Madden 18 Ratings: Dallas Cowboys Players Respond

How do NFL players feel about their Madden ratings? Now we know, at least for some of the stars of the Dallas Cowboys. Cover 4 recently caught up with players like Dak Prescott, Jason Witten, Dez Bryant, and others to talk about their Madden 18 ratings.

Prescott received an 86 overall rating, which he said isn't fair. "But life's not fair," the quarterback said. Witten, a tight end, said "I'll take it" about his 90 overall rating. Cornerback Anthony Brown, whose rating is 79, said he looks forward to trying to improve his rating as the season goes on. As for Bryant, the WR said he's mad about his 76 Strength rating and 89 Speed rating, while DT Tyrone Crawford said his overall 77 rating is "extremely disrespectful." He added about his 80-rating for Toughness, "Let me get the [Madden creator] over here and I'll show him toughness. Who makes these ratings?"

In 2015, FiveThirtyEight posted a huge feature about how Madden ratings are decided. The franchise's "Rating Czar," Donny Moore, left that position and is now working on the competitive gaming side of things at EA Sports. It's not exactly clear how Madden ratings are decided currently, but it has never been an exact science.

And as the players mentioned, ratings will change throughout the year baed on performance in real NFL games. You can see Madden 18's top-rated players here at most of the big positions. Additionally, here is a list of the game's Clutch players.

Madden 18 is out now on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. GameSpot's Madden 18 review scored the pro football game a 9/10.

"Overall, Madden 18 marks an unusually large shakeup in a series that, due to its annualized releases, rarely features much more than small, iterative changes," reviewer Alex Newhouse said.