Here’s How EA Sports Determines The ‘Madden’ Ratings For NFL Players Each Year

Every year when the folks over at Electronic Arts release the new list of NFL player ratings for that season’s Madden video game there are players and fans who get upset with them (see Brown, Antonio, and friends.).

On the flip side of that are players who have very little to complain about as their ratings are about as good as one could expect (and in some people’s opinions, more than one should).

Poor Tommy.

Bearing all of that in mind, one might be inclined to wonder just how the video game wizards over at EA Sports come up with those player ratings each year, and then how they adjust them each week throughout the NFL season.

Well, in case you missed it, ESPN recently aired an episode of its E:60 series, spotlighting the best job in all of sports, the Madden NFL Performance Ratings Adjuster.

Madden NFL Performance Ratings Adjusters are often seen on the sidelines of NFL games throughout the regular season, taking note of the movements, on-field performance and unique traits of players in order to update them in-game in an effort to make Madden as close to the real NFL as possible.

In the video below, we get a never-before-seen look into Madden HQ and the process of how ratings are calculated, a breakdown of the game’s history. (Madden ambulance, anyone?)

We also get to see how the Ratings Adjuster program orginally began and a day-in-the-life profile of Madden Ratings Adjuster, former NFL player Clint Oldenburg, determining and adjusting ratings throughout the season.

You’ll also learn that sometimes, those player complaints about their ratings, at least in the case of Leonard Fournette, actually do pay off.

Watch more E:60 episodes by signing up for a UFC 240 & ESPN+ Annual Plan for only $79.98 — over 25% off.