Dallas Cowboys: Offensive playmakers rated highly in Madden 18
By Jimmy Long
EA Sports is in the process of rolling out Madden 18, and they have rated two of the Dallas Cowboys biggest playmakers very highly.
We made it, everyone. Another year, another installment of Madden NFL Football. This year, in typical fashion, EA Sports has begun releasing the ratings for the popular video game in daily installments on their blog – good news for a few members of the Dallas Cowboys.
So far, we’ve learned about the quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers. Not surprisingly, Dallas finds two of their offensive stars making the shortlists at each of their positions.
Both running back Ezekiel Elliott and wide receiver Dez Bryant rank fifth among their positional groups. Elliott starts the new Madden season with an overall rating of 90 and Bryant begins at a 91.
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For those unfamiliar with the game, Madden ratings are fairly simple. Each player is given a score ranging from 0-99 in a number of different categories. Those scores are then combined to produce an overall rating, again in the range of 0-99.
While Elliott and Bryant both scored highly, a case could be made that Zeke wasn’t rated highly enough. Coming in at fifth on their list, Elliott saw four running backs ranked ahead of him. In order, they were Le’Veon Bell, David Johnson, LeSean McCoy and DeMarco Murray.
I absolutely understand putting Bell and Johnson ahead of Elliott. Bell is hands down the best running back in football, and Johnson has more all-purpose value than Zeke, not to mention an extra year of data available to rate him on.
However, McCoy and Murray should not be rated higher than Elliott. Last season, Zeke posted more total touchdowns than either. He posted almost 400 more yards than both. McCoy bested Elliott in yards-per-carry, but Elliott average an extra four yards per reception compared to either.
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As a whole, it makes no sense for Elliott to be fifth on this list. After a few roster updates though, I’m sure he’ll work his way up the ladder. But until then, we’ll just have to wait. Happy Madden season, everyone.