July 23, 2022
One of the most heated talking points in professional football has been renewed for another year: Madden ratings.
EA Sports released "Madden NFL 23's" team and player ratings in full on Friday with the final reveal of the game's top quarterbacks going into its mid-August launch.
How do the Eagles stack up? Let's take a look...
As a team, the Birds come in at 85 overall, with an 83 rating on defense, a 78 on offense, and 77 on special teams. They rank in at 10 out of the 32 teams to start, coming in behind the likes of the Buccaneers, Bills, defending champion Rams, rival Cowboys, and the ever-contending Chiefs.
Surprisingly, they also rank slightly ahead of the upstart AFC champion Bengals.
| Team | Overall | Defense | Offense | Special Teams |
| Tampa Bay | 92 | 85 | 92 | 75 |
| Buffalo | 89 | 88 | 89 | 77 |
| LA Rams | 88 | 88 | 85 | 76 |
| Green Bay | 88 | 87 | 86 | 68 |
| Baltimore | 87 | 85 | 84 | 88 |
| LA Chargers | 87 | 86 | 88 | 73 |
| Dallas | 86 | 80 | 87 | 70 |
| Kansas City | 86 | 77 | 86 | 87 |
| San Francisco | 86 | 86 | 81 | 81 |
| Eagles | 85 | 83 | 78 | 77 |
| Cincinnati | 85 | 79 | 85 | 85 |
| Arizona | 84 | 76 | 83 | 81 |
But those numbers in general seem a little low at first glance don't they? You'd figure after a huge offseason, highlighted by the additions of defensive "weapon" Haason Reddick and star receiver A.J. Brown, that the ratings might be a little more generous, but the team down at EA Tiburon in Florida doesn't seem to be buying into the hype that much of the Delaware Valley is, at least not initially.
Here are the Eagles' 10 best players heading into "Madden 23" based on overall rating:
• Darius Slay, CB, 92 OVR
• Lane Johnson, RT, 92 OVR
• Jason Kelce, C, 90 OVR
• Fletcher Cox, DT, 88 OVR
• A.J. Brown, WR, 87 OVR
• Dallas Goedert, TE, 85 OVR
• Javon Hargrave, DT, 84 OVR
•.Jordan Mailata, LT, 84 OVR
• DeVonta Smith, WR, 83 OVR
• Haason Reddick, 82, LOLB
Darius Slay comes in as one of the game's top corners and, unsurprisingly, Lane Johnson and Jason Kelce are rated as two of the better offensive linemen.
Brown, while not one of the game's top 10 receivers, should at least be a consistent pass-catching option when playing with the Birds after several years of any eligible receiver not named Zach Ertz or Dallas Goedert sticking to defensive backs like glue.
It's the guy throwing the passes that might be a problem though, in-game that is.
Jalen Hurts has top-10 speed for quarterbacks with an 87 rating in the category, but doesn't hold up too well outside of the ground game. He's rated 74 overall, which is the 24th highest rating of all QBs in the game. And if you played with the Eagles heavily in "Madden 22," you'll know that it means completing even the most routine passes will continue to be somewhat difficult with Hurts, especially with the new passing mechanics detailed HERE by my friend Logan Moore over at ComicBook.com
Keep in mind though that these are just the ratings at launch, and they will all fluctuate based on how the 2022 NFL season plays out. Anything can happen.
"Madden 23" releases August 19 and will be a particularly heavy year for the long-running series as it celebrates its namesake John Madden, the Hall of Fame coach, broadcaster, and videogame icon who passed away in December.
We spoke to Philly artist Chuck Styles last month, who was commissioned by EA to create the three covers featuring Madden himself in a conversation you can check out HERE.
Tomas Franzese over at DigitalTrends also spoke to series producer Aaron McHardy about how Madden's passing affected the development team's approach to this year's game and how they plan to pay tribute to his legacy within it, which you can check out HERE.
And to see the full "Madden 23" player ratings, click HERE.
Follow Nick on Twitter: @itssnick
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
