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Josh Allen and Von Miller top Bills’ blatant player ratings on Madden NFL 25

The annual reveal of the latest entry in EA Sports’ Madden NFL The series regularly leads to a multitude of consumer complaints. Graphics deficiencies, lack of requested features, questionable player ratings: if you think about it, customers probably criticized EA Sports for this. General consensus agrees that the quality of the series has declined over the past decade, with the company now focused on maximizing profits through in-game purchases rather than providing an enjoyable product .

And we don’t want to jump on the “dunk on EA Sports” bandwagon, but the company, sometimes, just makes things too easy. The closed beta for Madden NFL25– the newest game in the series – recently opened, allowing testers to get a first look at the initial player ratings present in this year’s entry.

We’ll issue a few caveats before we continue: the game is currently under development, so player ratings may change between now and final release. It is also possible that the notations, for now, are simply borrowed from Madden NFL 24.

Related: Bills GM curbs Keon Coleman hype: There will be ‘bumps in the road’

Regardless of the circumstances, the Buffalo Bills’ initial player ratings are… not good.

We’re not even approaching the topic from a numerical standpoint, since the Bills reportedly have an overall rating of 90. Our issues stem from individual player ratings, as some are simply not based on logic or objectivity .

Quarterback Josh Allen should top Buffalo’s list, with a total of 92. That might seem a little low, but it’s not glaring, because overall, Allen is the fourth-best signal-caller game rating. Linebacker Matt Milano and defensive end Von Miller are tied for the second-best rating on the team, both with an overall rating of 87; the rating is fair for Milan, but for Miller? The 35-year-old is coming off a 2023 campaign in which he collected just three tackles and no sacks — he’s by no means the team’s best defensive end or second-best player.

Nickel cornerback Taron Johnson and defensive end Greg Rousseau round out the top five, with 87 and 85 overall, respectively. There are some questionable grades further down the list, like defensive tackle Ed Oliver, who had 9.5 sacks last season, getting an 82, running back James Cook, who finished sixth in the NFL for scrimmage yards last year with 1,567. to 81, and tight end Dawson Knox being rated higher than Dalton Kincaid (81 to 79).

The most glaring oversight of the premiere Madden NFL25 notes are for middle linebacker Terrel Bernard; The now third-year defender – who burst onto the scene as a consistently impactful defender with a 6.5 sack, three fumble recoveries and three interceptions during the 2022 campaign – is listed as the team’s leading edge defender. third best player to its position. Bernard comes in at 74, below Deion Jones (77) and Nicholas Morrow (76).

Related: NFL Writer Thinks This WR Will Make Career Return With Bills

That means Bernard, who dynamically led the team’s defense a season ago, will be listed as the third middle linebacker on Buffalo’s base depth chart.

These notes are stupid.

It’s difficult to take notes Also seriously when EA Sports can’t even get the Bills roster right; Connor McGovern, who is making an offseason transition to center for Buffalo, is still listed as a left guard on the initial roster. This isn’t particularly egregious on its own, but EA Sports acknowledged the transition by also including current free agent offensive lineman Connor McGovern, who most recently played for the New York Jets, on the Bills’ roster. This McGovern never played for the team.

These ratings, again, may simply be based on last year’s edition of the game, and they may change by the time the product finally ships. We certainly hope that will be the case.

EA Sports Madden NFL25 will be released on August 16, 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC.