ball-carrier vision rating (93). Both designated hitters will need to rake, especially when Hurst and Hollywood are prone to striking out lately.
Brown’s route running rating changes the past 2 weeks
  • Last year’s champ keeps fighting every week for a potential playoff 6–7 finish. It’s an uphill climb to the final playoff spot, but if Sammy’s squad can miraculously make it, his team is a true dark horse: he has the 4th highest team rating with 3 teal-label players in Lockett, Thielen, and Jacobs, who have all popped off for 30+ point games.

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