3 Seahawks takeaways from Madden 24 ratings reveal
With NFL Training Camps officially underway, that means two very important things; NFL football is back and Madden is almost here, Seattle Seahawks fans!
The highly successful, yet divisive, premier football video game is set to be released on August 18th. Each year leading up to the release, EA Sports teases ratings for multiple positions. This season, EA dropped the whole bucket releasing the ratings of all the players a few weeks before the release date.
While this is just one company’s viewpoint on who the best players and teams in the league are, it’s a fascinating look at how the industry and those around it view the ratings. With the player ratings out and the game quickly approaching, here are my top three takeaways from the Madden 24 ratings reveal.
Seahawks CB Tariq Woolen gets disrespected
In what could arguably be considered the biggest gaffe by the ratings reveal, young Seahawks cornerback Tariq Woolen was rated an 83 overall. While Woolen had the 2nd largest rating jump from Madden 23 to Madden 24 (+17), much of that had to do with such a low rating from a late-round rookie. By season’s end, Woolen had clearly established himself as not just a top 7-10 cornerback in the game, but arguably the most physically impressive defensive back. The 83 overall rating means that Woolen is ranked as the 27th-best cornerback in Madden 24. Are you serious?
Guys like Marcus Peters (who just finally got a job in Vegas), D.J. Reed, Kendall Fuller, Patrick Peterson, Tyson Campbell, Kenny Moore II, and Jamal Dean are ahead of Woolen. No disrespect to any of those players, but none are on the same level or trajectory as Woolen. If you think it’s just because he’s young, fellow young ascending DB Sauce Gardner is the number 5 ranked CB and given a 93 overall rating. Even if I believe that Sauce is a slightly better overall CB than Woolen (a lot of stats support Woolen), there’s no way they’re separated by 10 points and 20+ cornerbacks.
Woolen will likely be one of those guys that gets a quick bump if they start the season strong, but in the Madden secondary, Woolen and the Seahawks have quite the team. Safeties Jamal Adams, Quandre Diggs, and Julian Love were given positive ratings of 88, 87, and 80 overall, while top-5 pick CB Devon Witherspoon was one of the highest-rated rookies, coming in at 78 overall.
Good luck trying to throw on the Seahawks in Madden, and good luck trying to throw deep on Woolen. His 98 overall speed is the second fastest in the game. Woolen might be the only CB that can keep up with Tyreek Hill’s 99 overall speed.