Weird Madden speed ratings will leave Rams fans baffled

The Los Angeles Rams players have been digitized and represented in another annual version of the EA Madden NFL video game. As NFL fans and players race to see how the game programmers have represented them in terms of ratings in a variety of categories, there are always blatant and obvious errors, miscues, and faux pas incidents that leave those in the know both puzzled and dismayed.

The game's design attempts to quantify various skills and attributes that are reflected by numbers. The game is programmed to consider 53 different characteristics of a player. But not all characteristics apply to every player. To simplify general comparisons, the game boils down to six main categories. Those categories consist of:

• Speed - How fast
• Strength - How strong
• Agility - How nimble or flexible
• Change of Direction - How elusive
• Injury - How injury-prone
• Awareness - Football IQ and perception
• Overall - How all attributes aggregate for the player

So how does the latest iteration of the game represent the current team roster? Not very well, it seems. EA Madden NFL's highest-rated Rams player is Davante Adams, who tops the team with an overall rating of 90. The team only has 11 players whose overall ratings are 80 or above. And the comparability of some known values simply fails logical discernment.

Madden NFL speed rating has the fan base going: "Wait, what?"

When the game published its NFL ratings, the team surveyed players to see how they felt about their EA Madden NFL ratings. The responses were hilarious and prove that players remain intensely competitive even among video game ratings.

But not all ratings make sense. Comparing a known value, a player's speed, to the game ratings is confusing. Per the games' ratings, OLB Byron Young holds a higher speed rating than speedy wide receiver Xavier Smith. So, how did the top ten Rams' players in the speed category actually do as far as their respective 40-yard dash times? Here is the table of those players, Madden Speed Rating, and 40 times:

1. Emmanuel Forbes Jr. | Madden Speed Rating - 94 | 40 time - 4.35 seconds
2. Cobie Durant | Madden Speed Rating - 93 | 40 time - 4.38 seconds
3. Puka Nacua | Madden Speed Rating - 93 | 40 time - 4.57 seconds
4. Tutu Atwell | Madden Speed Rating - 93 | 40 time - 4.22 seconds
5. Byron Young | Madden Speed Rating - 92 | 40 time - 4.43 seconds
6. Jarquez Hunter | Madden Speed Rating - 91 | 40 time - 4.44 seconds
7. Darious Williams | Madden Speed Rating - 90 | 40 time - 4.44 seconds
8. Xavier Smith | Madden Speed Rating - 90 | 40 time - 4.38 seconds
9. Ahkello Witherspoon | Madden Speed Rating - 89 | 40 time - 4.45 seconds
10. Britain Covey | Madden Speed Rating - 89 | 40 time - 4.43 seconds.

The table above illustrates the confusion in how the game applied real-world times to its database. The fastest time player on the roster, wide receiver Tutu Atwell, was awarded the fourth-best speed rating on the team. And as much as fans love wide receiver Puka Nacua, they are not blinded to the fact that he is one of the slower wide receivers on the roster. And yet, Madden's rating system would lead players to believe that he is the fastest receiver on the roster.

It's a very popular game, embedding a myriad of data points into its programming to emulate a real football game as closely as possible. But it's also clear that programmers are not avid football fans. Speed matters, and accurate speed ratings are important. It's just one of the questionable ratings categories. But by season's end, nobody will believe that Puka Nacua can run down Tutu Atwell from behind.

Few NFL players can. As always, thanks for reading.

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