Madden rookie ratings completely insult Titans top pick Cam Ward

Cam Ward will have another chip on his shoulder
Madden, Cam Ward
Madden, Cam Ward | Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Madden video game player ratings only serve to create conflict and arguments. Just like anything that is subjective, these player ratings invite discussion and arguments across the league. Nobody is ever satisfied with the way player ratings come out each year, and justifiably so.

Nobody, at this point, has more reason to feel insulted than Tennessee Titans top pick Cam Ward, the #1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and a promising young player.

Ward was a Heisman candidate last year at Miami and was one of the most improved players in the country last season. Ultimately, that didn't matter to the folks at Madden who come up with the player rankings, as they didn't even have Ward in the top 10 among his peers in the 2025 rookie class...

Cam Ward outside the Top 10 Rookie Ratings in Madden 26

Quite frankly, this is an egregious mistake among what is already a growing list of mistakes by the people in charge of ratings at Madden. Former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson is actually a huge part of that process, so it's surprising that these ratings aren't more reflective of his involvement.

There is always a clear effort made by the Madden ratings team to make sure rookie quarterbacks play like rookie quarterbacks in the game. The video game is not meant to be an optimistic projection but more of a true translation of skills in combination with the expectation that rookies will generally lack awareness compared to established NFL players.

But the #1 overall pick being outside the Top 10 rookies overall in the ratings is an egregious mistake. The team at Madden should have absolutely changed this before they hit "send" on publishing the initial rookie ratings. Even if Cam Ward ends up struggling as a rookie, it's probably pretty unfair to put him as low as they did.

So how low is he rated?

In the first Madden game he'll be part of, Ward checked in at a 72 overall. Of course, he's the highest-rated rookie quarterback in the game, but that's merely a consolation at this point.

It's clear that the ratings team decided this was one of the worst quarterback classes in recent memory, and these ratings reflect that. We have had a couple of really talented classes in a row at the quarterback position, so we were due for a clunker. Even if Ward would have been the 5th or 6th-best quarterback in the 2024 class, he probably didn't deserve to be buried like this among his peers in the 2025 class.