Breaking Down Tua's Madden Rating
There was a lot of conversation when the Madden '21 ratings for rookies came out late last week, with Tua Tagovailoa came in second behind Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow at the quarterback position with an overall grade of 73.
Tagovailoa came in sixth among the 57 rookies rated, and it truly was eye-opening that Burrow doesn't have the top rating by himself because Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III — Tua's teammate at Alabama — got a 76 just like the LSU quarterback.
The rest of the top five included Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy — another Tua teammate in college — at 75, and Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson at 74.
Not surprisingly, the ratings caused a reaction on social media because, well, those ratings always do.
There's no disgrace in Tagovailoa coming in behind Burrow not only based on their draft position, but also based on the remarkable performance Burrow put together in 2019, a performance that rivaled any by a quarterback in the history of college football.
But there's some specific skill ratings that just didn't seem right.
And those involve the accuracy ratings, at the short, medium and deep levels.
Tua made his name in college on his accuracy, yet he didn't come in first at any level in the Madden ratings because Burrow took the top spot at all three.
In short accurary, Burrow got an 88 and Tua was second with an 86. In medium accuracy, Burrow was first with an 85 and Tua second with an 81. In deep accuracy, Burrown was first with another 85, and it was Utah State's Jordan Love who was second with an 81, as Tua came in third with an 80.
Sorry, but that one is hard to accept. Yes, Tagovailoa had the luxury of playing with an all-star cast at wide receiver who more often than not created great separation deep downfield, but there's no taking away from the fact that he usually put the deep ball on the money.
This one doesn't cut it.
The one quarterback-specific skill where Tua earned the rating was in play action, though he shared that distinction with the other quarterback associated with the Dolphins before the draft: Justin Herbert from Oregon. Both were given an 84 rating, with Burrow third at 83.
Other quarterback-specific ratings:
Throw on the run: Burrow was first at 86, Tua second at 82.
Throw under pressure, Burrow got top rating with an 84, followed by Jake Fromm and Love at 82, and Tagovailoa fourth at 81.
Awareness: Burrow got an 82 and was first; Tua was second with a 79.
Throwing power: This is the one category where neither Burrow nor Tua factored that highly, which is fair given what we saw on Saturdays the past few seasons. Tagovailoa was tied for fifth in that category with a score of 88, while Burrow was tied for ninth with a rating of 86. Getting the top mark for throwing power was Jacob Eason of the University of Washington with a 93, followed by Herbert at 92, and Florida International's James Morgan and Love at 90.
Madden '21 also issues injury ratings, and it was no surprise that Tua didn't fare well in that category. He was tied for 55th out of the 57 rookies in that category with an 84. He was tied with Tyler Huntley, who signed as a rookie free agent with the Ravens, and they both beat out Tommy Stevens, a seventh-round pick of the Saints.
The only Dolphins rookie in the Madden '21 ratings was seventh-round pick Malcolm Perry, who got an overall rating of 55, which was tied for 50th. It should be noted that Madden had Perry listed as a wide receiver, even though he's listed as a running back on the Dolphins roster after he played quarterback at Navy.
