Denver Broncos Madden 20 rookie ratings reaction

Rookie ratings have been revealed for the new Madden 20 video game. How did Denver Broncos rookies fare in their initial grades?

When I played Madden video games, it never really mattered what rookie ratings were because I would always go in and fix them anyway.

This year would have been no different as Madden 20 rookie ratings have been revealed and the results for the Denver Broncos (and I’m sure most every team) are not overly favorable.

The Broncos had a strong draft class according to pretty much everyone who evaluates the NFL Draft, so how did that translate to overall Madden ratings?

Let’s take a look.

https://twitter.com/Broncos/status/1146079891177136129

Overall ratings

Noah Fant – 74

Fant was three overall less than his teammate at Iowa, TJ Hockenson, who came in at a solid 77 overall.

I understand Madden has to put these things together rather quickly, but I also understand they put time and actual film study into it. That being said, there are some really annoying things about Fant’s rating that I take issue with.

First, his strength rating is a 72, which is four points less than Hockenson. Not that bench press is the only way to measure strength, but Fant had 20 reps compared to Hockenson’s 17. What gives?

Fant was also given a run block rating of 57. We get it, people think he’s bad at run blocking. I wouldn’t care so much if Jace Sternberger, the big wide receiver (basically) out of Texas A&M didn’t have a higher run block rating at 60.

Fant was graded lower, overall, than Irv Smith Jr., a second-round pick of the Vikings (75).

Dalton Risner – 69

Risner is listed as a center for Madden’s ratings, which is interesting. But although Risner was the 10th offensive lineman selected in the 2019 NFL Draft, he was given the 6th-highest grade (tied with Elgton Jenkins).

He was given the fourth-highest run block grade (74) in the class but his impact blocking rating (IBL) was an 81, which put him somewhere way down the list of linemen in this class.

Drew Lock – 67

Madden’s final quarterback ratings for this year’s class were pretty much chalk for what most people had graded them in real life.

Kyler Murray is number one, Dwayne Haskins is number two, and Drew Lock is number three.

Lock has the most experience of the three (four years starting compared to one for Murray and Haskins) but the lowest awareness rating. His short throw accuracy is substantially lower than Murray and Haskins, but his mid accuracy and deep accuracy are both right up there with those guys.

The biggest joke here is that Haskins has a better throw on the run rating than Lock. I wonder if they consulted Stephen A. Smith for that one.

Dre’Mont Jones – 67

Dre’Mont Jones was given the same rating as a bunch of day three picks. Madden rates him the 21st best defensive lineman in this year’s rookie class.

Yikes.

Justin Hollins – 66

Madden must not know that Justin Hollins ran a 4.50 in the 40-yard dash, because that isn’t reflected in his 86 speed.

AJ Brown, who ran a 4.49, was given 89 speed. Deebo Samuel, who ran a 4.48, was given 91 speed. Noah Fant, who ran a 4.50, was given 89 speed.

There’s just no consistency there.

Juwann Winfree – 65

Winfree was pretty unknown prior to the 2019 NFL Draft, so this rating is probably pretty appropriate given his experience and production.

Alijah Holder – 59

Brett Rypien – 56

I don’t know if Madden just grades on a different curve these days or what, but players with 59 and 56 overall ratings would not have been on my game years ago.

As you can see, I don’t think these ratings are overly indicative of what these players bring to the table.

At the same time, I don’t take it too seriously as this is a video game and users can manipulate the players to their heart’s desire. You just wish Madden could give the player a bit better of a starting point, because at least for the Broncos, these ratings are not very good.