Predicting Each Vikings Starter’s Madden NFL 25 Rating: Skill Positions Edition
It’s mid-June, meaning the hype train for EA Sports’ latest installment of their yearly NFL-licensed video game is speeding along the rails after they released the official Madden NFL 25 reveal trailer earlier this week. While Madden surely is a polarizing topic amongst NFL fans as everyone has a very passionate opinion on the rather iffy product over the past couple of years, every single person who plays the game loves to speculate about their team’s players’ potential rankings.
If you aren’t an avid Madden player, it is important to know a couple of key pieces of information. The most important of them all is that EA assigns ratings on what is technically a 0-99 scale (99 being best), but there are really no players in the game that dip below a 45 overall rating, and those low ratings are reserved mostly for bubble practice squad players that have never stepped foot in an NFL game in their career.
Rookies are rated anywhere from 50-80, the 50s being comprised mostly of free agents and the top picks being closer to 80. While there are two or three players every year that might get 80 or above, the consensus top players in that year’s draft are between 75 and 79 overall. For example, Caleb Williams and Marvin Harrison Jr. will more than likely be a 78 or 79, potentially even eclipsing that 80 overall rating.
It’s also worth mentioning that EA Sports isn’t going to be as “in love” with the Vikings roster as the fans may be, and ratings need to be taken with a grain of salt as they have to undergo the task of assigning a numerical value to the talent of over a thousand players in a manner that is as accurate as possible.
One last disclaimer: these aren’t exactly how I myself would rank them if I were the infamous Madden Ratings Adjustor. Rather, it’s what I believe EA will do based on my many years playing the game and their tendencies for ranking players.
With all of that being said, these are my official predictions for the Madden NFL 25 ratings of the Minnesota Vikings offensive skill positions, including J.J. McCarthy. I will also include each player’s final ratings from last year’s installment that were released at the time of the Super Bowl.
QB Sam Darnold – 73OVR
Madden NFL 24 End of Season Rating: 70OVR
Quarterback Sam Darnold has been rated in the low-to-mid 70s pretty much his entire career, and don’t expect that to change much in this year’s game. With a low ceiling (to this point) and low floor, EA Sports isn’t going to put a ton of juice into Darnold’s rating, just as they haven’t for the past five years. I wouldn’t really be shocked if they lower this even closer to 70, as he’s only started in 18 games over the last three seasons and has been mostly unimpressive. However, I expect them to give him a bit of a bump since he will be a starting QB to begin the 2024 season.
QB J.J. McCarthy – 71OVR
Madden NFL 24 End of Season Rating: N/A
This one goes against my disclaimer that Madden rates consensus top players in the high 70s; however, this one leans on my almost 20 years of experience with the EA Sports Madden NFL product.
All of these overall ratings that EA assigns to players are a formula of a bunch of other ratings. Quarterbacks, for example, have a throw power rating, short, medium, and deep accuracy ratings, a general awareness rating, and many more. While McCarthy was a good prospect, he is still going to take some molding, and this rating reflects what is happening in real life. EA isn’t going to give him any crazy high individual ratings simply because there really isn’t one to give him right now.
There are also different tiers of development that determine how quickly a player’s rating can increase, going as follows: Normal, Star, Superstar, Superstar X-Factor. While McCarthy is predicted to have a lower rating, his age and tool set may be enough to garner a star or superstar rating, making him a great starting quarterback if you wish to start your own Vikings franchise mode.
RB Aaron Jones – 88OVR
Madden 24 End of Season Rating: 89OVR
The eighth-year running back is entering his first with the Vikings after spending the last seven with the rival Green Bay Packers, and he has walked right into a pivotal role for Kevin O’Connell’s offense.
Jones will likely be leaned on a good amount, as the level of quarterback play this year is currently up in the air, and Minnesota hasn’t had a legitimate rushing attack in the two years KOC has been calling plays. The blame isn’t all on O’Connell for that, as there has been some less-than-stellar running back play in a general sense. 2023 starting running back Alexander Mattison didn’t even record a single rushing touchdown last season as he slowly watched his role diminish to Cam Akers and then Ty Chandler after Akers had torn his Achilles.
Aaron Jones has been consistently rated in the high 80s to low 90s in the past couple of years, and I don’t foresee a change this year.
FB C.J. Ham – 74OVR
Madden NFL 24 End of Season Rating: 75OVR
C.J. Ham and the fullback position, in general, are tough ranks, as the position itself has been made almost completely obsolete, and Ham’s role is limited in the offense.
That said, I find it safe to assume he will be rated similarly to his Madden 24 rating of 75 overall.
WR Justin Jefferson – 99OVR
Madden NFL 24 End of Season Rating: 99OVR
Do I have to explain this?
WR Jordan Addison – 84OVR
Madden NFL 24 End of Season Rating: 82OVR
Jordan Addison is coming off a mostly impressive rookie year, almost notching the 1,000-mark in receiving yards while sharing targets with Justin Jefferson and T.J. Hockenson and playing with a rotating door of a quarterback room.
I would understand the argument that Addison should be rated just a bit higher. However, the reality of the matter is that the former Biletnikoff Award winner has only had one season of play, and it wasn’t world-beating. Yes, he is a good player and is going to get even better, but EA Sports doesn’t just hand out high-80 overall ratings to second-year players who were on pace with average WR2 production. 2024 is looking to be a big year for Addison, so it’s more than feasible that he will garner a rating in the high 80s next year.
WR Brandon Powell – 74OVR
Madden NFL 24 End of Season Rating: 73OVR
For the WR3 spot, I’m giving the nod to Brandon Powell over the other candidates, Trent Sherfield and Jalen Nailor. This is, of course, pending something changing as the offseason progresses or a potential free agent signing, but as of the writing of these predictions, Powell is just the assumed guy.
There isn’t much to say here other than Powell seems to be a low-end WR3, and EA will likely rate him as such. I don’t believe he is far off of the wide receiver that K.J. Osborn is (I actually prefer Powell over Osborn in a lot of cases), but I don’t expect EA Sports to be completely in tune with the fact that Osborn was other-worldly inconsistent but made the occasional big play late in a game and played next to Justin Jefferson.
Osborn was a 75 overall in Madden 24, so a 74 for Brandon Powell in Madden 25 seems fair, though I wouldn’t be shocked if EA rated him as low as a 71 or 72.
TE T.J. Hockenson – 91OVR
Madden NFL 24 End of Season Rating: 90OVR
Hockenson has been one of the most productive tight ends in football since he was traded to the Vikings from the Lions in late 2022, garnering a significant percentage of targets in the receiving game.
The former Iowa standout is pretty much a consensus top-five tight end these days, and EA Sports will rate him as such in the low 90s, which is right in line with his rating last year of 90 overall.
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