All Cardinals Madden 21 ratings revealed and the biggest takeaways

Player ratings have been slowly revealed throughout the week by both EA Sports and ESPN. There were many surprises such as Rob Gronkowski, who received a 95 overall rating after his brief one-year retirement from football.

Now, EA Sports has officially released the Madden 21 ratings for every player across all 32 NFL teams and can be found here. We will be taking a look at how the Arizona Cardinals fared in the upcoming simulation football game scheduled to be released on August 25th.

Here are the biggest takeways:

• Kyler Murray received a disappointing 77 overall grade, which is ranked 21st among the quarterbacks in the game. His speed (91), acceleration (92) and change of direction (93) are second to cover star Lamar Jackson but his agility (90) is ranked fifth. He also got a throw power of 90, which should be higher.
• The 2019 Offensive Rookie of the Year has an awareness rating of 73, which is tied for 34th at his position. Not sure how it is even possible for his awareness rating to be lower than that of Daniel Jones (74) and two rookies in Joe Burrow (77) and Tua Tagovailoa (76). Let’s keep in mind that QB awareness according to EA Madden refers to passer decision making, scrambling, recognizing threats/pressure, and throwing the ball away. Murray did well in all of the above.

• The Cardinals have two players above a 90 overall rating in DeAndre Hopkins (98) and Chandler Jones (95).
• Hopkins also leads the team in important categories such as awareness (98), catching (98), and jumping (99).
• After them, they only have four players with ratings in the 80s: Patrick Peterson (88), Budda Baker (86), Larry Fitzgerald (83), Kenyan Drake (82)
• Budda Baker led the NFL with 104 solo tackles in 2019 and received a 76 tackle rating. A bit of a head scratcher here.

• Larry Fitzgerald has a catch rating of 93, which is tied for 16th in the game. He has more career tackles (39) than career drops (29).
• The team’s fastest player is Andy Isabella, who has 95 speed and 93 acceleration.
• Jordan Hicks was third in the NFL with 149 total tackles last season and has been a solid player throughout his career. Despite this, he is a 76 overall.
• For tight ends, blocking plays a big factor in their overall rating. Maxx Williams was one of the best blocking tight ends in football last season but has a 77 run-blocking rating to go with his 75 overall.
• Their starting offensive line is one of the worst-rated groups in the game: D.J. Humphries (73), Justin Pugh (76), Mason Cole (63), J.R. Sweezy (73), Marcus Gilbert (75).
• Gilbert (91) is the strongest player on the team, followed by rookie Leki Fotu (89).
• The overall ratings of the Cardinals free agent class is less than impressive: Devon Kennard (76), De’Vondre Campbell (74), Jordan Phillips (73).
• Rookie first-round pick Isaiah Simmons has a 78 overall rating and is one of the fastest players on the team. Currently listed as a strong safety, his speed (93) and acceleration (93) are both ranked second on the team. Move him to linebacker and he will be one of the fastest at his position in the game. His man coverage (68) and zone coverage (72) ratings are far too low for this talented player.

• Here are the overall ratings for the rest of the Cardinals 2020 draft class: Josh Jones (66), Leki Fotu (69), Rashard Lawrence (64), Evan Weaver (61), Eno Benjamin (65)
• Kicker Zane Gonzalez has a kick power of 96 but accuracy at a 75. He made 31 of 35 (88.6%) field goal attempts last season.

Although I did not go over every player at every position, the general takeaway for the Cardinals’ Madden 21 ratings has been disappointing from top to bottom. This team is a lot more talented than the ratings suggest. Fortunately, ratings usually gets updated every week during the regular season.

What are your thoughts? Did EA Sports get the ratings right?