Madden 17: Release Date and Stars with Most Overblown Player Ratings
The NFL season begins Thursday, August 18, at least for those fans who consider the launch of a new Madden the official beginning of a campaign.
It might as well be given the global popularity of the franchise and the hype for its latest installment, Madden 17. Those fans with an EA Access membership can play the game Thursday, while the game hits normal store shelves the week after on Tuesday, August 23.
As usual, this latest installment features plenty of upgrades over all areas. It also includes the much-anticipated player ratings, which are not only important to the game itself, but double as a great way to pass the time.
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Let's do so below by looking at some of the most overblown ratings, whether it's due to a team or other players propping a player up, an odd positional hierarchy or some other factor.
| Thursday, August 18 (Requires $4.99 EA Access Monthly Subscription) | Tuesday, August 23 | PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 | $59.99 |
Most Overblown Player Ratings
Blake Bortles, QB, Jacksonville Jaguars (82)
Blake Bortles is a great young quarterback who should do nothing short of improve in his third campaign this year.
The Jacksonville Jaguars were right to grab the UCF product third overall in the 2014 NFL draft and stick with him, getting 4,428 yards and 35 touchdowns to 18 interceptions last season, though on only a 58.6 completion percentage.
It's where Bortles lands among other quarterbacks that is the problem here. He trails Eli Manning by all of one point and ranks higher than notables such as Tyrod Taylor, Jameis Winston, Teddy Bridgewater, Joe Flacco and Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Taylor happens to be one of the best dual-threat players in the league, Winston arguably showed more promise with less, Bridgewater took down Green Bay in the NFC North, Flacco was hurt last year and Fitzpatrick tossed 31 touchdowns of his own last year but lands at a 79.
At some point it's hard to knock a player due to who surrounds him, but Bortles gets to work with the elite duo of Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns and, when healthy, former Peyton Manning target Julius Thomas.
Bortles very much has an opportunity to climb in the rankings and will deserve it, but a preseason landing here seems odd.
Delanie Walker, TE, Tennessee Titans (93)
Make no mistake, Delanie Walker is one of the most talented tight ends in the league and by far one of the most criminally underrated overall players.
Just not in Madden 17.
A guy who was ignored for years and years with the San Francisco 49ers, the 6'2", 248-pound Walker has received north of 100 targets in each of his last two seasons with the Tennessee Titans.
Last year, Walker turned 133 targets into 94 catches for 1,088 yards and six touchdowns, the yardage a career high and the trips to paydirt tied for a career high.
But again, the problem is the hierarchy of the position. Walker ranks behind only Rob Gronkowski and Greg Olsen. He ranks ahead of game-altering players such as Tyler Eifert, Jimmy Graham, Jordan Reed and Travis Kelce.
Walker undoubtedly deserves recognition for what he does, especially in Tennessee, where there isn't a notable threat at wideout and second-year QB Marcus Mariota continues to develop. This is a ranking Walker can easily justify in a hurry, but before the season it's up for debate.
Doug Baldwin, WR, Seattle Seahawks (89)
Seattle Seahawks wideout Doug Baldwin carded plenty of career highs on the stat sheet last year.
In fact, his 78 receptions on 104 targets for 1,069 yards and 14 scores were all career highs for the Stanford product. It was a breakout year deserving of recognition, but a list of receivers Baldwin outranks is as follows:
- Keenan Allen
- Allen Robinson
- Emmanuel Sanders
- Demaryius Thomas
- Eric Decker
- Sammy Watkins
- Randall Cobb
- Mike Evans
Baldwin is also tied with Julian Edelman, T.Y. Hilton, Brandon Marshall and Jordy Nelson, among others.
Seattle needed Baldwin in the worst way and got him last year. He made some amazing catches and was reliable, so much so that the Seahawks rewarded him with a massive extension in June, per ESPN's Adam Schefter:
Like the rest on the list here, Baldwin has a chance to prove the rating right, if not grow even more.
After all, Baldwin is 27 years old and smack in the middle of his prime. Sometimes a player comes on late, and it's what the rating banks on here.
Seattle faithful sure wouldn't mind.
| C.J. Anderson, RB, DEN | 84 |
| Brandon Graham, DE, PHI | 92 |
| Orlando Scandrick, CB, DAL | 87 |
Stats are courtesy of NFL.com and accurate as of Tuesday. All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus.
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