EA Sports Reveals Ratings for Top Rookies in Madden NFL 26
The release date for Madden NFL 26 is almost here, and players are starting to find out their ratings. For veteran players, it's likely not that exciting at this point, but for rookies, this is the first time they're seeing their Madden ratings.
Ahead of the game's August 14 release date, EA Sports dropped the ratings for some of the top rookies:
Travis Hunter, Jacksonville Jaguars: 84 overall
Ashton Jeanty, Las Vegas Raiders: 83 overall
Abdul Carter, New York Giants: 81 overall
Mason Graham, Cleveland Browns: 80 overall
Will Campbell, New England Patriots: 79 overall
Jalon Walker, Atlanta Falcons: 79 overall
Kenneth Grant, Miami Dolphins: 78 overall
Jahdae Barron, Denver Broncos: 78 overall
Mykel Williams, San Francisco 49ers: 78 overall
Maxwell Hairston, Buffalo Bills: 78 overall
Hunter being the highest rated isn't a surprise due to his two-way ability, but there's one big name left off the list. No. 1 pick Cam Ward is only rated at 71, which puts him well outside the top 10.
Now, quarterbacks typically have a stricter ratings curve than other positions, so Ward isn't too far behind his contemporaries. 2024 No. 1 pick Caleb Williams had a 76 rating going into last season, while No. 2 pick Jayden Daniels had a 74 rating.
This story was originally reported by GameDaily on Jul 30, 2025, where it first appeared.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
2025 Fantasy Football Quarterback Preview: Once again, it's okay to wait on the position in drafts
Veteran fantasy football managers picked up on this dichotomy many years ago. In the real-life NFL, the quarterback is everything. In the fantasy world we navigate, the quarterback is never the priority — at least in a standard league. [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season] Consider the current ADP board for Yahoo leagues. Superstars Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Jayden Daniels and Jalen Hurts are all landing outside the top 20. Quarterbacks are the big ticket in the real world, but you can do well at almost any price point for fantasy purposes. I like to compare fantasy QB shopping to the public transit system in New York City. If you miss a train, it's not a big deal — another one is coming in a few minutes. That's essentially my QB ethos. I'll have preferences and targets, sure — but if one train leaves without me, I'm unstressed, knowing another one is soon to arrive. Evaluating quarterbacks for fantasy purposes is about much more than pure talent, of course. You have to consider the play-caller and the pass-catchers on the roster. It's nice to draft a QB who can also run some — the forever cheat code. You might want to consider the schedule, and how many indoor or weather-safe games the player is facing. And your fantasy QB might achieve glory in part because his defense is lousy, forcing a high-scoring affair almost every week. Joe Burrow would probably be great in any context, but the crummy Cincinnati defense forced him to pump up the volume on a weekly basis in 2024. We love that. And the Bengals will probably have the same setup for 2025. Get your popcorn ready. Because of the depth of the position, I'll probably attack it reactively. If one of the vanity QBs slips a round or two, I might pivot to them — but I'm probably going to focus on my RB/WR building in the early rounds. After that, I'm thinking about upside and probably looking to draft two QBs who could easily jump a tier if things break right. It's common for me to be the last to enter the QB mix, but early to take that second option. The 2025 Fantasy QB Board (consider the top five to be in their own tier) 1. Lamar Jackson 2. Josh Allen 3. Jayden Daniels 4. Jalen Hurts 5. Joe Burrow 6. Patrick Mahomes 7. Bo Nix 8. Justin Fields 9. Jared Goff 10. Brock Purdy 11. Dak Prescott 12. Baker Mayfield 13. Jordan Love 14. Justin Herbert 15. Caleb Williams 16. Drake Maye 17. Kyler Murray 18. C.J. Stroud 19. Trevor Lawrence 20. J.J. McCarthy 21. Matthew Stafford 22. Bryce Young 23. Michael Penix Jr. 24. Geno Smith 25. Tua Tagovailoa 26. Aaron Rodgers 27. Sam Darnold 28. Cam Ward 29. Russell Wilson 30. Anthony Richardson 31. Daniel Jones 32. Joe Flacco 33. Tyler Shough 34. Jaxson Dart 35. Spencer Rattler Some 2025 QB Targets Dak Prescott, Cowboys: I know new OC Brian Schottenheimer never met a running play he didn't want to dial up, but the 2025 Cowboys might not allow him to play things that way. The Cowboys have uncertainty at the running back position and a ton of holes on defense, with or without Micah Parsons. I could easily see Dallas turn into one of the carnival teams of the year, with Prescott asked to carry the load on a weekly basis. The WR room gets a boost with George Pickens arriving, and Jake Ferguson's production generally spikes when Prescott is available. Don't forget Prescott has QB2, QB3, QB6 and QB7 seasons on his resume — and he was a legitimate MVP candidate just two years ago. Drake Maye, Patriots: It was miraculous that Maye kept his head above water with very little help last year. Now, the entire room has been repainted. Mike Vrabel is obviously a step up at head coach, and don't sleep on the Josh McDaniels rehiring — McDaniels has failed as a head coach but has an excellent resume as a play-designer. The leaky offensive line has been improved and the skill talent is better around Maye. And the second-year QB has sneaky athleticism and resourcefulness, with the potential to run for 500 yards or so. New England was a lousy four-win team last year; it looks poised to be a legitimate playoff contender this season (its win total is set at 8.5, a healthy jump from last year). So many arrows are pointing upward here. Justin Fields, Jets: He can be erratic as a passer and his sack avoidance must improve, but at least Fields is finally on a team that will leave him alone. Tyrod Taylor is a veteran backup, not a threat to the starting job. Fields isn't throwing to a deep WR room, but he did spend two years in college with Garrett Wilson — that matters. And if Fields can stay healthy for a full season, he's likely to run for 1,000 yards. Shrewd fantasy managers need to mind the gap between real-life and fantasy values, and Fields is the signature player for that concept this year. Some 2025 QB Fades Kyler Murray, Cardinals: His running comes and goes, probably depending on how his body feels at the time. He's struggled to execute in the red zone, likely tied to Murray's substandard height at the position. Well, guess what, gamers, Murray isn't getting any bigger. When I see Trey McBride and Marvin Harrison Jr. commanding high draft picks, I suspect it's tied to the idea that Murray will get better or the Cardinals will have a better sense of how to call plays for this offense. That all feels like wish-casting to me. Baker Mayfield, Buccaneers: History tells us to be suspicious when somebody has a career year deep into their NFL run. That's the situation with Mayfield, who put things together in his age-29 season. Mayfield even spiked his rushing stats, something nobody saw coming. But now Mayfield has to do it without offensive wizard Liam Cohen; Mike Evans is in his 30s; and we don't know when Chris Godwin is going to be ready to play. There's a lot of moving parts here. Even with the addition of classy rookie Emeka Egbuka, Mayfield probably gives back a lot of his juicy stats from last season. Some 2025 QB Sleepers Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars: The Lawrence nickname is on Football Reference for everyone to see: 'The Prince Who Was Promised.' Is this the year the fairy tale actually happens? Lawrence has dealt with dated coaching for most of his pro career — Doug Pederson didn't help much and Urban Meyer was a disaster. Now Liam Coen comes to town, fresh off orchestrating Baker Mayfield's glorious career year. The Jaguars should have impact players downfield, with sophomore hotshot Brian Thomas Jr. now joined by college star Travis Hunter. As disappointing as Lawrence's career has felt at times, he does have QB7 and QB12 finishes on his resume. Maybe Coen can helm him back into that lofty area. Michael Penix Jr., Falcons: Although Atlanta was a losing team last year, it wasn't the offense's fault — the Falcons were sixth in yards and 13th in points. And the arrow is likely pointed up with Penix taking over for Kirk Cousins, a limited veteran who couldn't run the entire playbook. Penix is tied to an indoor-heavy schedule, good skill talent and an Atlanta defense likely to be below average. The 2025 Falcons definitely have some carnival potential.
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Team owner predicts van Gisbergen will make a deep run in NASCAR playoffs
Labeling statistics as 'kind of an American thing,' Shane van Gisbergen avoids dwelling on his record-setting rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series. 'It normally hits me on the plane ride home or at 4 a.m. after a few beers,' van Gisbergen said Sunday after conquering the Watkins Glen International road course in New York for his fourth victory this year. 'I try to reflect on it, but I also try and get to the next week pretty quick. I'll try not to tweet at 4 a.m. this morning.' If the laid-back Kiwi were into chest-pounding on social media, the list of heady accomplishments includes being the third driver with four consecutive Cup wins on road or street courses, joining 2020 champion Chase Elliott and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon. It also includes being the first rookie with four victories — breaking a tie with seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson and three-time champion Tony Stewart — and the largest margin of victory (11.116 seconds) in Watkins Glen history and second largest this season behind his 16.567-second win at Mexico City that was the biggest gap from first to second since 2009. The next achievement could be the loftiest yet for the driver from Auckland, New Zealand, who struggles massively on the ovals that comprise most of the season. Can van Gisbergen be a legitimate championship contender in Year 1? Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks, who put his reputation on the line and convinced sponsors to risk millions on an audacious plan to make the Cup playoffs with an inexperienced and unheralded rookie, suggests a deep run awaits the No. 88 Chevrolet. 'Shane just continues to go showcase why we've made a long-term commitment to him, why we brought him over here from New Zealand and built this team around him,' said Marks, who signed van Gisbergen to a multiyear extension last week. 'Because in a sport like this where winning is so important and so hard to do, if you can catch some lightning in a bottle like we've got with SVG, you've got to really lean into it. That's what we've done. It's like seeing a plan come together.' The plan now has a path to the doorstep of a Cup title. The first round of 16 drivers is contested on three ovals, but van Gisbergen has a sizable 22-point cushion (victories are worth five points apiece for the playoffs) to overcome a 26.9 average finish on ovals. Pared down to 12 drivers, the second round features a road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway. A win there would catapult a driver into the third round, where eight drivers will square off for four berths in the championship finale at Phoenix Raceway. 'He's in a really good position,' Marks said. 'I think we have a real opportunity to get to the Round of 8.' The playoffs open at tricky Darlington Raceway, whose odd shape is among the most difficult layouts in NASCAR, but van Gisbergen is more concerned about the first-round cutoff race at Bristol Motor Speedway. He finished 38th in his April 13 debut on the Tennessee short track. 'I ran terrible there,' said van Gisbergen, who finished 20th a week earlier at Darlington. 'Bristol was so far from anything I've ever done, and that's a really tough place. That's probably the biggest worry. Darlington, I feel fine, especially now that we have a lot of points. You've just got to have three solid weeks, and you might get through. We just have to play the averages, make no mistakes and make sure we're in a good spot every week.' Zilisch future After pulling Connor Zilisch from the Cup race at Watkins Glen, Marks said it's unclear when the Xfinity Series points leader will return from the broken collarbone he suffered while celebrating his series-high sixth victory Saturday. With approval from NASCAR, Zilisch could skip the final three regular-season races and still be eligible for the Xfinity playoffs. 'He's a huge asset and a huge part of the future of the business,' Marks said. 'We have to make sure that we're not hurting any long-term opportunities by taking advantage of a short-term opportunity.' Having raced with a broken collarbone in 2021, van Gisbergen believes Zilisch could return for the Aug. 22 race at Daytona International Speedway. 'I had a weekend off and raced the next week, so pretty much what he's going to go through,' van Gisbergen said. 'I'd get a plate put in and then take it out at the end of the year. It's obviously going to be in pain. My biggest problem was tightening the belts. I could really feel the plate through the skin, and it was a horrible feeling. But I raced the next week and did pretty well. For sure with some good doctors and some good drugs, he'll get through the race fine.' Impressing the boss With team owner Michael Jordan in attendance, Bubba Wallace finished eighth at Watkins Glen (a spot ahead of 23XI Racing teammate Tyler Reddick) for a season-best fourth consecutive top 10. The stretch includes the Brickyard 400 victory that qualified Wallace for the playoffs and relieved enormous pressure from the No. 23 Toyota driver. 'Indy was life-changing,' Wallace said. 'It allowed me to not harp on all of the mistakes that I usually make at a road course. The big boss was here, so it's good to get MJ a couple of top 10s.' ___ AP auto racing:
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Dolphins bring in 2022 NFL rushing touchdowns leader for visit
The Miami Dolphins brought in free agent running back Jamaal Williams for a workout Monday, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Williams, 30, led the NFL in rushing touchdowns in 2022 with 17 and became the first Detroit Lions running back in nearly a decade to eclipse 1,000 yards in a season. But after parlaying that success into a three-year, $12 million deal with the New Orleans Saints in free agency, Williams struggled to produce with his new squad. In the last two seasons, Williams recorded only 470 rushing yards, two touchdowns, and 3.1 yards per carry. But the 224-pound power back could be a logical fit for the Dolphins, who are still struggling to get the job done in short-yardage situations. During a preseason opener against the Chicago Bears, three straight Jaylen Wright runs near the goal line were stuffed, resulting in a turnover on downs. Ollie Gordon II and Alexander Mattison found more success in those situations, but the latter suffered an injury after landing on his head. Williams worked out for the Bears a day prior to the Sunday preseason matchup. This article originally appeared on Dolphins Wire: Dolphins bring in former Lions, Saints RB Jamaal Williams for visit