Cleveland Browns Preview: Starting Lineup According To Madden 11

The video game franchise Madden NFL Football is one of the biggest and most well-known video game titles ever produced.

Selling millions and millions of copies over the last two decades, football fans go nuts for the game.

Electronic Arts, who is the developer, is very involved in the player ranking process and the majority of the time they are pretty dead-on with the results.

The following is the starting lineup for the Cleveland Browns according to the latest version of the game, Madden '11 solely based on the player ratings.

Quarterback - Jake Delhomme (74)

Delhomme pulls in a 74 rating and with his accuracy rating taking a huge hit being only a 63 due to his turnover issue in 2009.

Following Delhomme is Seneca Wallace with a 72 and Colt McCoy with a 71.

Running Back - Jerome Harrison (83)

Harrison's big games at the end of 2009 obviously got him his rating of 83 and since he was so hard for opposing defenders to tackle that pushed his elusiveness rating up to a 97.

Following Harrison are rookie Montario Hardesty with a 74 and James Davis with a 69.

Fullback - Lawrence Vickers (88)

Vickers is one of the best lead blockers in the NFL and Madden reflects that giving him a high rating of 88.

Newly acquired hybrid back Peyton Hillis follows Vickers with a rating of 77.

Wide Receivers - Josh Cribbs (78), Mohamed Massaquoi (75)

With many questions at receiver, the low ratings are no surprise, but what is a surprise is that Cribbs has a higher rating than Massaquoi even though Massaquoi was much more productive than Cribbs in 2009 catching passes.

The simple reason for this is that Cribbs is more versatile and his attributes are more well-rounded across the board than Massaquoi's.

Following them are Chansi Stuckey with a 68, Brian Robiskie at 65, and surprisingly rookie sixth round pick Carlton Mitchell wasn't even listed.

What's up with that EA Sports?

Tight End - Benjamin Watson (78)

Many Browns fans see Watson as a key addition to the offense, and he will find a big role in Cleveland regardless of what Madden has him rated as.

After Watson is Robert Royal at 72 (seems too high) and Evan Moore at 63.

Offensive Line

The starters on the offensive line according to their ratings are:

LT - Joe Thomas (95)
LG - Eric Steinbach (91)
C - Alex Mack (87)
RG - Floyd Womack (76)
RT - Tony Pashos (72)

Backup are:

RT - John St. Clair (71)
C - Eric Ghiaciui (69)
RG - Shawn Lauvao (68)
LG - Billy Yates (63)

Where's Joel Reinders?

Defensive Line

The starting defensive line is as follows:

DE - Kenyon Coleman (75)
DT - Shaun Rogers (93)
DE - Robaire Smith (74)

Backup are:

DT - Ahytba Rubin (74)
DE - C.J. Mosley (63)
DE - Brian Schaefering (56)
DE - Clifton Geathers (56)

How about Kwaku Danso?

Outside Linebackers - Scott Fujita (79), Matt Roth (74)

Fujita may not even be a outside linebacker in the Browns' defense, but Madden 11 thinks so.

Following both Fujita and Roth to round up the depth chart are Jason Trusnik with a 73, Chris Gocong at 71, and David Veikune at 68.

Seems like EA Sports need to do a bit more research in these players' actual positions.

Inside Linebacker - D'Qwell Jackson (85), Eric Barton (79)

Jackson and Barton will probably not be the starting duo, mostly do to the uncertainty of Barton's recovery from a neck injury in 2009.

Following these two are David Bowens at 76, Kaluka Maiava at 68.

Cornerback - Sheldon Brown (87), Eric Wright (86)

The addition of Brown as a starter should be a great compliment to Wright in the Browns' secondary for the 2010 season.

After them is first round pick Joe Haden with a 79, Brandon McDonald at 68, Coye Francies with 67, and Gerard Lawson with a 63.

Safety - Mike Adams (77), Abram Elam (72)

The Browns coaches said they do indeed like Adams a lot, but having a rating this high is saying a bit to much.

Both rookies follow with T.J Ward having a 69 and Larry Asante with a 66.

Sorry EA Sports, but you got this position totally wrong too.

Kicker and Punter

The ratings finally end with kicker Phil Dawson getting a 82 rating and punter Dave Zastudil with a 77.

Final Thought

I must say I was surprised with many of the ratings and kinda felt let Browns defensive coordinator Rob Ryan in the picture for several positions.

Madden 11 missed the boat on not only including rookie receiver Carlton Mitchell, but they messed up on giving some of the linebackers the correct position and they blew it with the safety ratings as well.

With that being said, will I still buy it and play the game when it comes out in August?

Without a doubt!