Behind The Grid (Read 36 times)

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Madden 11 Player Ratings: Who’s Overrated And Who’s Undervalued

The player ratings for Madden 11 have been snagged, and in addition to getting Madden heads giddy for the upcoming season of virtual football, it also gives fantasy nerds something to pour over.

Seeing as how we fall into both of these categories, we’ve decided to compare EA’s player ratings with our own fantasy football Player Value Ratings to see who got too much love from the Madden programmers. So, who’s getting a bump pre-season hype? To the numbahs!

Here are the Madden ratings for the top skill position players:

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The first three numbers that jump out to us are the 99s (the highest rating that can bestowed on a player in Madden), and this year there are three: Super Bowl quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, along with currently-disgruntled Titans RB Chris Johnson.

Johnson is a no-brainer. He’s the most valuable fantasy player in the NFL, according to our PVR, and easily deserves the 99. And while Brees and Manning have the 15th and 22nd-highest PVR’s, respectively, our numbers tend to favor running backs, since they tend to be more valuable in fantasy football. We’re cool with these as well.

We think Ray Rice is slightly undervalued by the programmers, and could easily be bumped up to a 92 or 93. The 90 is most likely due to the fact that he’s only one year into the league, but we have him pegged as the 4th most valuable fantasy player in the NFL. And where’s Miles Austin? His performance last year easily makes him a top-flight wide receiver.

In terms of overvalued players, there aren’t too many glaring cases. While rec-league all-star Steve Smith had a woefully low fantasy output last year, and may no longer be a “92,” the Madden programmers seem to believe his numbers were due to an unstable QB situation. We’re fine with that.

As far as Madden goes, these may be the most accurate ratings ever. Clearly the developers realize that the release of the ratings has become an event unto itself.

www.sportsgrid.com/nfl/madden-11-player-ratings-whos-overhyped/