Breaking Down the Dolphins' Madden Ratings
Xavien Howard got an 82? What the ...?
Yup, that jumped out as the most curious — a very polite way of putting it — number when the Madden '21 player ratings came out.
And, make no mistake, those Madden ratings are a big deal. If they weren't, you wouldn't see so many social media posts — including some from players themselves — about them.
So let's dive into the numbers involving the Miami Dolphins.
Howard's 82 no doubt is the result of his disappointing 2019 season, which ended when he landed on IR because of knee issues. But the rating seems to completely set aside Howard's performance in 2018 when he was among the best cornerbacks in the NFL — period.
With that rating, Howard came in as the 30th-best cornerback in the NFL. And that's just flat-out wrong. Newcomer Byron Jones got an 88 and Howard is on a par with Jones, if not better.
RELATED: Counting Down the Dolphins' Top 10 Offseason Moves
While on the subject of cornerback ratings, Stephon Gilmore is NOT five points better than everybody else at the position — as Madden '21 would suggest. Gilmore got a perfect 99, and the second-highest-rated corner was Jalen Ramsey at 94. And where was Buffalo's Tre'Davious White, who was about as good as Gilmore last year with the metrics to prove it? At 90. Wrong again.
Another rating that jumped out was that given to offensive lineman Jesse Davis, who was given a 65.
Now, we're not going to suggest that Davis should have gotten a 99 or anything close to it because he had some rough moments last year, but he actually was pretty solid down the stretch and certainly deserves better than a 65.
For those wondering, newcomer Ereck Flowers was the team's highest-rated offensive lineman at 73, with fellow newcomer Ted Karras at 70. It says here that Davis at the absolute minimum should have matched Karras' number and probably Flowers' as well.
RELATED: Flowers Goes from Crossroads to Cornerstone
Since we mentioned Gilmore, we should talk about DeVante Parker's rating, which came in at 84. Considering he led all AFC wide receivers in receiving yards and touchdown catches last year and considering the way he beat Gilmore one-on-one in the season finale, he probably deserved higher than an 84, which was good for only 29th among NFL wide receivers.
Byron Jones' 88 was the highest overall rating given to a Dolphins player and rookie sixth-round pick Blake Ferguson got the lowest at 27. The long-snapper from LSU was listed as a tight end.
Jones earned particularly high marks for his agility (96 rating), awareness (87), jumping (98), play recognition (86), man coverage (84) and zone coverage (90).
Kyle Van Noy was second in overall rating with an 86, and got high marks for awareness (97), tackling (84), pursuit (95) and play recognition (98).
RELATED: Van Noy Starting Over in Miami
Breaking down specific individual skills, it's interesting to note that Matt Breida and Jakeem Grant tied for highest speed rating at 95, with safety Adrian Colbert third at 92. Remember that Breida had the fastest clocked speed each of the past two seasons, according to the NFL's NextGen Stats.
For strength, the top three ratings among Dolphins players went to Flowers (90), rookie second-round pick Robert Hunt (89) and Zach Sieler (88).
Among the head-scratching individual skill ratings was Albert Wilson got a 91 for injury and linebacker Raekwon McMillan getting a 90 for injury when Wilson spent most of last season trying to get back to 100 percent after his 2018 hip injury and when McMillan ended last season on IR after missing his entire rookie season in 2017 with a torn ACL.
Here's the complete list of Dolphins overall player ratings:
Byron Jones 88; Kyle Van Noy 86; DeVante Parker 84; Xavien Howard 82; Jordan Howard 79; Matt Breida 79; Mike Gesicki 79; Albert Wilson 76; Davon Godchaux 76; Raekwon McMillan 76.
Bobby McCain 75; Emmanuel Ogbah 75; Shaq Lawson 75; Christian Wilkins 74; Eric Rowe 74; Jakeem Grant 74; Jerome Baker 74; Matt Hacck 74; Ryan Fitzpatrick 74; Allen Hurns 73.
Ereck Flowers 73; Preston Williams 73; Tua Tagovailoa 73; Jason Sanders 72; Elandon Roberts 71; Isaiah Ford 71; Kalen Ballage 71; Nik Needham 71; Raekwon Davis 71; Vince Biegel 71.
Clayton Fejedelem 70; Kamu Grugier-Hill 70; Noah Igbinoghene 70; Ted Karras 70; Andrew Van Ginkel 69; Kavon Frazier 69; Patrick Laird 69; Ricardo Louis 69; Brandon Jones 68; Cordrea Tankersley 68.
Mack Hollins 68; Ryan Lewis 68; Sam Eguavoen 68; Adrian Colbert 67; Avery Moss 67; Gary Jennings 67; Josh Rosen 67; Robert Hunt 67; Steven Parker 67; James Crawford 66.
Myles Gaskin 66; Chandler Cox 65; Jamal Perry 65; Jason Strowbridge 65; Jesse Davis 65; Michael Deiter 65; Zach Sieler 65; Austin Jackson 64; Curtis Weaver 64; Durham Smythe 64.
Nate Webster 64; Tae Hayes 64; Julién Davenport 63; Michael Roberts 63; Nate Brooks 63; Trent Harris 62; Danny Isidora 60; Solomon Kindley 60; Shaq Calhoun 59; Adam Pankey 55/
Keaton Sutherland 55; Malcolm Perry 55; Jake Rudock 49; Blake Ferguson 27.
