Madden NFL 21's Most Popular Teams, Top Performers, Division Winners Revealed

EA Sports provided an early look at how the 2020 NFL season may play out Thursday based on the results of Madden NFL 21 games played by users since the video game's release last week.

Gamers have already logged more than 460,000 seasons worth of football, with the Baltimore Ravens and reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson, the game's cover athlete, the most selected team.

Here's a look at the top five most frequently used squads:

• 1. Baltimore Ravens
• 2. Kansas City Chiefs
• 3. Dallas Cowboys
• 4. Seattle Seahawks
• 5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

EA Sports noted usage of the Bucs, who signed longtime New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady during the offseason, has increased 873 percent over the same time period last year.

Gameplay as a whole is up 49 percent from the Madden NFL 20 release week, creating plenty of data about what may happen when the real season kicks off next Thursday.

Most Passing Touchdowns

• 1. Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs)
• 2. Lamar Jackson (Ravens)
• 3. Russell Wilson (Seahawks)
• 4. Tom Brady (Buccaneers)
• 5. Dak Prescott (Cowboys)

Most Rushing Touchdowns

• 1. Ezekiel Elliott (Cowboys)
• 2. Lamar Jackson (Ravens)
• 3. Mark Ingram II (Ravens)
• 4. Chris Carson (Seahawks)
• 5. Raheem Mostert (49ers)

Most Catches

• 1. Tyreek Hill (Chiefs)
• 2. Marquise "Hollywood" Brown (Ravens)
• 3. Mike Evans (Buccaneers)
• 4. Amari Cooper (Cowboys)
• 5. Tyler Lockett (Seahawks)

As for team performance, perhaps the biggest surprise from Madden's early returns is the performance of the Cincinnati Bengals under the guidance of No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow, who are projected to win the AFC North one year after finishing with a league-worst 2-14 record.

Here are the projections for the division winners based on users' win percentage with each team:

• AFC East: Buffalo Bills
• AFC North: Cincinnati Bengals
• AFC South: Jacksonville Jaguars
• AFC West: Los Angeles Chargers
• NFC East: Philadelphia Eagles
• NFC North: Green Bay Packers
• NFC South: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• NFC West: Arizona Cardinals

Madden NFL 21 was released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC last Friday. The game will debut on the next generation of consoles, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, when they come out later in the year.