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The folks from Electronic Arts have been releasing the ratings for all of the players in the upcoming Madden NFL '15 slowly, and today is NFC North day. We have the ratings for the Minnesota Vikings (thanks to the folks at GoMadden.com), and we're going to take a brief look at them for now. We're expecting a more in-depth look at them in the near future.
Let's start by taking a look at who the top ten eleven (thanks to ties) Vikings are in terms of their "Overall" rating.
As far as the bottom of the totem pole? Well, apparently sharing a name with the head coach doesn't get you a lot of respect in the world of Madden. . .linebacker Mike Zimmer is the lowest-rated member of the Minnesota Vikings with an overall rating of 59.
People are going to be naturally curious about the quarterback position, and the folks from Electronic Arts have all three. . .yes, all three. . .of the team's quarterbacks very tightly bunched. Matt Cassel is rated a 78 overall, with Teddy Bridgewater and Christian Ponder both coming in with a rating of 77. Bridgewater seems to have the advantage in most of the rating categories, however.
| Name | OVR | SPD | ACC | STR | AGI | AWR | CAR | THP | INJ | STA | TGH | TRK | ELU | SFA | SPM | JKM | SAC | MAC | DAC | PAC | RUN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M.Cassel | 78 | 69 | 74 | 59 | 69 | 79 | 55 | 83 | 86 | 90 | 85 | 20 | 36 | 15 | 40 | 48 | 83 | 73 | 87 | 63 | 75 |
| T.Bridgewater | 77 | 77 | 85 | 51 | 84 | 60 | 70 | 88 | 89 | 94 | 95 | 34 | 64 | 31 | 74 | 75 | 87 | 82 | 69 | 79 | 77 |
| C.Ponder | 77 | 78 | 86 | 60 | 82 | 67 | 60 | 84 | 76 | 95 | 91 | 37 | 64 | 33 | 66 | 76 | 85 | 74 | 78 | 76 | 82 |
If you're unfamiliar with the different rating categories in the Madden series, you can learn more about them right here.
As you can see, Bridgewater has the strongest arm, has the highest rating in both short and mid-range accuracy (Cassel is given the best deep accuracy rating), and is best at play-action, among other things. Thanks to the way that Madden does things now, there will be weekly updates throughout the season. If Bridgewater sees significant playing time early, his ratings will probably fluctuate accordingly. I'd expect him to be rated more highly than Cassel and Ponder in short order.
A handful of other observations:
-Where's Cordarrelle Patterson, you might ask? He's rated as an 82 overall, but his speed rating of 93 makes him the third-fastest player on the team (behind AD and Josh Robinson, both of whom are rated 97 in the SPD category).
-With the injury to Chase Ford, undrafted rookie A.C. Leonard appears to have a good shot at making the team, but EA apparently doesn't think so. . .his rating is slightly below that of Cullen Loeffler, who is listed as a tight end but primarily performs as the team's long snapper.
-The Madden folks are apparently more impressed with Joe Banyard than we are. . .he's rated a full three points higher than both Matt Asiata and Jerick McKinnon.
-The Vikings' first selection in the 2014 NFL Draft, linebacker Anthony Barr, has a 90 speed rating, the second-highest of all the team's linebackers (fellow rookie Brandon Watts has a 92). Only one other linebacker, special teams ace Larry Dean, has a speed rating above 80. In the words of noted medical pioneer Mordin Solus, this could be. . .problematic.
But those are your ratings for the Minnesota Vikings for the upcoming Madden NFL '15. What do you gamers out there think of these numbers?