Madden 16: Cover, Player Ratings, Roster Info and New Mode Preview

Odell Beckham Jr. of the New York Giants rode the momentum of a stellar rookie season to the cover of Madden 16. Here's a look at one of the NFL's newest and biggest stars on the cover of the latest edition of the iconic virtual football series, per EA Sports Madden NFL on Twitter:

The Top Players

Beckham Jr. will be rated a 94 overall when the game releases. He is among the top five-rated wide receivers in the game. The Pittsburgh Steelers' Antonio Brown is tops at the position with a 97. Here's a look at all of the top-rated players at each position, per EASports.com:

Position	Player	Team	Rating
QB	Aaron Rodgers	Green Bay Packers	99
HB	Marshawn Lynch	Seattle Seahawks	96
WR	Antonio Brown	Pittsburgh Steelers	97
TE	Rob Gronkowski	New England Patriots	99
T	Jason Peters	Philadelphia Eagles	96
G	Marshal Yanda	Baltimore Ravens	98
C	Nick Mangold	New York Jets	95
DE	J.J. Watt	Houston Texans	99
DT	Ndamukong Suh	Miami Dolphins	96
OLB	Von Miller	Denver Broncos	97
OLB	Justin Houston	Kansas City Chiefs	97
MLB	Luke Kuechly	Carolina Panthers	96
CB	Richard Sherman	Seattle Seahawks	97
CB	Darrelle Revis	New York Jets	97
FS	Eric Weddle	San Diego Chargers	96
SS	Kam Chancellor	Seattle Seahawks	94
K	Justin Tucker	Baltimore Ravens	95
K	Stephen Gostkowski	New England Patriots	95
P	Pat McAfee	Indianapolis Colts	95

The Top Rosters

"

The @Seahawks are loaded and the @AZCardinals are ready to shine. NFC West #MaddenRatings: http://t.co/xbmaiVNB2B pic.twitter.com/rp3eVGxnZc

— EA SPORTS Madden NFL (@EAMaddenNFL) August 11, 2015"

As if you couldn't tell by the list of top players, the Seattle Seahawks will be one of the highest-rated teams in the game (along with the New England Patriots) with a 91 overall. In all, Seattle has seven players rated at 90 or above. Russell Wilson isn't one of them, but he checks in at a more-than-respectable 89 overall.

Here's a look at the roster ratings:

AFC East

• New England Patriots - 91
• Miami Dolphins - 81
• Buffalo Bills - 79
• New York Jets - 76

AFC North

• Baltimore Ravens - 85
• Pittsburgh Steelers - 84
• Cincinnati Bengals - 84
• Cleveland Browns - 75

AFC South

• Indianapolis Colts - 87
• Houston Texans - 79
• Jacksonville Jaguars - 73
• Tennessee Titans - 72

AFC West

• Denver Broncos - 89
• Kansas City Chiefs - 82
• San Diego Chargers - 82
• Oakland Raiders - 74

NFC East

• Dallas Cowboys - 86
• Philadelphia Eagles - 84
• New York Giants - 77
• Washington Redskins - 75

NFC North

• Green Bay Packers - 90
• Detroit Lions - 83
• Minnesota Vikings - 77
• Chicago Bears - 75

NFC South

• Carolina Panthers - 80
• New Orleans Saints - 78
• Atlanta Falcons - 77
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers - 74

NFC West

• Seattle Seahawks - 91
• Arizona Cardinals - 82
• San Francisco 49ers - 78
• St. Louis Rams - 78

Draft Champions

Those ratings are noteworthy if you're planning on playing a Connected Franchise without a fantasy draft or simply playing exhibition offline or online. However, in the new Draft Champions mode, you'll be quickly building your own team, so team ratings are irrelevant.

You start out by picking a coach/playbook from three choices. Once you know your scheme, you'll be given some base players—something like a starter pack of players in Madden Ultimate Team. From there, the real fun starts. You'll have the opportunity to upgrade select positions.

It's up to you to decide which positions are the most important for the scheme you chose. You can add players via a draft that will have a random selection of NFL stars and legends. Some drafts might have strong quarterbacks, while others might boast a number of awesome cornerbacks.

You won't know beforehand.

Once you have your team set, you'll start playing. If you can win four games in a row, against human opponents online or against the CPU, you will have won the Draft Champions tournament. You can do this as many times as you want, and each time you try you'll get a new set of coaches and players to choose from.

Here's what EASports.com had to say about the new mode:

"

Draft Champions adds to the Fantasy Football experience by paying off draft night immediately. As soon as the draft is over, players can take the new squad onto the field. The result? A very tight draft experience that distills the best parts of Fantasy Football, and combining it with an exciting Madden event that can be completed in an evening.

Anyone who gets through a head-to-head gauntlet will truly be worthy of the title "Draft Champion."

"

It's a solid and addictive addition to the Madden feature set that will probably become a staple moving forward.

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Follow Brian Mazique on Twitter.