Madden 24 Misses Mark With Top 10-Rated Quarterbacks
The top 10-rated QBs for Madden 24 are:
I ranked my top 10 QBs earlier this week, a list differing slightly from the Madden order:
1. Mahomes, 2. Burrow, 3. Allen, 4. Rodgers, 5. Herbert, 6. Lawrence, 7. Hurts, 8 Jackson, 9. Stafford. 10. Tagovailoa.
While you can pick apart my 4-10, the top three are set in stone. Thus, Madden ranked and rated Mahomes, Burrow, and Allen accurately.
The difference between Burrow and Allen is as minuscule as the one point Madden calculates. And given Mahomes' MVP and Super Bowl wins last season, he's about four to five points better than the other two.
But Jackson at four, just three points lower than Allen, is where the list spirals off the rails. Jackson is a social media QB. He's the media's favorite QB. And he's very good. But he's not the fourth best. Or all that close to Mahomes, Burrow and Allen.
Jackson hasn't warranted a 91 overall rating since his MVP season in 2019. His passer rating for the past two seasons rests at 89, a rate slightly below the league average of 90.
Last season, Jackson was the second-least accurate passer in the NFL. He trailed only Zach Wilson, who should be lucky to have a Madden rating higher than 50.
So, unless Madden ranked Jackson based on how fun he is to play in the game -- and his speed reminds gamers of the Michael Vick years, a semi-cheat code -- EA Sports missed the mark here.
Hurts and Herbert at 88 and 87, respectively, is fair. Herbert is the better QB, considering arm talent, accuracy, strength, and vision. But Hurts was slightly better last season. Hurts has also proven to be better in big games, a metric Madden doesn't likely consider.
However, Dak Prescott over Aaron Rodgers makes no sense. None.
Rodgers, though no longer on an echelon with Mahomes-Burrow-Allen, is still the best thrower of the football in the NFL. His combination of mobility and accuracy should've scored him well higher than Prescott in Madden.
Dak is Kirk Cousins with a star on his helmet.
Speaking of mediocre QBs with good receivers, how exactly is Cousins top 10?
Tua is better than Cousins. So is Matthew Stafford. And Jared Goff. In fact, Trevor Lawrence is better than all four.
Lawrence played as well as any QB in the second half of the season, other than Mahomes.
Just because no one ever picks to play the Jags in Madden doesn't mean he should be improperly rated.
Other than all that, the Madden ranking are fine.