Stew Milne/Associated Press The moment gamers have been waiting for has arrived. EA Sports unveiled the "Madden NFL 19" ratings for every player on all 32 teams Tuesday. In the lead-up to the official unveiling, the company teased some of the ratings on its Twitter account. From top-rated rookies to the top-rated passers, fans have gotten a sneak peek at what's in store for this year's version of the popular video game. EA Sports previously announced that seven players made up the exclusive "99" club: Now fans can look at the full list of ratings. The Houston Texans' J.J. Watt and the Oakland Raiders' Khalil Mack led all left ends with overall ratings of 98, while the Minnesota Vikings' Harrison Smith led all safeties with a 97. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Rams have a pair of defensive linemen gamers can wreak havoc with, as right end Aaron Donald (99) and defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh (94) are among the top players at their respective positions. Baltimore Ravens rookie Lamar Jackson has a 79 overall rating and a 91 in speed. His reaction to having a chance to play as himself in the game? Video Play Button Videos you might like Of course, he's not the only one with a beef: Other notable players include Houston Texans safety Tyrann Mathieu (93), San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman (90), Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield (81) and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles (80). "Madden NFL 19" drops Aug. 10.<doc-sep>In case you missed it, EA Sports released their official rankings for rookies in “Madden 19.” Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was given a 79 overall rating, which is the second-highest rating among rookie quarterbacks. Jackson’s speed rating of 91 makes him not only the fastest quarterback in the video game, but also the only quarterback with a speed of at least 90. The biggest arm belongs to a Rookie QB! 👉🏽: https://t.co/nhvfSW8Tbe #Madden19 pic.twitter.com/RkUkRZ3hVy — EA SPORTS Madden NFL (@EAMaddenNFL) July 5, 2018 In the preliminary stages of the ratings for “Madden 19,” Jackson was given a 67 overall rating, which certainly received a ton of backlash from fans of the game. Jackson initially wasn’t happy about his rating in the speed category early on in this process either. However, the creators of the game made adjustments, and things look good for Jackson. In other areas of Jackson’s “Madden 19” attributes, he has the following ratings: Throw Power Juke Spin Ball Carrier Vision Short Pass Accuracy Intermediate Pass Accuracy Deep Pass Accuracy 94 89 86 93 83 80 74 With those ratings, it’s likely safe to say a lot of gamers will subbing out Baltimore’s quarterback Joe Flacco for Jackson in this game. No disrespect to Flacco — he is more polished than Jackson, but Jackson is going to be hard for opposing defenses to stop. You can’t coach speed. We might be seeing more gamers playing with the Ravens in “Madden” than usual.<doc-sep>Here at CBS Sports, we strive to bring you in-depth analysis using a variety of different sources from SportsLine to Pro Football Focus to Football Outsiders to Pro Football Reference to "Madden." Yes, the video game. Two years ago, Will Brinson's "Madden" simulation predicted the Falcons would make it to the Super Bowl while my Super Bowl "Madden" sim predicted a come-from-behind Patriots win over the Falcons. The point being, "Madden" isn't always wrong. Plus, while we still have a two-month wait until the NFL season kicks off, "Madden" season is only a month away, which gives us something to write about during the NFL's dead period (or so I thought this morning until the NFL decided to suspend three players -- Reuben Foster, Jamon Brown and Aaron Jones -- in the span of an hour). On Aug. 10, "Madden NFL 19" will be released. In the meantime, EA Sports is slowly unveiling its new ratings. Last week, we learned about the first "Madden 99" club. On Tuesday, we learned about the ratings for this year's rookie class. Unsurprisingly, out of all rookies, it's Colts guard Quenton Nelson who leads the way. Selected with the sixth-overall pick, Nelson was considered by many to be the best overall prospect in the draft. He doesn't necessarily play a sexy position, but that doesn't mean he doesn't hold tremendous value in both real life and "Madden." Here's the list of the top five highest-rated rookies: Quenton Nelson: 83 Saquon Barkley: 82 Baker Mayfield: 81 Roquan Smith: 81 Bradley Chubb: 80 This might not come as a surprise given the list above, but Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield is the game's highest-rated rookie quarterback. What might come as a surprise is that Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who fell to No. 32 in the draft, is slotted right behind Mayfield and ahead of guys like Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen and Josh Allen. Here's the list of rookie quarterbacks (or, at least, the ones that matter): Baker Mayfield: 81 Lamar Jackson: 79 Josh Rosen: 78 Sam Darnold 75 Josh Allen: 74 Let's move on to the rookie running backs. Leading the group, to no one's surprise, is Saquon Barkley. The rest of the list shouldn't cause any controversy: Saquon Barkley: 82 Derrius Guice: 78 Ronald Jones II: 77 Sony Michel: 77 Nick Chubb: 76 Like the running back group, the list of receivers won't make many upset because it's largely ordered similarly to how the draft played out. D.J. Moore: 77 Calvin Ridley 77 Dante Pettis: 76 Courtland Sutton: 75 Anthony Miller: 74 And that brings us to the defenders. Bears inside linebacker Roquan Smith, who placed fourth overall among all rookies, leads the list and he's followed by Bradley Chubb, who placed fifth overall among all rookies. Somewhat surprisingly, Derwin James placed above Denzel Ward even though Ward got drafted 13 spots higher than James. Then again, James was considered by many to be a top-10 pick and his draft-night fall was one of the biggest surprises. Roquan Smith: 81 Bradley Chubb: 80 Derwin James: 80 Denzel Ward: 80 Vita Vea: 79 So, there you have it. New players will be featured in "Madden NFL 19" and now we know just how good those players will be. That doesn't mean much of anything in terms of what's to come during the upcoming season or the rest of these young players' careers, but it'll have to hold us over until the games actually begin a couple months from now. In the meantime, enjoy this video of the rookies predicting their ratings and then reacting to their actual rankings: Bonus points to Josh Rosen for immediately comparing his rating to Jared Goff's.<doc-sep>
When the Baltimore Ravens traded up to take quarterback Lamar Jackson in the closing moments of the NFL draft’s first round, murmurs of a quarterback controversy between the dynamic rookie and longtime starter Joe Flacco appeared inevitable. As a flashy college star who was equally dangerous through both the ground and air, Jackson seemed to be the antithesis of the stoic Flacco. Given Flacco’s recent string of mediocre seasons and Jackson’s obvious intrigue, a struggle for the starting job didn’t seem entirely out of the question. However — much to the dismay of talking heads everywhere — Ravens coach John Harbaugh extinguished any talk of a quarterback battle right out of the gate. “Joe Flacco is our quarterback — that’s the thing everybody’s got to remember,” Harbaugh said in a press conference after the first round of the draft. “We’re going to go with Joe.” While it appears that the real-life Ravens won’t be the source of any quarterback controversies this season, those playing with the team in “Madden NFL 19” may have such a dilemma. According to the game’s official website, Jackson and Flacco will both have an overall rating of 79 on launch day. While the two may have the same overall rating, they possess very different in-game strengths. Jackson excels on the ground; his speed and acceleration ratings are the highest among all quarterbacks. On the other hand, Flacco profiles as the better pure thrower — he bests the rookie in ratings for both throw power and deep pass accuracy. Jackson sizes up well in the game not only when compared to his veteran teammate, but also in the context of his draft class. Among all rookie quarterbacks, Jackson is second only to Baker Mayfield of the Cleveland Browns and his 81 overall rating. Interestingly, Flacco too started out his career with the same rating as Jackson. When “Madden NFL 09” hit shelves 10 years ago, he was given a 79 overall rating.